Harawira Hone: Communications Legislation Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Communications Legislation Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:631;Page:3008] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena tatou katoa i te Whare. When Te Mangai Paho first started it was looking for a mission statement. Katerina Mataira one of Te Mangai Paho’s first directors coined the most beautiful of phrases to express its role. That phrase was: tuhia te ha o te reo ki te rangi; to suspend the essence of the language in the heavens. Being able to communicate is the life-force of a people’s language and culture. Being able to communicate well should be the focus of this bill. 
The 2000 ministerial inquiry into telecommunications found that there is a risk that differing capacities to participate in the information economy can create or amplify inequalities—or in simple language if one is behind the start line one will come last. The Maori Party wants to know that if the Government wants to put more rules on the telecommunications industry Maori will not be disadvantaged or left out the back when it comes to investment competition opportunity and consumer benefit. We know that Aotearoa’s digital future means having a low-cost efficient and competitive telecommunications set-up. We also know that Maori interest will be best served by ensuring that such a set-up is available to all. Those interests are of course reinforced by the 1999 Waitangi Tribunal finding that the Radiocommunications Act 1989 was in breach of the Treaty in that it permitted alienation of spectrum rights without consultation with Maori and without allowing Maori a fair and equitable share of those rights. 
The Maori Party also notes the further finding of the tribunal that the Crown had breached its obligations to protect Maori language and culture and that the measures taken by the Crown to remedy the decline of the Maori language were insufficient. These are not merely issues for interesting policy chatter. These are vital matters of survival for Maori. They are about who we are how we communicate and how we preserve and develop our unique language and culture. 
In this regard we will forever be indebted to the legacy left by the claims of Huirangi Waikerepuru on behalf of Nga Kaiwhakapumau i te Reo Sir Graham Latimer on behalf of the New Zealand Maori Council and Piripi Walker Whatarangi Winiata and other pioneers. It was through their efforts that Maori involvement in the communications industry now plays an increasingly more positive role in promoting our culture and language. It is not just the impact of www.maoriparty.com that has set the world on fire—although that is the place where one can buy the T-shirt do the blog have the chat vote translate and google away to one’s heart’s content about anything and everything to do with Te Ao Maori. 
The Internet is also having a positive effect in education and long-distance real-time communication. We recognise also that efficient access and price competition have as many benefits for Maori as they do for all other Kiwis. The question is whether the proposed amendments to the Telecommunications Act 2001 and the Radiocommunications Act 1989 will make a difference. Will the regulation of the communications sector be improved by this bill and how will these changes ensure our survival? 
The Waitangi Tribunal acknowledged a Maori right to develop resources as a Treaty right resulting from article 2. It also recognised that that right could not be fossilised as at 1840 and limited only to resources used back then. The resource existed in 1840 even though like oil grazing land and orange roughy it had zero value until it was discovered and developed. Who owns the wind the airwaves and the water? These are not trick questions. The Waitangi Tribunal finding that Maori had a legitimate claim on the radio spectrum provided an opportunity for Maori to create economic benefit as well as add huge social capital to the wealth of this country. 
As we all remember of course the Tribunal’s report was another one the Government chucked into the rubbish. It refused to accept that generation of radio waves was a taonga under article 2 of the Treaty that Treaty principles required spectrum rights to be allocated to Maori or that the Radiocommunications Act was in breach of the Treaty. But here we are today with a flourishing Maori radio industry and Maori Television—the only national television channel dedicated to the promotion of home-grown programmes. Yet despite those successes there is scant evidence to suggest the telecommunications industry gives Maori knowledge equal standing or that equal Maori involvement in spectrum decision-making is provided for. 
 Other initiatives prove indigenous success in managing and producing economic return from telecommunications and I wish to refer to an interesting case study from our whanaunga from overseas. The Native American population of the United States is just over 2 million half of whom live in rural areas and one-third of whom live on reservations. Most of their tribes are now heavily involved in telecommunications ranging from Internet access to the full provision of telecommunication infrastructure. Along the way they have had to deal with critical issues of cultural preservation ownership tribal identity and values and the culturally appropriate management of technology. That technology is seen as a key to improving their educational and economic options particularly given their large rural populations. Although America is not particularly noted for its support of indigenous programmes and values it does have numerous sponsorship and support programmes to assist with the development of communication technology. 
I contrast that situation with our own efforts back home. The 2000 ministerial inquiry into telecommunications recommended that Telecom improve the quality of its services in rural areas and that the Telecommunications Commissioner monitor and if necessary enforce those obligations. That requirement is particularly important to Maori given that good telecommunications have always been limited by geographic location and the fact many Maori still live in rural areas. Six years after that inquiry I can confirm there are many many areas in Te Tai Tokerau Tainui Waiariki Ikaroa-Rawhiti Te Tai Hauauru and Te Tai Tonga that still suffer from a lack of quality telecommunications. Although the promotion of third-generation cellular telephone technology as the new wave in wireless communications is an admirable exercise it is pointless when the favourite phrase one’s phone keeps saying is “Searching for network”. That does not just limit our ability to communicate for social and economic reasons; it also severely hampers the capacity of our tamariki to receive their full entitlement to education. 
I congratulate those from Te Rununganui o nga Kura Kaupapa Maori o Aotearoa for their foresight in trying to build a videoconferencing system for the wharekura network but I also note that 6 years after that initiative was launched the current telecommunications network appears to be unable to supply the required bandwidth for various wharekura around the country and that despite the wider coverage of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) as a high-speed digital telephone service Telecom has indicated that ISDN will not be available for all wharekura because of the functionality requirements and associated costs and Telecom’s commitment to develop other parts of its network. 
In a society where Maori are consistently labelled as welfare dependent having management rights to radio spectrum—and thereby having the means to participate effectively in the telecommunication industry—will give Maori an opportunity to create economic independence and as a consequence benefit the nation as a whole. The Maori Party will support this bill in order to provide an opportunity for further debate to consider allowing opportunities for other providers to compete for clients and force New Zealand’s mobile phone prices down to a realistic world price and to ensure that mechanisms are in place to allow Maori to participate effectively in the telecommunications industry. 
I return to the phrase with which I opened my speech because I love it so much: tuhia te ha o te reo ki te rangi; to suspend the essence of the language in the heavens. Being able to communicate is the life force of a people’s language and culture. Being able to communicate well must be the focus of this bill.