te Heuheu Georgina: Supreme Court Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
te Heuheu Georgina: Supreme Court Bill — Instruction to CommitteeCWH In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee 
[Volume:612;Page:8988] 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU (NZ National) 
: 
 It will be a sad day for New Zealand when this bill passes into law. I am pleased that there are three Maori members here in the Chamber because they are presiding over a bill that their people—their voters—have not approved. I know that those members do this at a cost. They will rue the day that they ignored the wishes of the Maori people and presided over a bill that takes away access to the Privy Council something that this country has had the benefit of since 1841. It will be a sad day for New Zealand and for democracy when this bill passes into law as the Supreme Court Act. This is a sad day for democracy. In that regard I totally support what Dail Jones said because this legislation will pass into law without a mandate from the New Zealand people and without the mandate of this Parliament. 
The members on the Government side of the Chamber keep referring back to what happened in the 1990s when a similar bill was first presented. It was withdrawn because there was insufficient support in the House for it. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Ann Hartley) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but she needs to speak on the title. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: Absolutely. I am on the title Madam Chair. If you had been listening to my speech you would have heard me talking about the Supreme Court Bill but I will address the title more closely. 
This bill should be called the “First Steps to a Socialist Republic Bill”. That is what it should be called because that is the agenda of the Attorney-General Margaret Wilson. That process started when this Government came into power. It removed the royal honours system and is to change the title of Queen’s Counsel to Senior Counsel. I have noted that there have been no appointments to the Privy Council in terms of members of this House. Senior members of the House are entitled to have “the Rt Hon” as part of their titles but those things are all going. This legislation is the next major step in the Attorney-General’s agenda of turning this country into a socialist republic. This bill should be called the “First Steps to a Socialist Republic Bill” because at the end of the day what someone like the Attorney-General wants is to leave her mark—a mark that nobody in New Zealand wants. She may say that she has some support for her agenda but she has no support whatsoever for it. 
This bill is not aptly named. It would be more honest if the title included a description of socialist republicanism because that is what it contains. One day New Zealand may move to become a republic but it will make that move because the New Zealand public want it not because Margaret Wilson has an agenda for it and not because seven Maori MPs are sitting on the Government side of the Chamber enjoying the fruits of power supporting Margaret Wilson and not listening to their constituents. 
Jill Pettis 
: Oh you’re just jealous. 
Hon GEORGINA TE HEUHEU 
: Who is jealous of that? Jill Pettis should get a life. I could not care less about those trappings and nor should she. 
The Maori members should do the job they came here to do. They are in power because of the Maori vote yet they have totally ignored the Maori objections to this bill. They have treated them as if there were no credence to the arguments put by Maori. I have not heard any of those members answer the submitters on this bill directly person to person. I have not heard any of them address Sir Tipene O’Regan Api Mahuika the Federation of Maori Authorities or any of the submissions that were properly put and validly made. That is why this bill is so wrongly titled and should be titled the “First Steps to a Socialist Republic Bill”. The Government wants us to be all the same. 
John Tamihere’s comment earlier on said it all when he said: “Only for the rich”. It is that old socialist chip on the shoulder “cannot stand people who are successful” attitude. That is how that Minister characterises this bill. Basically he said the Privy Council is for the rich only. That is how far off the mark he is and that Government is. As I say it will be a sad day for this country when this bill passes into law. It will be a sad day for democracy when it passes into law because there is no mandate for it.