Sharples Pita: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeSharples Pita: General Debate[Sitting date: 18 September 2013. Volume:693;Page:13469. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon Dr PITA SHARPLES (Māori Party—TāmakiMakaurau):Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Keikoneiahau etūana. Keikoneimātou o tePāti Māori etūanai rotoi te WharePāremata ki terapuitētahi kaupapa heiwhakakotahiaiingā iwi o Aotearoa.Nā te mamae me tepōuritanga oNgāi Māorii tetāhaetanga o tetakutai moanaipupūake teririi rotoi atātou. Teriri ki teKāwanatanga teriri kitēnei WharePāremata teriri kingā turengā kawangāwhakahaere otēnei Whare epupurianai te tikangaKāwanatangamō Aotearoawhānui.Nā rotoitēnāriri katipuai te kaupapa o tePāti Māori.Nā ōmātouwhānauhapū iwi ōrātouwawatatūmanako ā-tikanga Māoriiwhakatō ki rotoi tePāti Māorihaikawe ki rotoitēnei Whare.Nā e te rangatira kotēnei tetīmatanga o tePāti Māori metōmātouhīkoi ki tewhaiingā kaupapa Māorimōtēnei WharemōtēneiKāwanatanga.Aneiahau.Aneimātou o tePāti Māori etū atuneihaimāngaimōrātouhaimāngaimō ātātoutīpuna heimāngaimō ātātou tamariki mokopunawhakatipuranga. Etū Māorianamātou.[Greetings to you Mr Speaker. I am standing here and we of the Māori Party are standing here in Parliament House looking for a forum that will unite the tribes of New Zealand. BecauseMāoridom was hurt and saddened by the theft of the foreshore fury welled up in us at the Government at this House of Parliament and at the laws protocols and procedures of this House that hold Government practice for New Zealand generally. The ideology of the Māori Party blossomed out of that indignation.Our families subtribes tribes their aspirations and expectations and wise Māori lore were planted in the Māori Party to bring these forth into this House. This then is the genesis of the Māori Party and our journey to pursue Māori matters for this House and the Government. Here I am and here we are of the Māori Party standing before you as their representatives and as representatives for our ancestors children grandchildren and the ones to come. We represent Māori.]I want to tell you something about the Māori Party. Its members are unashamedly Māori. We are unashamed to say who we are where we have come from and whom we represent. We are a small party but we are a Māori Party. We are not encumbered by a caucus that puts Māori issues in a box. For us every issue is a Māori issue. We are not encumbered by a caucus that will give lower priority to those issues in that Māori box unlike this party over here that is making that noise. And when we measure Māori issues we are not encumbered by having to consider those issues from any other viewpoint than our own Māori kaupapa.WhenRuatoki was raided by the police as mandated by the Labour Government of the day we did not have to negotiate our position with anyone else butTūhoe. We stood by them. We continue to stand by them today. When injustice is present in our justice system we do not have to ask permission to speak out; we speak out about the issues that we see. When the people ofMātaatua waka were faced with theRena disaster we were first there to voice our concerns over that issue. When ourwhānau are being disproportionately affected by the impacts of poverty we move to action. We established the Ministerial Committee on Poverty and secured $1 billion worth of support for them. When the rights of Māori are threatened we will be there. We will be there and no one can stop us from standing by their side.So I stand here today to say how proud I am to be part of a kaupapa that prioritises the aspirations tikanga and desires of the indigenous people of this land. I am proud to say that in everything we do we are Māori. I tell you this because I am sick to death of hearing people debate Māori issues in a box. Generation after generation of ourtīpuna have represented us in this House and have had their voices marginalised. I have seen this happen in every shape every sphere and every space in the political system. We had to fight the system in order to maintain our culture. We had to fight for our language. We had to fight for the Tiriti o Waitangi. We had to fight to maintain our Māori seats. This is not about fighting for fighting’s sake; this is about fighting for survival.The job of the Māori Party is clear. As members of this House we have a responsibility to support Māori issues. I want to say that the Labour Party had a hugeopportunity to move forward our journey as Māori. It was an opportunity that it misused and overlooked. Despite what Shane said to me on Twitter this morning which I put down to a basic need for my attention he is part of my community. He is Māori and he could have been the first Māori leader of the Labour Party and thus possibly the first Māori Prime Minister. That opportunity was wasted and despite my feelings about that party I am sorely sorely disappointed that Labour did not take that step for the Māori people. This is from the very party that claims to hold Māori aspirations on high.What that tells me is that the Māori Party although small still has a very important role to play in keeping Māori issues in front of minds and in front of the House because Labour cannot and will not do this for Māori.Tēnā koe.