Paraone Pita: General Debate 
Paraone Pita: General Debate 
[Volume:634;Page:6099] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Speaker. A couple of weekends ago my whanau and I and the people of Ngati Hine along with a number of people from other tribes gathered on the Otiria Marae to celebrate my father’s 90th birthday. Some people may think that that is not such a great occasion. But given that the statistics suggest that as a Maori man he has been living on borrowed time for the past 18 years I think it is worth a mention in this House. Notwithstanding the pleasure he received in having so many people share this occasion with him I thought just how fortunate we are as a whanau in still having him with us. It gave me an opportunity to reflect on the effect he has had on my life and in particular on the few words of advice he offered me when I was starting to make my own way in this world. 
One such piece of advice that I particularly recall and still adhere to to this day is: kia whakapono katoa o mahinga ki waenga o iwi. This essentially means: “Always deal ethically with your people.” which I took to mean never to be economical with the facts. Others might take this also to mean never let the facts get in the way of a good story. 
In a few weeks’ time this House will debate a member’s bill that was given great fanfare when lodged as it was touted as fulfilling the reason why the member’s party was in Parliament. Just to ensure that people understand which bill I am talking about I am of course referring to the Foreshore and Seabed Act (Repeal) Bill. One would think that the title of this bill is clear and signals the bill’s intent. Alas a closer reading of the bill proves quite the reverse; it actually states that the foreshore and seabed be re-vested in the Crown. One needs to ask why this Parliament should go to the bother of dealing with a bill that is already covered by existing legislation that ensures that the present seabed and foreshore is already vested in the Crown. 
I have heard that the member’s party had not anticipated the bill being drawn from the ballot so soon in this parliamentary term. I can now see why. The bill falls well short of the expectations of the many supporters of the member’s party. The member is quoted as saying in her defence: “We only ever said that we would repeal (the act) and that is our intention.” Can I say that this bill is certainly not going down that line. I wonder also what my whanaunga from Te Aupouri thinks of this bill given his understanding of the intent of his party policy being to have the foreshore vested in Maori title. The Maori Party members will certainly have some difficulty in explaining all of this to their constituency to gain its support. 
Added to all of this of course is the question of what position the National Party will take given its stated opposition to the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004. Will it support the bill? Will it support the Maori Party? Will the Maori Party rely on National’s support? Will we see a new alliance being formed between the two parties? I say to both of those parties notwithstanding the invitation to dine together and the subsequent declining of that invitation to remember the old saying: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” The scorn that will be heaped on their houses by their respective constituencies will certainly far exceed that of a scorned woman. 
The Maori people today are in a much better position socially and economically than they have been in a long time. Having said that I would be the first to say that there is still a lot of work to do. As my father continues to espouse the solution lies not in grievance mode but in the pursuit of education education and education. I say to any party that intends to support the Foreshore and Seabed Act (Repeal) Bill that Maori would be better serviced socially and economically if the focus were on increasing and improving access to education. 
During this debate we have heard criticism about corruption and that the people of New Zealand have been misled. This has been said by members of a party who really believe that they exist and have been born to rule. As long as they forget that this country operates under a system known as MMP they will be doomed to sit where they are sitting now in this House irrespective of what amounts may be owed by various parties.