Rich Katherine: New Zealand Day Bill — First Reading 
Rich Katherine: New Zealand Day Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:624;Page:19663] 
KATHERINE RICH (National) 
: 
 It is a privilege to stand here in place of the honourable John Carter who I am sure gave a very interesting and inspired speech for the first 5 minutes of this call. We are here to talk about the New Zealand Day Bill. I think this is a great idea. I remember the only two times that we had New Zealand Day celebrations. As many people will remember it was Prime Minister Norman Kirk who wanted to have a New Zealand Day—a day that brought all New Zealanders together rather than divided us. For 2 years we had a New Zealand Day. 
I think it is good that Peter Dunne has brought this matter to the House for discussion again because I think it is timely. For many Kiwis Waitangi Day is not a day of celebration for all. It is a day when they turn on their television and see signs of protest and all sorts of bad behaviour up at Waitangi. I think those sorts of visions spoil the day for many many people—that is of course if they celebrate Waitangi Day at all. As a developed nation it is important that we have a day when we can celebrate as one country when we can celebrate the things that bring us together not divide us and when we can have an annual holiday when all Kiwis can enjoy and think about the things that make us special as New Zealanders. 
But I think it is important that we understand that changing the label of our national day to New Zealand Day will not solve all the problems that many of us see on Waitangi Day each year. If we are truly to have a future for this nation then I think we have to sort out some of the issues to do with the Treaty of Waitangi and the debate that surrounds that. We have to form a new vision for this country that we can all buy into so that it becomes a day when we are not divided but is a day when we celebrate what makes us special as New Zealanders and ensures that we work together for a common goal. If I have any reservations about what this bill is designed to do—it is designed to change a name—it is that often as we see with a lot of legislation in this House changing a name is only a small step towards making a real difference. 
I think it is important that we have this debate and I congratulate Peter Dunne on bringing this bill to the House because although it is probably the shortest bill that I have ever stood to debate I think it is one that will create a lot of interest. Hopefully we will make sure that many Kiwis take part in the debate through making submissions to the select committee so that their views can be known. 
I think it is important to have a day that we can all celebrate—a day we can all buy into a day like those that many other nations have a day we can point to as our special day the day when we celebrate our country. From there we can hopefully develop a vision for the day that all Kiwis regardless of their creed colour or race can enjoy so that we all can point to it as our own day. 
Despite the bill being very short I think it raises huge issues for our country. What is the role of the treaty what is the role for us as New Zealand citizens what rights do we have that come with that citizenship and what are the special things about our culture that we should take time out in a given year to make sure we celebrate? 
I think New Zealand Day is something that Labour members should support. One of their iconic Labour leaders introduced it as a concept in the 1970s so it will be interesting to see whether they support this bill. [ 
Interruption 
] It was raised first by a gentleman whom I know that Darren Hughes of the Labour Party would certainly respect. In terms of the debate created by this bill I expect that the select committee will be inundated with submissions from proponents of both sides of the argument. From that we can hopefully come to some agreement about what Waitangi Day and what New Zealand Day should this bill have some success should mean to us as a country.