Cunliffe David: New Zealand Day Bill — Second Reading 
Cunliffe David: New Zealand Day Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:639;Page:9869] 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE (Minister of Immigration) 
: 
 I rise to oppose the New Zealand Day Bill. The first time I visited the Waitangi Treaty site Te Tii Marae I had one of those experiences that I will never forget—the feeling of goose bumps up my spine as I knew that I stood in the place where our modern nation was founded. I want to discuss several reasons why I think that uniqueness is more important now than at any stage in our past and why I believe the retention of Waitangi Day is one small element of our moving forward to a shared future rather than backwards to one that does not truly honour our collective past. 
 Sadly the “British conquest” of New Zealand— 
Tariana Turia 
: They didn’t conquer us; they did not. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: —in quotation marks I tell my learned colleague—was unique in the sense that at its best it was not a conquest; it was an understanding that developed between two peoples. That distinguishes it from the experiences of European settlement in Australia in Canada in the United States and in many other Anglo-European societies we would sometimes compare ourselves with. That Treaty signed at the place Waitangi embeds some of the highest ideals of our nationhood. It is important that we continue to celebrate it. 
Why is that unique identity more important now than perhaps at any other time? Firstly it is because we live in an age where people are more mobile around the planet than at any previous time in human history. Our population as a consequence is more diverse. My learned colleague Mr Fairbrother agreed with by Mr Jones said we need to understand better the differences and overlaps between biculturalism and multiculturalism—and so we do. But it has to be however we describe it a positive kind of blend and one that honours the founding identity and the unifying myths history and constitutions of this unique place called New Zealand. As our community becomes more diverse those unifying myths and histories become even more important. 
Secondly we face now as at no other time in our history new and powerful challenges to our very sovereignty. I heard yesterday that 92 percent of the Internet traffic by New Zealanders is to offshore sites. Of the 8 percent of New Zealand traffic half of it is to TradeMe. Another quarter is utilities and banks so only 2 percent of the Internet sites that New Zealanders visit are ‘endemic’ or ‘creative’ sites in New Zealand. Therefore almost nothing that our young people see on the Internet is endemic. We live in a global “McDonald’s” cyberspace and we will lose our very identity unless we are very clear what it is and unless we fight to retain and develop it. 
In addition our economy faces waves of global capital and currently waves of Australian private equity buying up every company that is not literally bolted down an agricultural cooperative or a State-owned enterprise. There are not many left actually— 
Shane Jones 
: And John Key wants to sell everything. 
Hon DAVID CUNLIFFE 
: —and John Key wants to sell what is left. He wants to have tradable shares in Fonterra and he wants to flog off State-owned enterprises—goodbye economic sovereignty! Unless we are very careful we will be hollowed out by the winds of capitalism. Therefore it is even more important that our cultural identity is robust and secure. 
The third reason why I think it is essential that we not only retain but build on our Waitangi heritage is that it represents for many New Zealanders the highest ideals of our shared history. We call to it not to the Land Wars when we remember our past because we want to honour a deep sense of partnership and justice not because we want to honour or perpetuate raupatu. We want to restore justice we want to heal hurt we want to move forward together and te Tiriti gives us a basis for doing that. For all its imperfections for all the differences in translation and understanding for all the conflicts that have surrounded it since the essence of Waitangi is that it calls to the highest angels of our nature. It calls us on to a better future. 
So those are three reasons why we must not only retain but build on Waitangi. Firstly it represents a unique part of history. Secondly now more than ever before we need to maintain that uniqueness in the face of unprecedented globalisation; and thirdly it calls to the higher angels of our nature and our sense of innate justice. 
When I visited Te Tii and Waitangi that first time I imagined that it might be the site—on the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty in 2040—of the declaration of our republic. For me the final reason why we need to go forward is that New Zealand’s future has got to be constitutionally unique. It does not make sense for us always to think of ourselves as a British dominion. Sure we will always be a Commonwealth country but does it make sense for us to be a British dominion? Or are we a truly independent and unique Asia-Pacific nation punching above our weight secure in our identity prospering in our destiny providing for our children and building a better future—a unique future? I believe that that is what our future is as a Commonwealth republic. 
I believe that once we have settled the outstanding Treaty claims by 2020 over the next two decades we will be able to unveil and develop a new constitutional arrangement whereby the obligations on the British Crown are transferred to a constitutional form that is fully appropriate to and accepted by iwi. It will anchor our future but it will anchor it in an identity that is endemically and perpetually our own rather than one that has been inherited from colonial masters from whom my forebears—my whakapapa—seven generations ago fled to avoid an oppressive class system. They were miners in Lancashire they were agricultural workers in Kent but they came to these fair shores because they wanted a freer better and unique future. They did not want to be “Brits”. Britain is a marvellous country but I am a New Zealander. 
When I travel I understand that my identity as a New Zealander depends upon my bicultural heritage depends upon the Treaty depends upon my understanding of what it means as a modern New Zealander and sharing in it. It is part of my combined bloodlines part of the future of my children and part of the future of the whenua that we and they will inherit. It is a precious thing—it is such a precious thing. Can members imagine New Zealand without the Treaty? Can they imagine us without the potential of a unifying myth? Can we imagine ourselves without a past we can call to? It at least has a spark of justice and honour that we can aspire to for our future. Imperfect as it was conflicted as it was dishonoured as it sometimes was we have the opportunity to honour the Treaty now and to build a future that is based upon it. Let us oppose this silly bill and take on that challenge for our children’s sake.