Brown Peter: General Debates 
Brown Peter: General Debates 
[Volume:616;Page:11723] 
PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 A few weeks ago the leader of the National Party made his infamous Orewa speech and I welcome the opportunity to add my views to those of that speech. 
Simon Power 
: This will kill the debate. 
PETER BROWN 
: In essence Mr Power— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: That is out of order. The member cannot interject that close. 
PETER BROWN 
: In essence Dr Brash said little more or no more than what the Rt Hon Winston Peters has been saying for many years. However in the aftermath Dr Brash and the National Party have allowed the debate to move from the issue of the Waitangi grievance industry to an issue of Maori versus non-Maori and that is a worrying situation. It is what I would term the “colonial approach”—the “I know better than you; you will do this because I know best.” type of philosophy. It is all good vote-winning stuff because it must be said that New Zealanders both Maori and non-Maori want a settlement—an end to the Waitangi grievance industry. In a nutshell they are sick of it and want it drawn to a conclusion. 
I say to the National Party that in any dispute situation we care to look at if understanding tolerance logic and fairness are removed friction and abuse will replace them. The tension will go up and friction and abuse will come through the door. If National Party members have not noted that that is what is happening in this country already then they should go and look outside this House. 
It has to be faced that Maori are overrepresented in virtually all the downside statistics. Over 50 percent of people in our prisons are Maori. 
Hon John Tamihere 
: Too many of them in New Zealand First! 
PETER BROWN 
: Additionally Maori health statistics including life expectancy are of some concern—and I respond to Mr Tamihere by telling him that that is quite a serious issue. Further Maori have a much higher unemployment rate and they are further down in the educational stakes. They are not Maori issues and they are not non-Maori issues; they are issues for all of us in this country. They are issues for New Zealanders. If they had been addressed earlier on there would be no Maori treaty grievance industry. Further if and when we do address those issues this country Maori and non-Maori will be far better off. All of us will be far better off when those issues have been addressed. They must be solved. 
Regrettably—and as a result of the Orewa speech—this country is now splitting into sides. On one side we have radicalism and intolerance and on the other side emerging rapidly is bigotry and impatience. We must overcome them. We will overcome them. It is incumbent upon us in this Parliament to show leadership and unite this country. We get on together when we are relaxing we play sport together and we have fought wars together. We must surely be able to solve this issue together. 
In the end it will be Maori who solve the problems but it is incumbent upon all of us to create the environment and the opportunities. This country is too good to get stuffed up because we want to go up in the polls or play a little bit of political opportunism—which is what the National Party has been doing. [ 
Interruption 
] I see the member has put three fingers in the air. Let me just respond to the three fingers. Those three issues are concerns for the vast majority of New Zealanders and we intend to address them.