Katene Rahui: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Katene Rahui: Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:660;Page:15610] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 It gives me no pleasure at all to rise to speak on the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Bill today. In fact it literally gives me a pain. This bill if it is simple as the previous speaker the Hon Sir Roger Douglas described it must have been conceived by a very simple person. The Minister who brought it to the House has a simple philosophy and it is one of no representation no consultation and no tangata whenua involvement. 
The Maori Party put our minority view into the report of the Local Government and Environment Committee on the bill and when my colleague Te Ururoa Flavell spoke in the previous reading last night he talked about my report. It points out that some key areas in regard to the Act that this bill amends must be addressed but none more so than that of tangata whenua participation at the local government level. It is well established that at the local government level tangata whenua have been unfairly inequitably and disproportionately under-represented across elected councils and boards and this bill makes that worse. 
In fact when I stood to speak on another bill earlier this week—the Aquaculture Legislation Amendment Bill (No 3)—I alluded to the fact that the provisions in the aquaculture settlement were unable to be carried out because of under-resourcing and other things that local authorities could not do. As a result of that speech I received an email from a local councillor in the Bay of Plenty who said the work had already been done on the aquaculture settlement in terms of the allocations there and who pointed out that this may have been because there are so many Maori on the local council. We can see from this that when Maori are on the local council things actually work. Things happen; things move along. If we do not have tangata whenua there and if we do not consult tangata whenua then things will slow down very much. This is a very bad bill in that it takes away even more from the need to consult tangata whenua. In fact this Government does not want tangata whenua to be dealt with at all. As I say this is a simple philosophy from a very simple Minister. 
It is of real note that in the annual review of race relations issued by the Human Rights Commission in March 2010 the need for Maori representation in local government and an effective voice for Maori in the decisions of the new Auckland Council are identified as one of the top 10 race relations priorities. I think this is something that is not given enough air time. By taking away representation and consultation with tangata whenua we are actually creating a rod for our own backs in the area of race relations. This House needs to take the lead in creating good race relations here in this country and this bill does not go in the right way. It definitely goes in the wrong way. It is something that everybody is concerned about except unfortunately for the National Government which is led by the ACT Party and this simple Minister. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Led by the nose by the ACT Party. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: The member has got that right. 
We have real concerns about the provisions for water. It is really a problem that things are sneaked in by stealth as they were. Throughout our select committee deliberations the National and ACT members tried to make it clear that things would not change and that this legislation was not about water privatisation but then suddenly here it is. The evidence is right there in front of us that this legislation is about privatisation. 
Chris Auchinvole 
: Oh Rahui I’m shocked. This is so unlike you. 
RAHUI KATENE 
: I am sorry that the chair of the select committee is not able to see that that is what this legislation is about but that is the fact of the matter. It is about privatisation. Given the fact that the privatisation of water has not worked anywhere else in the world why on earth are we taking that route? Why is New Zealand not taking the route of seeing what is going on and picking up the best of what is happening in the world instead of picking up the worst of what is happening in the rest of the world? We do not want to be a leader in the water privatisation area so let us hold back and learn the lessons that have been learnt elsewhere. 
We have real problems with this bill. We will be voting against it and I really hope that this simple Minister will stop now with his simple philosophy of trying to get rid of tangata whenua.