Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
Mackey Moana: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6560] 
MOANA MACKEY (Labour) 
: 
 I was not considering taking another call in this debate until during the contribution from my colleague Steve Chadwick the member Sandra Goudie made quite a telling interjection. When Steve Chadwick was discussing the issue of Maori seats and asking why the member for Tauranga Simon Bridges had not come down to the Chamber to speak out on it Sandra Goudie said: “Because he won his seat based on merit. He didn’t have it handed to him on a plate.” Well I want to ask Sandra Goudie whether she thinks the member Rahui Katene won her seat on merit. Does Ms Goudie think Ms Katene had it handed to her on a plate? I can tell that member who has gone very quiet all of a sudden for a member who is usually very raucous that the members of the Maori seats on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council won their seats on merit. They were democratically elected in contested elections. They had nothing handed to them on a plate. They absolutely won those seats on merit. 
I ask Sandra Goudie whether she stands by those comments that she interjected during my colleague Steve Chadwick’s contribution. Does she stand by them? Look at that! Of course she does. That is the very crux of the issue of Maori seats. 
Sandra Goudie 
: Absolutely. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Absolutely stands by them! 
MOANA MACKEY 
: She absolutely stands by her comments that Maori members who stand in Maori constituencies do not win their seats on merit but have them handed to them on a plate. I know that the member Rahui Katene worked very hard to win her seat and that Parekura Horomia and Nanaia Mahuta worked very hard to win their seats. I thank Sandra Goudie very much for telling us in the dying stages of this Committee debate the real reason why National opposes Maori seats on the Auckland Council: National does not believe that those seats would be won based on merit. That is incredibly offensive and not just to the Maori Party members of Parliament whom her party is sucking up to pretending that they respect them and have a mana-enhancing relationship with them. When it comes down to it Sandra Goudie and the National Government do not believe that the Maori Party members won their seats on merit. They believe those seats were handed to them on a plate. Sandra Goudie seems to think that her seat means a little bit more than a Maori constituency seat. She thinks that she actually had to earn her seat but members for Maori seats do not really have to earn them because it is a little bit easier to win them. 
This comes down to the core of the issue: a Maori seat is still one person one vote. Maori people on the general roll do not get two votes. They do not get to vote for two MPs; they get to vote for only one MP. What is it about that that the National Government finds so offensive? The issue is representation as I said earlier this morning. I doubt that Sandra Goudie if there was not a Maori MP also servicing her area would go on to marae go to hui and speak in Maori so that those constituents would get the same level of representation as her other constituents. This debate is about Maori seats on the Auckland Council. It is about representation. It is about constituents who are Maori and whose preferred forum for consultation is on marae in hui and speaking in Maori deserving the same level of representation as constituents whose preferred medium of consultation is at a Rotary meeting or in an electorate office and speaking in English. 
I want to know what the National Government finds so offensive about that idea that it feels the need to desperately oppose having any Maori seats on the Auckland Council. I wonder how many hui Sandra Goudie has held in her electorate with her Maori constituents speaking in Maori since she was elected. 
Hon Member 
: None. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Exactly. That is why we have Maori seats—to ensure that those New Zealanders for whom that is their preferred medium of consultation get the same level of representation. 
Sandra Goudie 
: Many meetings. Anybody can come. 
MOANA MACKEY 
: Sandra Goudie can harp away at me right now. I cannot even hear what she is saying any more but she has revealed the truth. National does not believe that Maori electorate members are elected based on merit. Ms Goudie and her party believe that those members are a little bit inferior—or maybe a lot inferior but I will give them the benefit of the doubt—because although she won her seat based on merit and Simon Bridges won his seat based on merit those Maori members did not win their seats based on merit.