Horomia Parekura: General Debate 
Horomia Parekura: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5257] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Labour—Ikaroa-Rawhiti) 
: 
 Tena tatou. E mihi kau ana i a koe mo te rekareka hoki i te rongo atu i to tatou reo i roto i te Whare nei. Ko tenei te Wiki o te Reo Maori a tena tatou. Na te mea i rongo atu ki te koroke ra o te Nota e korero atu mo tana haki tona kara e ki atu mo te rere atu. Na te mea i roto i a koe mohio atu tera tangata toku whakaaro engari e mihi kau ana ki nga haki katoa o tatou mai i te Rua Te Kau Ma Waru mai ratou ma o nga Wahine Toko i te Ora i tae atu ratou ki te Nota e Hone e ngaro ana to ratou haki to ratou kara. Tangohia atu e koutou. Whakahokia atu koe ki a ratou. No reira tena tatou. 
Na te pai o tatou o te tangata whenua o konei e ora ai to tatou reo. Tera ano te pai o te wiki nei. Mai ano i te mahi o o tatou tupuna e tuku atu ki o tatou matua e tuku atu tatou ki nga mokopuna. Kei te whai kaha atu to ratou e rite atu ki ratou o Airangi o Wera pera tonu. He aha ai kare e whakaae atu te katoa mo tenei tino tuku na te pai hoki kei te ora hoki. E mohio atu tatou i roto i a tatou te kaha rawa o nga tupuna hei tuku atu ki a tatou. Tera ano te mahi i roto i te Whare Miere nei. Mai ra ano e tuku atu wetahi o nga kawenata e manaaki atu te puta ako a nga minita ra a tatou nga kaimahi o te Whare Miere mai ra ano e tuku atu ratou i tetahi kawenata e whakaae e kore whakaae. Na te mate hoki e kite atu tatou te wahine ra o te Hauauru e puta ana tona waha te riri hoki atu ki nga tangata e mau ana i te penihana. No reira e whakaaro atu. Kei te mahi wehewehe haere wetahi o ratou mo te tino take e manaaki atu tatou. 
Na te mamae e Hone e rongo atu i tae atu koutou ki Turanga-nui-a-Kiwa i reira ke mo nga ra e rua te nui o o tatou whanau e tae atu i runga i te penihana. Tera ano te manaaki e pirangi atu tatou mo i reira? Tera ano te kaha e whakawero atu tatou i te wahine nei o Te Ropu Nahinara? 
[ 
My acknowledgments to you and how wonderful it is to hear our language here in the House. This is Maori Language Week so greetings to us all. I note the comments by that person from the north in his address about his flag and how he would like to see it flown. He knows what my views are about it but at the same time I want to acknowledge all of our flags including the 28th Battalion one and the Maori Women’s Welfare League flag. That reminds me Hone they lost their flags when they came up north. You took it off them. Give it back to them! So greetings to us. 
I come back to the language. Our language has survived because we the people of the land have done a good job to ensure that. That is one of the good things about this week. It has been handed down through the generations through simple ethics. It continues and survives no different from the situation with the Welsh and the Irish. There have been strong things around that and there have been guidelines just like in this House here. The people who have come before us have provided legislative guidelines for Ministers and people who work in the House; some we agree with and some we do not. But the outburst we witnessed from the female westie member was uncalled for.  
But I digress. Hone you mentioned in your address that you were in Gisborne for 2 days. Most of our families who were there are on the pension and I find that most hurtful. Is that the sort of care we want there? Is that how strongly we want to provoke this lady from the National Party? 
] 
 Our language has certainly survived and it is wonderful to celebrate that this week during Maori Language Week. It has been handed down through the generations through a simple edict: that it continues and it survives no differently from the survival of Welsh and Irish languages. There has been a strengthening of that edict and there have been guidelines like those made in this House by the people who have come before us since the 1850s and 1860s. 
Generally the legislation is quite clear. One of the real issues is to ensure that people’s privacy is respected. There are legislative guidelines yet we have seen such an atrocious abuse committed recently by one of our Ministers in one of our principal ministries and it was done not just by her. She had been following along after listening to Simon Power versus Dame Sian Elias. What was that about? The Minister of Justice was putting himself above the law. That is what Simon did. He put himself above the law. 
What really made me wonder was when Paula Bennett the Minister for Social Development and Employment said: “I consulted the website.” Peter Hughes is one of the highest performing chief executives in the Public Service and I pay my respects to him. But the Minister went off and did that instead of consulting him. I can tell members that beneficiaries have a lot of fear as do a lot of Maori people over the activity that has happened recently. It is great fertile fuel for the rednecks to say: “Good on you Paula give it to them!”. 
People who are on benefits are not all lazy and they are not all bludgers. A middle-aged Maori woman had a second chance at education at the Gisborne polytechnic but that hope has been dashed. This is not just about the rangatahi. There are Maori women aged 35 45 and 55 years old who are good candidates to again educate themselves. What has happened? A welfare Minister and an education Minister have axed and destroyed the dreams of those people. 
One wonders whether this is a nanny State or whether it is just real blatant bullying. One would not blame beneficiaries for being afraid that their information is being tossed around freely and willingly and worse still that the chief executive hears about it only after it has happened. And instead of being humble about it and apologising for it the Minister got carried away with what the rednecks are saying: “Good on you girl you have done it. Hip hip hooray!”. What a lot of trash! Shame on the National Government for doing that! And shame on my friend and colleague Hone Harawira for not speaking up about it. 
Simon Bridges 
: Stop your scaremongering. 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: That member should not sit there and pontificate on his high Tauranga horse because he has a lot to learn about this place. One thing he will learn from this gentleman walking past me Gerry Brownlee—take off your toupee Gerry—is that at the end of the day I say to the solo mums and the beneficiaries of this country that they should beware of Ministers who bully people and decide to take their information from the website and ring the chief executive afterwards. How can Minister Bennett live with herself now that she has handed that out? What are the repercussions for those women’s families? What are the repercussions for the people those women are affiliated to? All the information is not out. 
Where are we getting to when the Minister of Justice tells the Chief Justice: “You cannot say that.” 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: Order! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: Sorry; I did not mean you Mr Assistant Speaker. Where are we going when the Minister of Justice decides to be so disrespectful to one of this country’s greatest legal minds? It is outrageous.