Okeroa Mahara: Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Okeroa Mahara: Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:647;Page:16718] 
Hon MAHARA OKEROA (Minister of State) 
: 
 I came into the Chamber earlier because I was looking forward to hearing what the member for Te Tai Tokerau had to say. I was looking forward to that with great anticipation but unfortunately I was disappointed once more. I was absolutely disappointed. That member has been in the House for almost one term. If he had not said “Okeroa Ririnui” and so on and so forth there would have been nothing in his speech at all. 
The other point I want to pick up on as an introduction to what I need to say about the Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill is the extraordinary difficulty I have in accepting the comment that the sponsor of this bill could actually be described as promoting something that is anti-Maori. I find that to be totally unacceptable in the sense that the sponsor of this bill Mr Pita Paraone is descended from one of the principal and highly respected chiefs of his people and who had demonstrated everything about being very pro-Maori as opposed to being anti-Maori. I need to say that my knowledge of the sponsor of this bill is that he has had the courage to put up this member’s bill and I find no reason to then call him anti-Maori. 
I know the sponsor quite well and I would say that all his life he has done everything to assist Maori and not only that but he has been acknowledged as having done so. I refer to the honour that was awarded to him in respect of his services to Maori people. I want to put that in its proper context for people who are listening to the debate. If Mr Paraone were anti-Maori then certainly he would not have been the recipient of an honour that reflected both his service to the community and to his people. The only anti-Maori flavour that I can conjure up and that all Maori in New Zealand should be aware of is the appalling record of the Maori Party in not supporting Treaty settlements. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon MAHARA OKEROA 
: I wish to continue on the theme I was articulating prior to the dinner break. Elements of the Maori Party attacked Ngati Porou for their foreshore and seabed heads of agreement calling it a sham. In doing so Maori Party members rode roughshod over the right of iwi to make their own decisions an ideal the Maori Party purports to support. Let me quote a leader of Ngati Porou by the name of Api Mahuika: “I would warn Maori people to think again before voting in that”—Maori Party—“direction. If they are the Maori Party they should actually be saying to Ngati Porou ‘congratulations for making … a precedent others can follow’.” I find that—not the comments by Api Mahuika but rather what occasioned those comments—definitely anti-Maori anti-whanau anti-hapu and anti-iwi. In a sense it is completely anti-Aotearoa. 
We need to put this in context so that those who listened to the speech made by Hone Harawira are able to appreciate another point of view. That is really critical because having weighed the evidence and considered the debate the Labour Party recommends that this bill not be passed. We consider that there is no inherent conflict of interest in sitting judges of the High Court and the Maori Land Court serving on the Waitangi Tribunal or in the Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court acting as the chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal. We note that this view is supported by all the evidence and advice that was reviewed during the considerations. We consider further that the amendments proposed could severely limit the ability of the Waitangi Tribunal to draw on the expertise of those best qualified to act as members and to provide recommendations on matters of national importance. 
I conclude after some consideration that the true value of Hone Harawira’s speech was only in his indelible printing on the consciousness of all those people watching the debate that Maori Labour MPs are anti-Maori. But they are not because each and every one of those MPs has a huge knowledge and in-depth understanding of what marae and wharenui are about. On both marae and wharenui people have the ability to articulate discuss and debate differences of opinion. I do not see any clear difference between that situation and our allowing this bill to go before a select committee following a democratic process that allows people the right not only of participation but of debate. To call Maori Labour MPs anti-Maori for following a tikanga of marae is totally and utterly unacceptable and misplaced. 
Labour does not support this bill but it is not because people are not allowed to articulate difference. 
No reira e te hoa e Pita anei te whakaputa mai i tenei tangata ki a koutou ki te wero e werohia nei e to hoa a kua ki a au kua he rawa kua kotiti kua rere ke hoki nga ahuatanga o ana nei korero kua riro mai i runga i te pokohiwi ehara i a matou anake ki a tatou katoa. No reira tena koutou tena koutou mauri ora ki a tatou katoa. 
[ 
So to you Pita fellow colleague and to you collectively in respect of the challenge made by a colleague of yours I say that aspects of his speech are totally wrong misguided and changed as well. Such talk should not be shouldered by one individual and by us but by all of us collectively. So greetings to you greetings to you. May the force of good life be upon us all 
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