Delahunty CatherineCATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green): Kia ora tātou katoa. He mihi nui ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I am very glad to be here tonight as well as very ashamed because I am afraid the bill is going to go down and the consequences of not doing it send a very strong message. They send a message that the Parliament is still not ready to grow up and recognise that we are not in London we are not in Westminster—we are in Aotearoa. We can take what is good from our colonial history and we can take what is good from our founding document and we can create a better country but we do not do it by voting this bill down.I want to just acknowledge Marama Fox and the Māori Party for bringing this forward. The Green Party is very proud to support a bill that would allow people to take their oath on Te Tiriti. I have experienced the humiliation in this House of trying to swear on Te Tiriti. It is not just about tangata whenua because Te Tiriti is needed more by Pākehā than anyone else. It is the founding document that affirms our right to live with honour in Aotearoa with respect to the people who never ceded their rangatiratanga. That is why this option should exist.When I have tried to swear on Te Tiriti in this House it is because it is the meaningful founding document. The Crown is only one part of the bargain. If people find it meaningful to swear to the Crown they are welcome to do so but in Aotearoa the fact that the option does not exist is bizarre. We support the bill because sovereignty—or if you want to call it tino rangatiratanga—in article 2 was never ceded. Go and ask Ngāpuhi. I have been to Waitangi every year for 16 years which is nothing compared with those who are from there. Every year I have been to Tou Rangatira and listened to the kōrero about what Te Tiriti means. Although I support the bill I do not actually support the principles. I support the articles because the articles make it very clear: kāwanatanga the governance of Pākehā by Pākehā and ngā tauiwi katoa for our diverse nation. Article 2: tino rangatiratanga. The absolute chieftainship of the rangatira given by their people to them was never ceded.So the Crown and this Parliament have no right to say that we cannot swear on Te Tiriti o Waitangi or that the Parliament is sovereign without Te Tiriti. It is about the relationship and if people do not understand that it is about the relationship no wonder they do not understand about power in relationships which means recognising and respecting people's right to honour their most solemn values. That is what an oath is supposed to be: we swear on our solemn values. For many of us and increasingly for a younger generation who have had the benefit of some Te Tiriti education Te Tiriti is the foundation. And there is recognition that prior to 1840 there was also a process including Te Whakaputanga but also a long-term process whereby people of the North in particular—and I believe Kahungunu—travelled to talk to the British Crown about the relationship not to cede sovereignty. This bill offers people the opportunity to swear on what they hold valuable. The future of this country and the past of this country cannot be separated from Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Why would we want to do that? In terms of leadership—and I have taught Te Tiriti workshops for 20 years now—people look to this Parliament to see symbolic action showing genuine respect and recognition. Yes we have made progress in some areas but in this area we seem to be blocked. We seem to be locked into a fear-based approach—a fear of diversity a fear of so-called choice but also a fear of upholding what is most important to a very very significant part of our population including many Pākehā who believe this is really important. So I do not know what these people are afraid of I really do not.I also do not understand the arguments that have been put forward about how this might undermine the clear purpose of Parliament or it might create division or confusion. I personally had a member's bill that every citizen would have the opportunity to swear an oath on Te Tiriti in the citizenship ceremony and that each citizen would be told who the mana whenua were. So I am sorry Marama but we do definitely support your bill. I am sorry the others do not—I mean the other the National Government.