Wall Louisa; Tolley AnneLOUISA WALL (Labour—Manurewa): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare. I've got engaged in this debate and I want to thank the National Party for giving me one of their five-minute calls. I'd like to start back in 1854 when there were 51 MPs in this institution that we all work within and they were all Pākehā men. In fact it wasn't until between 1867 and 1996 that we had full Māori seats. Indigenous seats—obviously seats that were about the indigenous status that we have as Māori to Aotearoa New Zealand. The Government of 1867 said that we needed to give Māori a more direct say in Parliament. So the Māori seats have always provided a specific voice for Māori.So when we look at the Māori seats actually we have to look at the status of the Māori seats and the status of Māori here in Aotearoa New Zealand. We now have an electoral system where Māori get to decide and basically 50 percent of us are choosing to be on the Māori roll and 50 percent of us are choosing to be on the general roll. Because of our MMP system some of us get into this institution as list MPs. So I put on the record that I'm a proud Māori who's on the Māori roll. I choose to be on the Māori roll because I believe in a specific voice for Māori.So the history of our Parliament essentially is one where we had white seats and where we had brown seats. It wasn't until 1967 that I as a Māori could actually stand in a general seat. Up until that point in time I was only allowed to stand in the brown seats. The interesting thing about that year is that that's when Pākehā could actually stand for Māori seats. No Pākehā I believe has ever won a Māori seat but from 1967 they could stand in a seat. Then we had our electoral reform and so in 1993 we had four Māori seats; and then when Māori got to choose from 1996 we had five seats; 1999 we had six seats; and since 2002 we have had seven Māori seats within our political system.The issue that confronts us tonight actually is about racism. I'm putting it out there because that's the reality. We have had general seats that actually were white seats and we have had Māori seats that were actually brown seats. Our electoral system says that our white seats are more important to the integrity of our electoral system than our brown seats. How do we do that? We say our general seats which historically have been for Pākehā New Zealanders are entrenched within our constitution but our brown seats—our Māori seats—in this institution we only need 50 percent plus one to get rid of them. That fundamentally is the issue. We have a racist electoral system ladies and gentlemen.What this bill seeks to do is to say that there is no distinction; we do not have general seats white seats Māori seats or brown seats because every single member in this Parliament is equal. Our electoral system does not say that and that's why I had to stand—and I've tried to pīnono off all my mates to get a say—because racism is real and it's structural and if we want to know what it looks like we don't have to look at a cartoon in the Otago Daily Times; we can actually look at our electoral system and we can look at how we treat our Māori seats and it's absolutely for 2019 disgusting.So I am speaking this passionately because we have an opportunity through Rino Tirikatene's bill to rectify an historical injustice. That's what I'm going to call it: an historical injustice because essentially if the seats are different are we saying that general MPs are better and worth more than Māori MPs? Are we really saying that? That's actually what the seats say when we entrench one but the other one we can just let go with 50 percent plus one. I think that's incredibly offensive and I wish we had the maturity as a Parliament to say that our Māori seats are just as valuable as our general seats. That's what this opportunity tonight presents us with.I'm incredibly proud to be a voter in the Māori electorate of Hauraki-Waikato and my mate here Nanaia Mahuta is the person that I trust with my vote because I know her Māori voice is going to speak for the people the Māori people of Hauraki-Waikato. Kia ora.DEPUTY SPEAKER: This is a split call and I call the Hon Meka Whaitiri.