Henare Tau: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Henare Tau: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:630;Page:2451] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 It gives me pleasure to speak in the financial review debate of the Ministry of Maori Development. This report is the second draft that has been released. I want to give my thanks to the Chief Executive of Te Puni Kokiri Leith Comer for turning up and giving his dissertation to the Maori Affairs Committee. 
When one moves through the report one sees that Te Puni Kokiri appears to have moved its focus and resources away from its monitoring role. The Ministry of Maori Development Act states specifically that the role of the Ministry of Maori Development is to monitor other Government agencies. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: Really? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well that is what the select committee said. It believes that the Act is there to direct rather than merely to guide the Minister. 
The fact of the matter is that Parekura Horomia has been a Minister for 6 years. [ 
Interruption 
] It is far too long. In that time he has received a salary of between $160000 and $180000 a year. Over a million dollars of public money has been paid to a Minister who has not brought one piece of legislation to the House and if he has it has been an omnibus clean-up bill or whatever one calls it—not one thing. But he parades himself around this nation saying that he and his Government have been the ones who have cut unemployment. I have to tell him that it is not the Government who cuts unemployment; it is the employers out there who in good times make sure that they do the employing. Nobody in the Government— 
Hon David Benson-Pope 
: Why did it not happen under National then? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Quite frankly we did not sit on our bums doing nothing. We put in place all the things that were necessary for the community to survive. 
The report says it is a crying shame that Te Puni Kokiri is not being allowed to do its business. We can all blame the chief executive Leith Comer. That is the easy option. But who is the patsy in all of this? It is Parekura Horomia who has not done a damn thing in 6 years. He took over from one of the hardest-working Ministers of Maori Affairs. That is right—it was Dover Samuels. Do members remember him? He was the Minister of Maori Affairs for about 5 seconds. 
Hon Maurice Williamson 
: What about the one before him? He was great. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: He was great. But this Minister has sat in his seat for 6 long years—and where are we now? We are still at the bottom of the totem pole. The Minister looks at me incredulously because he does not really understand what a totem pole is. The fact of the matter is that nothing has happened. [ 
Interruption 
] 
I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. I take great offence at the words muttered by Shane Jones and I respectfully ask you to direct him to withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry but I did not hear what the honourable member said. If the member is taking offence under a personal reflection that was implied by the member then I ask the member to desist and withdraw. 
Shane Jones 
: They were Maori words. Perhaps we should provide a translation first. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Speaking to the point of order Mr Chairman I do not see anything in the Standing Orders that says there should be a translation. If I have taken offence then that is it and you are bound to ask the member to withdraw and apologise. 
The CHAIRPERSON (H V Ross Robertson) 
: This is a personal reflection. It is covered by Standing Order 116 and it depends on what has actually been said. Offensive references to a member’s private affairs or personal reflections on things like character are totally out of order and they should be withdrawn and apologised for. If that is in fact what has happened then I ask the member to withdraw and desist. 
Shane Jones 
: I withdraw and apologise. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: It is a fact that I released this report early and I want to apologise again to the members of the select committee for doing so. But it was watered down a wee bit by the Labour Party which did not really want to sign up to a hard-nosed report and to go that extra mile. For that I do not apologise. 
It is a good report. It puts the Minister on notice and hopefully he will find the decency to get up and actually have a go at reading the report. I wonder whether he has even read the report; I doubt it very much. The first time he saw the report was probably when he got out of his seat tonight.