Mapp Wayne: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Mapp Wayne: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:615;Page:10908] 
Dr WAYNE MAPP (National—North Shore) 
: 
 Equality—that is the word Labour members fear. That is what has them rattled. We have seen it in the House today—the first real time they have had to answer questions—and we see they fear the notion of equality. That is the reality. They fear the obligation of dealing with people on the basis of need not ethnicity. They cannot confront that reality so what do they do? Basically they do not tell the truth. I have been listening to a number of speeches and frankly they are distortions. It is quite clear based on what they have to say that virtually none of them read the speech made by Dr Brash. If they had they would not be misrepresenting it in the way they are. There is a word for that. I would like to be able to use it but I cannot. It starts with “l” and we know what it means. They need to tell the truth. 
Equality is the absolute heart of our democracy: the right of all people to be treated equally. The Maori members on the other side of the House know that their forefathers went to war 60 years ago and one of the things they were fighting for was the right to be treated equally to every other New Zealander. That is what the great challenge is today: the right to be treated equally under the law. 
So there is a dramatic contrast and that is why the country has been seized of this matter. At the depth of this issue people know there is a matter of fairness involved: the right of people to be treated equally under the law and the right for Government services to be based on need and not on preferences distorted figures or the respect to be given to people. Members on the other side would demean people—they would look first at the colour of their skin rather than at their need. 
So we say this and they are undertakings we give to the people of New Zealand. We will abolish the separate Maori seats under the Local Government Act. We will abolish the separate Maori seats in this House. We do that because their time has passed. The Government is living in the past. That is why it has these ideas dragged up from last century and from two centuries ago. That is why Government members think that the best response to equality to representation is to look back to 1867 and think: “There’s the answer!”. Well it is not. They should know that under MMP under modern theories of equality the time for those kinds of measures is past. 
Surely Maori do not really believe they should have special rights to be consulted on everything. Surely they would prefer to be treated as ordinary New Zealanders—the same as everyone else—on the issue of consultation. We acknowledge that people have a right to be consulted on specific issues around Maori land language and culture and those sorts of things. But beyond that there is the cardinal principle that underpins our democracy—and it is equality. 
That is so clearly revealed in Labour’s foreshore and seabed policy. Labour launched that policy on 17 December last year precisely because it did not want to be challenged at the time. Labour members knew it was explosive. They knew they had gone far beyond anything contemplated by the Court of Appeal and they did not want to account for their actions. Today is the very first time in this Parliament nearly 2 months after the launch of that policy that they have had to come to account. And they have had to come clean. 
So what are they saying? There are rights of veto. Yes that is true and those rights of veto will compromise the issue of access. That is what the Attorney-General had to admit in question time today. One cannot have commercial developments like sandmining like jetties—and who knows how far that will extend; perhaps there will be hotels over the waterfront in the Bay of Islands and marinas of all kinds—because those developments must compromise access and those members know the truth of that. Dr Cullen admitted it on radio when he said: “If you have a property right then you have a right of veto.” To my mind—my untutored legal mind—I would have to say that property rights mean exclusivity. That is the essence of a property right: it is the right to say “No” to other people. [ 
Interruption 
] That I say to Mr Cosgrove is what the word “veto” means. He should look it up in the dictionary. 
That is why this policy of the Government is dividing the country. The Government knew that back in July because the very first response of the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General was to say: “Oh no. We are going to confirm this as Crown title.” That was their instantaneous response. That was their gut reaction. But what did other members do? They rolled them and now they are in a domain of division and divisiveness. For 130 years since 1870 we had the settled law on this issue. We had the settled law of Crown title with access to all New Zealanders on the basis of equality. Let us think what generated the Court of Appeal decision in any event. It was actually the issue of aquaculture licences. Well if that was the serious intent behind those cases in Marlborough the issue could have been dealt with at that level. But no this Government has gone out to divide New Zealanders. 
Maori members may not like to hear that but it is the result of their policies. Their single-minded focus on their separate rights has had the effect of dividing this country. They are responsible for that. They have whipped up a fervour around the country. I have been to some of those meetings on the marae and I saw what happened there. 
There was the correct response and that response was the one the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General articulated in July last year. The issue of aquacultural licences could have been dealt with separately and there would have been the opportunity of producing a harmonious outcome. This Government will rue the day it did not react on that common-sense instinct. 
I turn to the issue of distortion by the Government. We have talked a great deal about needs. I was listening to Mr Maharey who claims to be a well-researched academic. Do members know what he said? He said that National would abolish kohanga reo National would abolish kura kaupapa schools and National would abolish funding for language and culture. He is wrong on each and every detail and that was specific and clear in the speech repeated by Dr Brash on nationwide television. The Minister’s claims are fundamentally false and this Government is despicable in the way it is spreading mistruths. 
The issue is whether this House has a responsibility for uniting people. Does this Government have that responsibility for uniting people? The answer surely is yes. If that is the case then this Government needs to do a U-turn and build its policies on the basis of equality for all citizens of this nation.