Henare Tau: Historic Places Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Henare Tau: Historic Places Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:631;Page:2959] 
Hon TAU HENARE (National) 
: 
 It is good to see the leader of New Zealand First here in the House after 7.30 p.m.—absolutely! I tell you what I love democracy! I love democracy and the way the people in New Zealand First could let him be leader. That is OK. Democracy says that anybody can be leader—and he is a glaring example of the fact that anybody could be leader of a ragtag bunch of spent silly old men. That is what they are. But more to the point when the leader of New Zealand First talks about culture and about taha Maori and Te Ao Maori I would have expected that he would at least be able to pronounce his own native tongue properly. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh they do not like it. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: That is why I seek leave to table our caucus minutes for the relevant caucus day when Mr Tau Henare sought to mount a coup and could not get a seconder. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Although I love the comedy act coming from the other side of the House the problem I have with it—[ 
Interruption 
]—and there is another shining example of what I am about to say—is that for 6 months that man over there who purports to be the leader of New Zealand First and the Minister of Foreign Affairs has continually abused the Standing Orders by seeking a point of order when it is not actually a point of order. Somewhere—[ 
Interruption 
] And again we have interjections on a point of order. It is the same thing that Mr Ron Mark was talking about this afternoon Mr Deputy Speaker. What are we to do? 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: We are to continue with discussion on this bill. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I sought leave— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Would the member hold on please. There have been some exchanges and I have to say that Mr Peters did not start it. I am not going to say who started it. Those exchanges are welcome in this Chamber and it is good to put some life into it. But do not get too personal and do not get too touchy about it. That is my advice. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Well now we know— 
Ron Mark 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Despite what the Hon Tau Henare has just put to you—and I understand he has been away from the House for a very long time so he may not be familiar with the Standing Orders any longer—the point of order put to you was to seek leave. That is a perfectly legitimate point of order. Mr Henare as a former aspiring leader of New Zealand First knows that it is. His point of order therefore becomes a non - point of order and it behoves you as Deputy Speaker to put the leave. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Which is exactly what I have done. I asked members and the member speaking to get on with the debate and to come back to the bill. I have been quite lenient up to now and I have enjoyed it. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker— 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: What is your point of order? 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: My point of order is that you have the audacity to say to me to get back to the bill after what we have heard. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: When I say “go back” you know what I mean. Do not use that word in this Chamber directed at me. Withdraw it and apologise. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I withdraw and apologise. I will go back to the bill. What we heard from that member over there who conveniently came down to this House after 7.30—it is now half-past 8—speaking on this bill and he did not even have the courtesy to pick up a copy of the bill until 2 minutes before the end of his speech. He knows nothing about it. I thought he might be a good lawyer but I am sorry—even in 2 minutes he did not understand it. The Hon Brian Donnelly said that wahi tapu was mentioned nowhere in this bill. Is that what the member said? [ 
Interruption 
] Oh yes he did! We were all here and he said so—and he can check the  
Hansard 
. He said that nowhere in the bill was wahi tapu mentioned. But hang on—I love doing these quizzes—I have found at least three mentions of it and they are not even in the commentary. [ 
Interruption 
] I must have hit a raw nerve. The whole caucus of New Zealand First has taken time off from their extracurricular activities to come down to the House—[ 
Interruption 
] At least one of them is on duty. I wonder what the other four are doing down here after 7.30 p.m. 
Hon Member 
: Falling asleep. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is right. The Minister over there is falling asleep. He does it every time. He comes to the House and falls asleep. Anyway I will get back to the bill. The last half-hour of debate was really good until the Rt Hon Winston Peters made a fool of himself. [ 
Interruption 
] Mr Donnelly says that there were only five people on the Government Administration Committee but hello that was in the last Parliament. I know about early-stage dementia. That is what this is—loss of memory. In the last Parliament five people were on the committee but now this is a new Parliament. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I seek the leave of the House to table page 5 of the report back from the select committee which states the committee membership and clearly shows that there were five members on the select committee that reported this bill back to the House. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: It is a point of order to seek to table something but members should do it at the end of a member’s speech. Please do not break up the member when he is making so much noise. Leave has been sought to table that document. Is there any objection? There is objection. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Let us get down to the tintacks of wahi tapu. I have spent more time than I really should have on that Minister over there—the one who said he paid for all the wine-box stuff but did not. The amount of $1.5 million was paid by the Government to the member’s lawyer Brian Henry. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker under the Standing Order about relevance. I do not believe that this has any relevance to the report back of this legislation. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: Can we go back to the bill please. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Absolutely. The amount of $1.5 million went to Brian Henry. 
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member must go back to the bill otherwise his speech could be terminated. I did not say it would be but it could be. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: I got out what I wanted to say and everybody heard it. The whole of the country is wahi tapu. The whole of the country could be classed as wahi tapu. That is why there is no clear definition of wahi tapu in this bill nor in any other bill. This bill is called the Historic Places Amendment Bill even though on three or four occasions it mentions wahi tapu—not only in the commentary but also in a number of clauses. That is why the National Party opposes this legislation. It is not the only reason we oppose this bill; we also oppose it because it makes reference to the affected parties. [ 
Interruption 
] Yes the member Ron Mark used to be the whip—he used to have some sort of authority in New Zealand First. That will not last very long. The bill refers to: “any incorporated society or body corporate engaged in or having as one of its objects the protection of historical and cultural heritage:”. That means that anybody in New Zealand can have a go at a so-called wahi tapu or so-called historic place. That cannot be right when the only people are “relevant parties”. The beginning of the bill refers to “relevant parties” but later on it states that any group in this country is an affected party as long as it is either a body corporate or a trust that is set up specifically for historic purposes. Anybody in this country— 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: But you want to keep the membership that has been voted on by the Historic Places Trust. You’re confusing your own argument. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: Oh dear. The member said that he used to teach in Te Araroa. Let me tell this House that every one of those 162 people who live in Te Araroa are absolutely happy that he is not there any more. They are absolutely happy that he is a member of Parliament. But I shall get back to the bill. National has another issue. I do not know whether to say that it borders on totalitarianism but the Government is now seeking to appoint nearly everybody—in fact the vast majority of members—on to the trust. [ 
Interruption 
] I would rather the Historic Places Trust did it than the bozos up on the ninth floor. Labour will not consider and will not consult with the wider community. It will be “jobs for the boys”—or in this case “jobs for the girls”—that gets people on to that Historic Places Trust. 
Shane Jones 
: Accountability. 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: That is the word! That is the member who has a job outside the House. That comes from a member who has a job outside the House but pretends to be an MP by day. We are talking about jobs for Shane Jones’ mates. We are talking about jobs for Darren Hughes’ mates. We are talking about—[ 
Interruption 
] No he has. There was a person in the Chamber just before who is after a job. Unfortunately there will be no jobs in it for anybody else because those people do not have mates. Rima Edwards will be on the trust Shane Jones’ auntie will be on it and Darren Hughes’ auntie will be on it because all those members can do is put their mates on it not the people with the intelligence—[ 
Interruption 
] Oh come on. Have another one. There has been no consultation. 
Hon Members 
: Tahi rua toru wha haere ra! 
Hon TAU HENARE 
: No members should have said that to the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The imbecile from the north should have said that to the person who really has an appalling grasp of this bill. That is why National opposes this bill. 
Amendments recommended by the Government Administration Committee by majority agreed to.