Paraone Pita: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
Paraone Pita: Ngati Tuwharetoa (Bay of Plenty) Claims Settlement Bill — Instruction to Committee In Committee 
[Volume:625;Page:20190] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 I stand on behalf of New Zealand First—which as I have said before and will say again is the only non - politically aligned party in this House—to speak on this bill in the Committee stage. I also want to take the opportunity to thank my whip for giving me this time because I know all the people who are caught up in the Auckland gridlock will be listening to this debate. Mrs Rene Peach who lives in Cambridge will be listening as well and I would just like to say tena koutou. 
I want to reiterate our position with regard to the inclusion of the words “the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi” particularly where they are set out in clause 14(a)(i)(A) of this bill. During the second reading I indicated on behalf of the New Zealand First members our support for this bill in spite of the inclusion of the words that I have just mentioned. I should say that that actually caused some surprise to both officials and some members in the House at the time. 
Having said that I just want to talk on the preamble and in particular on Supplementary Order Paper 367 sponsored by the Minister in the chair the Hon Mark Burton in terms of an amendment to recital (32) of the bill. The Government-sponsored Supplementary Order Paper seeks an amendment to the English text of that recital. On perusal of the Maori text I note that no amendment to it is sought. I am sure that that does not mean the Maori text is right but in order to ensure there is a true translation of the English text I have proposed a Supplementary Order Paper. This may be seen to be a bit premature given that the Supplementary Order Paper has not been put before the Committee for consideration. However I seek that in recital (32) of the Maori text the words “i waenga te rohe o Kawerau” be substituted for the words “ki Kawerau”. 
Some people may say that that is being just too particular but I think it is important not only for this Parliament but for this nation that the translations of the two official languages should match. I suspect that in the future students of the language will see legislation that has been passed in the Maori language as a learning resource. So I would like to think that the Committee will give consideration to that proposal. Although I would like to see the whole bill written in Maori given some of the occurrences in the recent past when the Maori language has been introduced into previous bills I think this is a small but very important step not only for this Parliament but also for our country in terms of recognising the tangata whenua language of New Zealand. It is very interesting to note as I look across at the Government benches that I am not sure whether there is anyone sitting there who has the ability to speak or understand Maori. It is important that I make these points because when future bills of a similar nature come before the House we will be asking that the Maori language be used. Hopefully it will be used more fully than it has been in this bill so that there will be no doubt in the minds of all New Zealanders that we are a country that recognises and utilises the two official languages—that is Maori and English.