Fox Marama: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: General Debate[Sitting date: 11 May 2016. Volume:713;Page:10989. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Yes it is a day of apologies and lots of people have been talking about who should apologise to whom. Is it not ironic that in Parliament we should talk about such things? I will tell you who deserves an apology and it is Andrew Judd the Mayor of New Plymouth. Andrew Judd deserves an apology from his constituents there and from Mike Hosking who is surely the one who is out of touch. When a broadcaster uses his platform to belittle a man who stands up for minorities a man who stands up for his moral obligation to Māori under the Treaty and is treated despicably by the people in his community for doing it—instead of congratulating him instead of saying “Well done you for sticking up for the minority.” instead of saying “Well done Andrew Judd for standing up for our commitment under the Treaty to Māori in this country.” he said: “Andrew Judd you are out of touch.”Well I will tell you who is out of touch and it is that broadcaster. That broadcaster and this party are out of touch when they do not support Treaty rights because this country was founded on a treaty of partnership. Anyone who thinks you get into local government based on a meritocracy is fooling themselves. Anyone who thinks you make it through just because you are good enough is fooling themselves. It is a popularity contest and when the majority are the ones who are voting in that popularity contest then the tyranny of the majority takes over.Here is what that man does not have to contend with. If he thinks he is out of touch I will tell you who he is out of touch with. He is out of touch with the Māori in this country. Yes—hello—the Chinese people have been belittled through the actions of the Opposition party over there in the housing debate but Māori have had to deal with that for 175 years. I say: “Welcome to our world.” Māori are not the marker by which all people are measured in this country. Imagine that! Imagine turning up and seeing: “Are you as good as us?”. That’s the marker. “Do you live as long as us?”. That’s the marker. “Do you have to claim back your language culture and identity?”. No because it was never taken from you. That man is out of touch. He does not understand the racist bigotry that he has thrown out in this country.The “Iwi/Kiwi” debate is not the thing that is uniting us; it is separating us. I will tell you where that debate comes from. It comes from the stealth of the wealth—the entitled in this country who can afford to take out full-page ads in the New Zealand Herald newspaper claiming that there is some sort of undeserved privilege of a minority of people in this country who are the indigenous race who all other indigenous races around the country look to as the example of how to achieve within a country—the example of how to have representation in a country. Yet in this country we still debate whether representation on councils is just whether we have distributed democracy in this country.Distributed democracy is what MMP is and I call on all councils to follow the Masterton District Council and have iwi representatives with voting rights on the board. That does not take away—tell me what that takes away from councils. What fears do they have of having somebody voice the opinions and the attitudes and the obligations of indigenous peoples in this country? That is an irrational fear. It does not take away; it adds to. It is value-add to this nation and it is value-add to our communities.Māori will no longer sit on the sidelines and be ignored after being consulted about what they think about something. We should applaud Andrew Judd and we should feel shame that he has to stand down from his position because he has been abused and belittled for standing up for minorities for Māori and for indigenous peoples.