Flavell Te Ururoa: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: General Debate[Sitting date: 28 May 2014. Volume:699;Page:18406. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Kia oratātou katoa e te Whare. There is awhakataukī inMāoridom that goes something like this: “Kaianangākākā nohoanangākererū.”[When the native forest parrots settle down to feast the pigeons settle down.]In essence it suggests that while thekākā are eating noisily so that everyone notices the pigeon gets on with the mahi gets on with the job without any fuss and that pretty much describes where the Māori Party has been at. We have been getting on with the mahi. Today we want to share with you some of the work that we have been involved with acknowledging also that later today we will bring to the House the 21st bill that has been presented by the Māori Party under the Māori Party name over the first 10 years of our movement.I am really proud of the work that we have undertaken to advance the aspirations ofwhānauhapū and iwi in the interests of a stronger more diverse Aotearoa. There are three broad categories into which this wealth of legislation fits and I want to go through them. The first category is around building resilience withinwhānauhapū iwi and communities. We have a suite of legislation associated with the drive for Aotearoa to be smoke-free by the year 2025. There is legislation to increase the duties on all tobacco products to remove tobacco displays from shops and to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products. In that social hazard area of legislation we also had one of my bills the Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Bill which was passed in September last year.The second grouping is around maintaining the ground that Māori have already gained. A key one that was passed into law late last year was the amendment to the Māori Television Service (Te AratukuWhakaata Irirangi Māori) Act put forward of course by the Minister of Māori Affairs Pita Sharples. There are also various Acts now on the statute that Pita has sponsored around the Māori Trustee Māori development and Māori corporations. We have progressed a whole series of different bills some on behalf of specific iwi such asNgāti TapuNgāiTamarāwaho andNgāiTūkairangi who are actually with us right now in the gallery to witness the third and final reading of their bill. That will be later on this afternoon.Tariana Turia has put forward a series of bills to give effect to a deed of settlement for the original owners of Maraeroa A and B Blocks in the Maniapoto area and in 2012 I sponsored a bill that successfully repealed the Mount Maunganui Borough Reclamation and Empowering Act. This was a really constructive relationship between the Tauranga City Council and mana whenua through the initiative of the council andNgāPōtiki. I have to say that there is nothing more satisfying as a member of Parliament than to be doing the business that your constituency wants to see happen.There are a number of bills in this category that are about rectifying a wrong an act of grave injustice by the Crown. Uppermost in my mind is the bill led by Pita Sharples theMokomoko (Restoration of Character Mana and Reputation) Bill. Another important milestone was the Whakarewarewa and Roto-a-Tamaheke Vesting Bill and of course the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill which followed on from our very first bill introduced in the House the Foreshore and Seabed Act (Repeal) Bill.The third grouping of bills that we have advanced comes through the focus of developing and advancing new spaces for Māori development. We have not always been able to progress these ideas with the support of the wider House but the important principle for us is that the discussion has been raised.Into this area of course I would mention the following: the TeRā oMatariki/Matariki Day Bill in 2009 which was to acknowledge the significance ofMatariki andPuanga as our own unique cultural markers in Aotearoa; the Local Electoral (Māori Representation) Amendment Bill which would establish Māori wardsand constituencies and is particularly important in light of the way in which we are seeing ourtūpuna seats the Māori electorate seats becoming pawns for other parties to come into Parliament under a mainstream agenda which diminishes and reduces the whole potency of those seats to represent Māori interests; the Public Works (Offer Back of and Compensation for Acquired Land) Amendment Bill in 2010 was another one; the introduction in August 2012 of the Oaths and Declarations (Upholding the Treaty of Waitangi) Amendment Bill; and the Goods and Services Tax (Exemption of Healthy Food) Amendment Bill in 2010.We also had built in specific support in our relationship accord with the National Party around legislation related to Parihaka which has been an important benchmark for our discussions with the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. This is just a sampler of the range and complexity of issues we have been able to bring to the House to do the business that our people have sent us to do. I am sure I have forgotten a lot of things that we should have put in but nevertheless we will pick those up and continue as we move into Parliament the next time around.