Ngarewa-Packer Debbie; Salesa JennyDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Tēnā koe to the Speaker. We Te Paati Māori stand in absolute celebration that today we are here dismantling racism and we are here to support our whanaunga over in Labour and very proud of what they've brought out today and over the last few months. We commend those out there that are our transformers. We commend the visionaries the brave and the bold. I think of all of those who have been part of this journey: Rongomou Community Action our kina conversations our T-shirts our podcasts the young showing there is no room for racism in 2020-21. I think of Toni Boynton; I think of Fiona Chase; I think of Sam. I think of the first time we were listening to submissions of those who were so relieved it was over they didn't realise they were still being filmed congratulating themselves with the whole family screaming in the background. I think of Andrew Judd who said that Māori representation on council is Tiriti-based not race-based. To say otherwise is to colonise. I congratulate all my whānau who led this but I especially mihi to our Tiriti partners. It is you who stood by us. It is you who understood the Tiriti and what it guarantees: equality. This is about dignity. It is you who helped rise against deceptive pamphlets the Hobson's Pledgers. It is you that helped us raise the question of privilege. It was you that identified white fragility that continues to see Māori prejudicially affected through targeted legislation. It is you who helped to rise and raise: that Māori are not another community of interest. We are not stakeholders. We are not a general group. We are not to be treated as anything other than who we are: tangata whenua. And nowhere else are we tangata whenua but here in Aotearoa. You seriously ask today about process of democracy to us as tangata whenua? There has been a severe power play. It is not democratic to limit tangata whenua participation. It is not democratic to sit there saying All people are equal but some are more equal than others." I'm proud to be from Taranaki where New Plymouth District Council led this charge. I'm proud to be from South Taranaki; we are the first council in the country in this round to achieve a unanimous vote in favour of Māori wards. I remember the work that the Bonita Binghams have done. I remember the mahi and the commitment that Hohepa that Puna that Hinenui that all our whānau upstairs have done—and they are here because they are imploring "You make change." Let's be on the right side of history. This is not a story that has happened lately; it is a story about perseverance—200 years of perseverance. This is about us as tangata whenua who despite having a Tiriti are saying "We want to be treated equally." For Te Paati Māori this bill doesn't go far enough. Toni Boynton reminded us it's a small piece of justice in a river of injustice. We think this bill should extend itself to be able to say we can have a Māori ward on every council mana whenua represented on every council but for now we stand here humbly supporting what it is that Nanaia has brought out for us—Minister Mahuta sorry. For us we are asking that this House do what we should all be doing which is identifying all legislation that affects us poorly as tangata whenua and undoing it. We sit here and we ask that you remind yourself how the democracy in this country was built. We saw before us some of the worst racism because we were simply asking for parity. Where does democracy start in Aotearoa? How come it starts now? How come we don't remember what happened in 1869? How come everyone's comfortable with accepting that this country was built off some of the worst most racist legislation we've ever had—muru raupatu the scorching of our earth the raping and pillaging of our women the imprisonment of our people. And you can sit there and say "Yes yes" but until we make right which is what our rangatahi and our tamariki and our mokopuna expect—we saw it in Black Lives Matter we saw it in climate strike. They were led by young people and they're not tolerating the decisions that come out of those who are simply too archaic to move. So for Te Paati Māori we commend this bill and we support it wholly. Kia ora rā.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Hon Jenny Salesa): I call Rachel Brooking—Rachel Boyack sorry."