Tirikatene Rino: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeTirikatene Rino: Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill — Third Reading[Sitting date: 29 January 2014. Volume:696;Page:15687. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga):Tēnā koe Mr Assistant Speaker. I am very pleased to speak in this final reading of the Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa Bill. I have listened to and I have followed the debate on this bill which we oppose.I was prepared to give the Minister for Arts Culture and Heritage Christopher Finlayson the benefit of the doubt—almost prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt—that this piece of legislation would live up to the rhetoric that has been coming from the other side: that this bill is about efficiencies and it is about changing the governance structure of the Arts Council so it can make things more streamlined. But we know that the passage of this bill just in this House alone has taken nigh on 3½ years. So much for the streamlining and the efficiency that the Government wants to drive through for the Arts Council when it has taken 3½ years to get this far. We know that this priority area for the Government was announced in its 2008 manifesto—it was announced way back then. So it has taken some 5 years—we are nearly into the sixth year—for this bill to come to fruition. It does not live up to the rhetoric.I was really disappointed in the Minister’s remarks last night. There were a couple of things that I really took offence to. Yes we know that there has been a delay in the passage of this legislation. Yes we know that there is a full-on onslaught that has been ravaged against theMāori committee against theMāori arts community and against the Pacific arts community through the disbandment of their identifiable respective committees. But the Minister really offended me last night when he said that he is adopting this streamlined structure because he wants to take on the Australian model. Apparently the Australian equivalent has gone through a similar streamlining or the creation of a flat single governance structure for the arts there. Lets us think about that. How dare the Minister take on an Australian model when we all know very well how good the Australians are with their indigenous affairs?Darien Fenton: Exactly.RINO TIRIKATENE: It is absolutely appalling and yet this Minister is looking to Australia as the model that we should be following. How much support do the Australians give to their indigenous communities and their indigenous arts? Very little I would say and yet this Minister was holding up the Australians as a grand example that we should be following. It is absolutely disgraceful. But then the Minister went on and said that under this streamlined efficient flat governance structure we will take care of the special interests ofMāori and Pacific arts communities by giving them seats at thetable. Have we not heard that before? They will be sitting at the top table. It is no different from what we hear from theMāori Party—[Interruption] Absolutely! TheMāori Party should have a seat at the table. We all know howMāori have benefited from those seats—we all know.What I really want to know is—there is this so-called illusion that by having seats at the table it will transform the interests ofMāori and Pacific arts communities to being real power players. But then I am really disappointed because when they get to the top table the table is always very very big. There are a lot of seats around that table and theMāori seats and the Pacific seats are always just—well they never actually get to the point of being equal power partners around the table. So unfortunately the disbandedMāori committee Te Waka Toi will be replaced with four committee members. They will be sitting at this table but they will be only four—four out of 13. This Government likes to say “Oh but there will be at least four. You will have at least four.” That actually is meaningless when you do not have power equivalence in terms of the discussions and the decisions that are made. So sitting at the table is really nonsense.What I would like to know is what shape is this table that they are sitting at? Is it a round table where all the voices will have an equal say and they will all meaningfully contribute to the decisions that have to be made at that table? I do not think it will be. It is not that. It is not going to be a nice round table like that because we know that the brown faces theMāori and the Pacific will always be in the minority. We also know that this table is one of those big rectangular tables with the big throne chairs at either end because that is where the power resides. It does not reside with those interest groups being at the table.I also want to make another comment because there is a huge glaring omission from the structure of this new governance body and that is the complete disregard for our ethnic communities. It is great thatMāori have four seats; Pacific people you get two seats; ethnic people you get none. And yet they are the fastest-growing demographic group in our country. They have a huge contribution to make to our arts communities and they have absolutely no recognition at all—let alone the pressure.Can you imagine the pressure that the people who are appointed to this body will be under to represent such a broad area? FourMāori—well they do not actually have to beMāori. They can be just any person with a knowledge ofMāori arts and culture which is even more pathetic. These people have to take into account the broadness of theMāori arts and I am talking of all traditional and modern arts and all different iwi. The entire breadth the completeness oftoiMāori has to be taken into account and the pressure will be on those people.But I guess those people will be able to conduct their jobs because the Minister will be appointing them. We know that the Minister ofMāori Affairs will be appointing theMāori representatives and the new Minister of Pacific Island Affairs Sam Lotu-Iiga will be helping to make the decision to appoint those respective representatives. But again it is just lip-service and it actually weakens and demeans the role ofMāori and Pacific people in the arts in New Zealand. It is especially disrespectful with the complete absence of an ethnic voice on this new committee structure.I also want to take this opportunity to do a poroporoaki as we do inMāori—a farewell. You might wonder what the purpose of this is. This bill when it comes into force will spell the end of some iconic names and some iconic labels and brands that have been bestowed upon the arts bodies—what was the Arts Council of New Zealand. Those include terms such as “Te Waka Toi”. Te Waka Toi is going to be put to bed. People out there will no longer see Te Waka Toi once this legislation is enacted. So we must say to Te Waka Toi: haere haere aturā kitua o teāraitū Te Waka Toi [go gobeyond the veil Te Waka Toi has beached.] Likewise Creative New Zealand—that is going to be put to bed. So we will give a haererā to Creative New Zealand. The Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council of New Zealand is also getting tucked away but I do not think too many people will miss that one. But those iconic labels those great arts organisations and those names—which flourished under the former Labour Government and the greatest arts Minister that this country has ever had the Rt Hon Helen Clark—will be no longer. They will be resurrected only if the Arts Council chooses to do so. It would be very unfortunate if those—especially Te Waka Toi; you know iconic poetic terms like that in Te ReoMāori—were never to be used again. That is what will take place under this bill. And so I bid those terms—those names—farewell. But I do hope that they will be resurrected.But in a sense where is the originality in having to go through this whole restructuring process change all the names and then bring them back again? It defies logic in my opinion and it speaks to a complete muck-up really from this Minister. Maybe that explains the delay. Maybe that explains why it has taken 3½ years—nearly 5 long years—to get this through. The Minister has had no problem zipping through plenty of Treaty settlements but unfortunately this is a really disappointing piece of legislation. The disdain that the Minister has shown to the arts community has been really disappointing as evidenced by this bill and we definitely oppose this bill. Kia oratātou.