Flavell Te Ururoa: Debate On Pacific IssuesText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Debate On Pacific Issues[Sitting date: 18 April 2013. Volume:689;Page:9578. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Kia ora tātau katoa ngā whanaunga i haere mai i tawhiti. E Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa haere mai e rarau ki roto i te Whare nei. Ahakoa tōna āhua he āhua Pākehā nei i tōna mutunga anā kua noho nei mātau te iwi Māori ki konei ki te kawe i ngā wawata o Te Ao Māori. Tēnā koutou haere mai haere mai haere mai rā.[Thank you Mr Speaker. Salutations to you all the relatives who have come here from afar. Welcome to you the great ocean of Kiwa settle into this House. Even though this setting is somewhat European-like we the Māori members have eventually become part of this scene to bear the aspirations of Māoridom. Acknowledgments to you collectively welcome welcome and welcome indeed.]When the Māori Party acknowledged the relationship between tangata whenua and the people our brothers and sisters of the Pacific Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa and as we travelled from Hawaiki we shared an ancient knowledge of the stars and the oceans. That knowledge is passed down to us to this day in our tukutuku panels that adorn the walls of our carved whare throughout the motu. Today in this place we pay tribute to the rich oral traditions of our ancient navigators who guided us from the past to this future. From our whakapapa connections our genealogical connections we have an obligation to support the well-being of our brothers and sisters in the Pacific as Māori. As our closest neighbours our security stability and prosperity are closely linked. On a personal level our people interact every day and must unite to face the challenges that we all experience.We say that the strength of Māori and Pasifika peoples lies in our āinga our whānau our communities who pull together to bring change for ourselves. Our key priority whānau ora has been described by our Pasifika relations our Pasifika whanaunga as restoring the role of the village. We stand together in the pursuit of mana motuhake. We support Pasifika nations in growing their own local accountability and success rather than foisting a system of private enterprise upon them that may not fit either the culture or the people. Our view in the Māori Party is that we should assist rather than dominate development. We support Pasifika nations in their journey to realise their own modern aspirations on their own land in line with their own tikanga and their own traditions.Here in Aotearoa we have provided a place to live for many people who call the Pacific home. Just as in Māori communities where young people leave their papakāinga for urban areas those left at home feel the loss of their most talented and those who have left feel a loss of connection. We must support our Pasifika relations to remain connected to their homelands maintaining the essence of who they are. We call this rangatiratanga; others might say mana motuhake—the ability to be strong in your own identity language and culture. We think the key for any peoples lies in developing their own solutions as a more effective efficient and enduring response. We believe in greater community development and less governmental bureaucracy. The focus of the Māori Party is to bring to fruition the aspirations of New Zealanders through self-determination kaupapa tuku iho and a commitment to the Treaty of Waitangi. In the Pacific we would expect the same—that your own forms of business and governance which were in place many years prior to the arrival of the Palagi European colonisation will stand you in good stead for the generations to come.It is wonderful to have you all here—our relations—and I want to finish by paying tribute to all of the Pasifika brothers and sisters who have stood by Māori in the Land March of 1975 in the hīkoi of 2004 and in our mutual desire to honour the Treaty of Waitangi. Likewise we have stood by our Pasifika communities throughout the traumatic history of the dawn raids in the 1970s and in confronting and addressing so many of the educational economic and social yardsticks by which our peoples are measured. Tangata Pasifika and tangata whenua have always shared a common bond in our connections through our ancestry our culture and our customs. We both understand implicitly concepts that run to the core of our being. Our land our whenua is the central link to our genealogical connections as an enduring umbilical cord pito between yesteryear and tomorrow. I wish all of you delegates who are with us today all the very best. I look forward to the continuing dialogue that is so vital to our ongoing relationships with one another.In closing I say that I listened earlier and noted that some of the parties have been pitching to you as our visitors for your vote. I will not do that myself. Suffice to say which of these words sounds sweeter to you my Pacific brothers and sisters? Which word sounds sweeter looks sweeter and may be even smells sweeter: New Zealand First Labour National or Māori? Kia ora tātou.