Flavell Te Ururoa: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:672;Page:18852] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Chairperson. Kia ora tatou e hoa ma e hui nei i tenei po. I thank the member in the chair Grant Robertson for giving a lead-in to our korero tonight. I very much thank him for his cooperation—and indeed that of the Minister—in getting us to the point where we are at tonight. 
I will set the scene as to how this amendment came about—this very good amendment in my name that I am sure will be supported by all members of the House. At the opening address of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues earlier this week the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the fact that the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples finally had the consensus it deserved. He challenged nations to make the declaration’s principles a reality and to protect and promote the rights of indigenous peoples simply because it benefits all of us. This Royal Society of New Zealand Amendment Bill seems an absolutely appropriate place to apply some of this wisdom. 
The bill amends the Royal Society of New Zealand Act 1997 through a number of measures including incorporating the humanities into the objects and functions of the society as other members have spoken about tonight. When the bill came to the Education and Science Committee members examined the provisions and recommended that it be passed with the main substantive amendment to the definition of “humanities”—basically clause 5. While doing so the committee also put forward some very strong guidance; specifically to omit mentions of English and American studies. Curiously however—and I take the member’s point about it being a little bit hard on them in terms of that action—in cutting out and deleting reference to America and England from this bill one thing that the Maori Party picked up is that the committee neglected to preserve and protect that which is purely of this land namely Aotearoa. That is basically where the Maori Party has come in. The committee crossed out American studies as a part of the humanities perhaps because we are not in America and it crossed out English studies as part of the humanities because we are not in England. But the Maori Party has suggested that in remembering who we are it is logical that we learn about te reo Maori Maori studies and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 
Over a month ago I released an amendment to the bill to include Maori studies te reo and the recognition application and advancement of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the definition of “humanities”. I will come to the definition shortly. These amendments would balance out the bill to identify and distinguish it as home-grown—a truly New Zealand bill. I proposed therefore a definition of the humanities which includes languages—and in particular te reo—history religion philosophy law classics linguistics cultural studies Maori studies media studies art history film drama and the study of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. That we thought was a pretty logical move. Part of that was not to insist on or mandate the compulsory study of te reo or even of Te Tiriti o Waitangi or Maori studies in fact much as some may well have favoured that approach. The amendment that we put up does not mean that people must study these disciplines; we simply propose that they qualify under the definition of “humanities”. 
We have developed this amendment not just because one of the submissions received on the bill—from one George Jones I am told—suggested that Maori studies must be included but because it is pretty unthinkable to consider the application of “humanities” in our land without consideration of the people of the land tangata whenua or the official language of the land te reo Maori or one would have hoped the foundation of our nationhood: Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This is Aotearoa - New Zealand. The fundamental source of authority for our country comes from Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Treaty of Waitangi. In that Treaty the Crown agreed to arrange governorship over Pakeha living here without British law. It has also guaranteed the continuance of Maori authority and sovereignty over our lands our villages and everything else that we treasure including our language culture and customs. In article 3 the Treaty affords Maori similar rights to those of British people. I quote the Hon Justice Durie: “we must not forget that the Treaty is not just a bill of rights for Maori. We must remember that if we are the tangata whenua the original people then Pakeha are the tangata tiriti those who belong to the land by right of that Treaty …” 
The Treaty is a bill of rights for Maori and non-Maori alike. Having at least put the case I would like to acknowledge the Minister Dr Wayne Mapp for his willingness to consider these amendments. We did not quite achieve the goal as members will see in terms of the amendment on the Table because one or two major bits have been crossed out but it was not through a lack of trying and it was not through at least some consideration by the Minister. We really appreciated his response to the notion that at least the Treaty section be taken out as it was indeed captured in I suppose the definitions of law and maybe even of philosophy and that that is why we had to remove that section. There may well have been other motives but we will leave those aside because we would have liked it to be a part of the bill. But in the end a gain is a gain and te reo Maori and Maori studies are significant in terms of their promotion and acknowledgment in this bill. 
As I said I appreciate the support from the Minister. I appreciate the work done by the honourable member Grant Robertson and of course the other parties. I assume that Labour is coming to the party. I am sure the Greens will be with us as well. In fact I am sure all members will support this amendment. It is very much appreciated and we look forward to adding its provisions to the definitions in this bill. 
Ko taku noa ake ko te mihi ki tena ki tena o tatou o te Whare. He mea nui tenei ki te whakanui i tenei ahuatanga o te reo Maori ka mutu nga tikanga Maori i tuhia mai ai ki roto i te pire nei. Ehara i te mea he kupu noa iho kao he wairua ano ra kai reira he tikanga ano ra kai reira ki te ki atu te reo Maori ehara i te mea he kupu pakupaku nei kare ona kiko. Ara no te whanui te wharoa o tena whakamarama tae atu ki nga tikanga Maori he pera ano te ahua. No reira ka mihi ra ki a tatou katoa i tenei po. Tena koutou kia ora tatou. 
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I simply want to acknowledge each of us of the House. Magnifying this aspect of the Maori language and furthermore Maori customs by writing them into this bill is a significant thing. They are not just mere words. Far from it a sense of spirituality and culture is present as well saying the words are not just mere words of little significance or usefulness. The explanation of that is extensive and broad. It applies to Maori customs as well. So I acknowledge us all this evening. Greetings to you collectively and to us. 
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