Henare Tau: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill — Second Reading 
Henare Tau: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:12891] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 First of all I am pleading for a bit of leeway from the House because of my voice. I congratulate those members who sent the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill to the Justice and Electoral Committee. I cannot abide by the criticism by the Maori Party of the Maori members of the Labour Party for sending the bill to the select committee. We sent it to the select committee to find out whether there was any merit in the bill. 
I understand completely the politics of why Labour supported it. I will just say that when one needs some numbers at the beginning of the term one will not do anything but one will do some things that will hasten one’s opportunities on the Treasury benches. That is enough said about that. 
I am sad that my relation stood up in the House this afternoon and said that this bill is not about the deletion of the Treaty of Waitangi. All one needs to do is look at the bill under the purpose clause and read: “The purpose of this Act is to delete and remove from every enactment those provisions which contain the expressions—(a) ‘the principles of the Treaty’; and (b) ‘the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi’; and”—most important—“(c) ‘Treaty of Waitangi and its principles’.” 
That is the key message of this bill. It wants to paste over the issue of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi but it also wants to get rid of the Treaty of Waitangi. There is a party in this House—and I have been a member of that party so I know what it does every 3 years when it falls behind in the polls—that brings out the worst aspect of this country which is division. It brings down a nation rather than building up a nation. I want to put on the record that I abhor that sort of politics. 
If this bill were to go through—and thank God it will not be passed—we would see civil unrest. We can put our finger on that. We have been talking of late about terrorism and have been hearing the advice to wait until all the evidence is in. We would not have to wait for any evidence because the passing of this bill would put this nation’s security at risk. I am not joking. 
This bill is a foolhardy attempt to garner votes from what I would consider to be the fringe of New Zealand’s society. I would not even call them rednecks; I would call them the 5 to 7 percent of that fringe. There are parties in this House on both sides of the political spectrum that pander to the people in that fringe. We just happen to have a bill by one of those parties before the House today. 
The interesting thing is that the effects of this bill would be far-reaching. My grandfather’s brother said that we have done too much not to do more and that we have come too far not to go further. If we were to see the passing of this bill into legislation then 25 years of hard work by some enormous people in our society both Maori and Pakeha would be flushed down the toilet within 5 seconds—not only the past 25 years but we are talking since 1840. The work that has been done by people in our communities would be flushed down the toilet in 5 seconds. So I say it is a good job—not to New Zealand First—that this bill is not going through. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I return to where I left off when the House rose. This bill is nothing more than a poor attempt by a party to rile up a certain section of the community so that it will—hopefully in some eyes—garner enough support to get over that magical 5 percent. 
This is a poorly thought-out bill. Not even in the select committee process was there an attempt to redraft or rewrite the glaringly obvious wrongs of the bill. Maybe it should have been sent to the Maori Affairs Committee. Maybe that select committee could have helped in some way. But never mind the damage was done when somebody thought they could delete not only the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi but the Treaty itself. 
Inherently that is where the biggest mistake has come from—trying to delete reference to the Treaty of Waitangi from so much of our legislation that actually needs that reference. I have no compunction whatsoever to say that a number of statutes do not require any mention whatsoever of the Treaty of Waitangi but some need it. One glaringly obvious piece of legislation is the Treaty of Waitangi Act itself. 
Maybe what we should have done—and what New Zealand First should have done if it had taken its blinkers off—is use the opportunity for the benefit of the country rather than for the garnering of 4 percent or 5 percent of the vote to try to pull the nation together and build the opportunity to define once and for all the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and to recognise how they should play their part in the statutes of this country. 
The bill is in the name of Doug Woolerton. Is it Doug Woolerton’s bill or was it just given to him because he is the go-to man in New Zealand First? When there is dirty work to be done it is shunted on to poor old Doug Woolerton. He will take the blame like the good soldier he is. 
This is a no-win bill that is going nowhere and it should be treated with the contempt it deserves. It is not about building nationhood or national identity. It is not about referring to what has happened over the last 25 years—to how both sides of this House have tried in their own ways to reconcile the past and to build better relationships. 
This bill does not do anything of the sort. All it does is pander to a small section of New Zealand society. It panders to an obvious circle of people out there who have an unfortunate view of New Zealand and New Zealand’s history. I am so glad that the vast majority of the House tonight will put this bill where it belongs—in the rubbish bin.