Horomia Parekura: General Debate 
Horomia Parekura: General Debate 
[Volume:662;Page:10327] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. E mihi kau ana ki nga korero puta a-waha a Hone; tena koe.  
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Speaker. I commend Hone on what he said in his address; well done. 
] 
I was glad to see that Hone Harawira was kept on his chain. He was playing poodle and was under strict direction from his leaders. That was not Hone talking and he knew that what he said was wrong. It was like that frumpy “big boy” over there on the National side the Hon Gerry Brownlee who was barking in his speech. There is a poodle in the Maori Party seats and a bulldog in the National seats. Mr Brownlee was carrying on and nattering on about nothing. Labour is a party of all of those things he mentioned. We are a party that cares about all sorts of people and I am not so selective as to pitch just at the rich boys and never mind anybody else. But that is what Hone has fallen for at the end of the day. 
Let us go back to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples I tell Gerry. This is what the Prime Minister said quite clearly and unequivocally: “I think it is important to understand that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is just that—it is a declaration. It is not a treaty it is not a covenant and one does not actually sign up to it. It is an expression of aspiration; it will have no”—and this is the important part—“impact on New Zealand law and no impact on the constitutional framework.” That is what the National Government is saying. Pita Sharples and Hone Harawira on his chain are telling us to celebrate—celebrate. Celebrate what? Celebrate nothing. I will tell him because he said we were useless bastards. That is what he said on TV. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I am on my feet and there will be no interjections. Normally when members are clearly quoting something I would not object too much. But the implication was that some members of this House are as the member described and I do not think that is acceptable. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. What my colleague said was a direct quote from that member about members on this side of the House. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The point of order will be heard in silence. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: It was a quote—and I think part of it was translated; a direct translation—of what that member said about members on this side of the House. If we cannot say what he said about us and refute it we have some problems. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The point is that in this House there are some limits. I do not want to be too tight because this is a robust debate. There are rulings that state that members cannot use a quotation to introduce unparliamentary language. I do not want to be too precious about that because this is a place of robust debate but when we start quoting inside the House things that have been said outside the House that implies across the House that members might be as the member said I think we need to be a bit careful. I ask the member to be a little cautious and not to be too careless in what he says. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Mahi waha hukahuka e Hone; tena koe. 
[ 
It is mouth-sweetening stuff Hone; good on you 
.] 
What did the Prime Minister mean when he said last week that there will be no rush to sign the declaration? Does the Prime Minister agree with the Minister of Maori Affairs when he said the sign-up was unconditional? That is what the Minister of Maori Affairs said. [ 
Interruption 
] That is right I say to Maurice. He is not yet back on the front bench but that is dead right. At the end of the day Gerry will make sure of that and Simon will sit there and open up in the sense of the distortion that he spoke about yesterday in relation to the UN declaration. National members know that they have put the Maori Party asunder. They know that they are celebrating in disguise and they know full well that they are using Maori Party members and milking them. 
As Minister Turia said today this is about next year’s election. Well let us see about that in relation to the Maori issues. I will tell Hone Harawira what the last Labour Government did. We raised the minimum wage eight or nine times. In the last period of time when National was in power it raised the minimum wage by 37c. National is at it again with GST accident compensation and all those issues that are relevant to Maori. Labour brought in 14 weeks’ maternity leave. It did all of those things. Labour halved the Maori unemployment rate. What does Hone Harawira have to say about carrying one of the highest unemployment rates in North Auckland? That is even though the Minister Paula Bennett says that we have 11000 fewer unemployed—that is benefit shuffling; we are down. What does she have to say to the 43 percent of Maori under the age of 24 who are unemployed? That is seven points off 50 percent which would be half of all those people. It has nearly tripled since this Government has come into office. What does the UN declaration have to say about that? How will it make a difference? That is what is relevant. You know Hone— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The member is an experienced member. He cannot point the finger across the House and say “you know” because the member is then referring to the Speaker. He must not do that as it leads to disorder. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: That member knows that and he understands it very well. It is hurtful having worked over a period of time with Hone Harawira to see him being led. That is what happened here today. I am thinking hard about what we can do. What has been done for Maori? I refer to tertiary qualifications I say to Hone. It takes Maori 1 year and 3 months longer to qualify for whatever reason. We could blame colonisation; we could blame Gerry for being a woodwork teacher; we could blame anybody else—but we will not. We are not like that. But what we will make sure of is that whoever does all this shuffling around—Paula Bennett—who at the end of the day will this affect? It will affect Maori and it will affect Pacific Island people. That is what will happen. 
I can tell those members over there what they are saying out on the road. People are starting to doubt big time. We get around out on the road. It is not about votes for the Maori Party. The people think there is a shemozzle going on. The majority of this country understands the patting-poodle stuff and what National tells mainstream New Zealand. They understand that its members are very wary that they do not damage their image and are watching the polls and that those members over there in the Maori Party do not understand that they are being taken down the road.