Harawira Hone: Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:640;Page:10293] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
Tekau meneti Whaea; e rima i te reo Maori e rima ano i te reo Pakeha. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Ten minutes Madam Assistant Speaker; 5 minutes in Maori and 5 minutes in English. 
] 
Kia ora. 
Pita Paraone 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. Can I just confirm that the 5 minutes in English will be an interpretation of the 5 minutes in Maori? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Yes the member is quite correct. It has to be that. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: E te Kaihautu whakama ana au kia tu ki te korero ki tenei pire. Hara i te mea anake ko te Maori te kaitautoko engari ke ko taku whanaunga o Te Tai Tokerau. E te kaihautu kua wakatakoto a Pita Paraone i tetahi pire kia kore rawa atu e taea e te Maori te whakatau i nga take whenua Maori a kore taea e te Maori kia noho ki te Taraipiunara o Waitangi. Ki toku whakaaro ko tenei he tono na te kaituanui na te kaki whero na te kaikiri hoki. E mara kore rawa au e whakaaro mena he koi te hinengaro he piripono ki nga tikanga Maori ma tena momo Maori e tuku i tenei tono kuare ki mua i a tatou. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
I am embarrassed to be even speaking to this bill not just because it is a Maori who is sponsoring the bill but rather because he happens to be a relation of mine from the north. Pita Paraone has tabled a bill that would make it nigh-on impossible for Maori to judge Maori land issues or indeed to sit on the Waitangi Tribunal itself—a proposal I would have credited to a bigot to a redneck to a racist even. Man such an idea I would never have thought could be proposed by a Maori with any modicum of intelligence or sense of values. 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: The member cannot use that term and he certainly cannot accuse another member of that. He must withdraw and apologise. 
Metiria Turei 
: Point of order. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No I have ruled on the matter of the member using the term “racist”. It is not a parliamentary term. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Whaea— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No the member must address— 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Aroha mai. Kua tika. Aroha mai. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
My apologies Madam Assistant Speaker; you are right. 
] 
Metiria Turei 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I just want to get it absolutely clear because this has been raised in the House a number of times. The ruling as I understand it and as it has been applied to me is that one may use that term when describing a statement or a position but one may not use that term when describing a person. Is that correct? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: That is correct. But he certainly cannot impute racism to another member and I took that to be that situation. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Whaea ano ra. Me whakamarama ahau i wenei kupu. Anei nga korero: “Ko tenei he tono na te kaituanui na te kaki whero na te kaikiri hoki.” Engari ehara taku whakamarama ko Pita Paraone tera. Ae.  
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Madam Assistant Speaker I want to explain these words. Here they are again: “This is a proposal I would have credited to a bigot to a redneck to a racist even.” but my explanation does not make any reference to Pita Paraone. That is right. 
] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: I thank the member for the explanation. I accept that but certainly I was concerned about it. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Atu i te whakaaro o te ao Maori ara kia panga atu i tenei tono tinihanga. E hiahia ana au kia korero ki wetahi atu kaupapa a-ture nei kua kitea i roto i tenei pire ara ko te kaupapa kia noho wehe te mana o tena o tena ara ko te rere ketanga o nga mahi o te Paremata ki wera o te Runanga o te Kawanatanga ki wera ano hoki o te kooti a kia kore tetahi e raweke ki tetahi atu. He tino kaupapa tera te tu motuhake o nga kooti. E mohio ana tatou ki te tu o te Tiriti o Waitangi hei kaupapa matua mo Aotearoa a koia ano hoki te kaupapa tokeke e whaia nei e te kooti. 
A he take ano ta tenei kaupapa ara ko te mahi kai huanga. He aha pu tenei ngangara kei roto i te Kooti Whenua Maori me te Taraipiunara o Waitangi e whakaohorere ana i a Nu Tireni Tuatahi me taku whanaunga ano a Pita Paraone. E mara hara i te mea ko tana e ki nei he tino raru mena ka riro e te Maori i te Tiati Matua mo te Kooti Whenua Maori? A ka raruraru ano mena ka noho te Maori ki te Taraipiunara o Waitangi? Koi nei taku patai i te mea kahore ano hoki au i kite i te kiko o nga whakapae mo te mahi kai huanga. A kare hoki te pire nei e whakatakoto i nga whakaaturanga kai huanga me te mana aha ranei mo teneki mahi. 
Ko taku patai i te mea mena ko te mahi kai huanga te mate kei te ropu hanga ture te he na tona whakahihi kia utaina tona mana ki runga i te ropu tiati ma nga ture kuare pera i te pire nei. Kua kite tatou i nga tau kua pahure ake nei i wetahi mahi taurekareka tukino ano hoki i te ropu tiati i timata i te putanga mai o te pire whanako i te takutai moana i mua i te aroaro o te kooti me te Whare nei. 
Kua rongo tatou i te whakapae o te Pirimia Tuarua i te Tiati Matua mo tana kokiri i nga ritenga whakaara ture me tana korero he “tuari toa” noa iho te Tiati Tumuaki. Kua whakapae a Stephen Franks te mema tawhito mo ACT ki runga i te Tiati Matua i te mea i nga tau 20 i mua i te wa i whakawa ia i te tono o Ngati Apa i awhina a ia i te tono o Ngati Te Ata mo te kereme mo te Moana o Manukau. Kua kite tatou i te Pirimia e takahi ana i te mana o ta Tiati Caren Wikiriwhi me tana whakakahore i te mahi a te kawanatanga kia mutu ai nga kereme Takutai Moana o nga iwi o Te Tai Rawhiti i te mea no Ngati Porou a Tiati Wikiriwhi a ko te tono kei mua i a ia no Ngati Porou ano. Kahore ra te Pirimia e amuamu mo nga tiati pakeha e whakawa ana i nga kehi a nga Pakeha. A kua kite ano tatou i te Pirimia Tuarua e whakahe ana i nga mahi a te Tumuaki o te Kooti Whenua Maori a Joe Williams e panuitia ana i te tono a Whakatohea i wa ratou tikanga tuku iho; he whakahe kua whakahokia ki runga i a ia ano. Na te hohonu o te riri nei kua kitea i nga tautohe o Te Runanga Whakahaere me te ropu tiati te korero a te Tiati Matua ara: “E ka raru te mana o te ropu tiati.” 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
If I just step away from the Maori point of view which is clearly to reject such a nonsense as this I would like to point out a couple of key constitutional issues that arise from this bill like the separation of powers: the principle that Parliament Cabinet and the courts are responsible for different functions and should not interfere with one another’s business. The independence of the judiciary is an important issue; for just as the public must be aware of the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi as our constitutional foundation so too must they be assured of the impartiality of our courts. 
Another matter of course is this conflict of interest and what exactly it is in the Maori Land Court and the Waitangi Tribunal that New Zealand First and in particular my relation Pita Paraone is so worked up about. Man surely he is not suggesting that there is any conflict in a Maori being the Chief Maori Land Court Judge is he; or that there is a problem with Maori sitting on the Waitangi Tribunal? I ask because apart from these areas there is nothing else in the bill to justify the sweeping allegations of conflict of interest. Mind you neither does the bill lay out any evidence of conflict of interest or even the effects of possible conflict of interest.  
I also ask because if there is any conflict of interest then it is with the legislature trying to impose its will on the judiciary through petty and domineering little bits of legislation like this one. Over the past few years actually since the bill to steal the foreshore and seabed was in front of the courts and before this House we have seen an unprecedented attack on the judiciary. 
We have had the Deputy Prime Minister accusing the Chief Justice of judicial activism even going so far as to call her a “shop steward”. We have had former ACT MP Stephen Franks accusing our country’s top judge of bias because 20 years before presiding over the Ngati Apa case she helped in Ngati Te Ata’s Manukau Harbour claim to the Tribunal. We have had the Prime Minister questioning Judge Caren Wickliffe’s right to find against the Crown’s attempts to stop East Coast foreshore and seabed claimants from going to court—asking whether Judge Wickliffe should have presided over the hearings because she is Ngati Porou and the case involved Ngati Porou. It is not as if the Prime Minister complains about Pakeha judges presiding over cases involving Pakeha defendants. And we have had the Deputy Prime Minister criticising Chief Maori Land Court Judge Joe Williams for publicising Whakatohea’s customary rights application—a criticism he was quickly forced to withdraw. In fact the seething discontent evident in “ 
Executive v Judiciary 
” led the Chief Justice to actually say:“Judicial independence is at risk.” 
] 
E mohio ana tatou na nga whakaritenga o te Kooti Pira ka tino whakama te kawanatanga a mai i taua wa kua kite tatou i nga mahi morikarika kua utaina e ratou ki runga i te ropu tiati. E te Whare —e tika ana ma tatou e ki ki te kawana—waihotia kia u ki wau nei mahi ara kia whakahiroki i a Aotearoa nei. 
We know that the Appeal Court’s ruling on the foreshore and seabed legislation was a major embarrassment to this Government and we have witnessed this Government’s vicious attacks on the judiciary ever since so we need to say to Government that it should leave the courts alone and stick to its own job of mismanaging the country. 
Tena koutou. The Maori Party will not be supporting this bill today tomorrow or any time soon. Kia ora tatou katoa.