Locke Keith: New Zealand Day Bill — Second Reading 
Locke Keith: New Zealand Day Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:639;Page:9856] 
KEITH LOCKE (Green) 
: 
 The Green Party is against changing Waitangi Day to New Zealand Day and I am glad that largely there is a consensus in the House on that. The Treaty of Waitangi is our nation’s founding document. It is important that we keep the day named after the Treaty of Waitangi. It recognises the rights of the tangata whenua and Waitangi Day is the day we celebrate the establishment of New Zealand as a bicultural nation. 
During the discussions so far on this bill members have put forward interesting ideas about other days such as Matariki which will be celebrated soon. In fact the Green Party is holding a social event here in Parliament to celebrate Matariki. We as the Green Party and others in the community are increasingly celebrating Matariki. Perhaps we could commemorate “Matariki Day”. There are other possibilities such as a “Human Rights Day” or a “Peace Day”. I am throwing these ideas about because New Zealand probably deserves more statutory holidays. Norway and Sweden have at least two more statutory holidays than we have plus unofficial holidays. It is a situation whereby people have a bit more time off. It would certainly be useful in the winter period to have more holidays which is why celebrating Matariki perhaps with an official holiday might be relevant. 
Yesterday in Parliament we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our antinuclear legislation. The official date of signature was 8 June which is very close to the day on which we celebrate Queen’s Birthday. Perhaps another proposal—and I am just throwing these ideas around for members’ consideration—is that we could rename Queen’s Birthday as “Peace Day” and celebrate our nuclear-free status during that week. It is true that we already celebrate Anzac Day. Of course these days Anzac Day does have more of a peace theme than it did in the past. I think that celebrating “Peace Day” in the middle of the year rather than Queen’s Birthday would bring another dimension to our celebrations and really emphasise our role as a peacemaker in the world as a nuclear disarmament campaigner. It might be more appropriate celebrate a “Peace Day” instead of Queen’s Birthday because I understand that the day on which we celebrate the Queen’s birthday is not her real birthday. She is a person who lives on the other side of the world and I think we want a celebration and a name for that celebration that better fits our own reality here in New Zealand particularly as a nuclear-free peacemaker. 
Another concept for a public holiday is to have a “Pacific Day” because more and more now we are celebrating New Zealand as a Pacific country. There was considerable mourning in New Zealand on the occasion of the death of the Samoan head of State His Highness Malietoa Tanumafili II. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. 
KEITH LOCKE 
: In the theme of Peter Dunne’s original bill where he wants to celebrate New Zealand’s national identity with a New Zealand Day I was just suggesting an alternative way of going about reaching his aims. That would be to have a series of statutory holidays that together reflect our national identity in quite a complementary and comprehensive way. We could stick with 6 February for Waitangi Day and add to it Matariki in the mid-year as a statutory holiday in order to reflect the important bicultural foundation of our national identity based around the Treaty of Waitangi. But we could then add to that because if some of the economic pundits are right we are becoming more productive and all the rest of it. We can afford to have more paid national holidays therefore and we could catch up with some of the European countries that have more holidays than we do. I suggested that we could perhaps have a “Pacific Day” to reflect the growing Pacific Island or Pasifika dimension of our national identity. 
Of course another sector of our society that is very much part of our national identity is remembered supposedly on Labour Day and we could do much more to recognise that as a day for commemorating justice for workers. I think it would also be important to recognise Suffrage Day on 19 September. It is now widely celebrated but it could also be a national holiday to reflect that part of our national identity—New Zealand being the first country to give women the right to vote—and we would make sure that feminism is very much a part of our national day by celebrating that. 
I added “Peace Day” to that list when I spoke just before. I suggest perhaps changing the name of the Queen’s Birthday holiday to “Peace Day” in order to reflect the fact that 20 years ago we became nuclear-free on 8 June which is close to Queen’s Birthday weekend. That would be more relevant perhaps than the Queen’s Birthday which is not even commemorated on the Queen’s real birthday. Then we could add to that—although it might have a bit of an awkward title and there could be a better one—“Human Rights Day” to reflect the fact that we are projecting ourselves nationally and internationally as a country that upholds human rights for our citizens and for other people around the world. 
Together if we add all that up it makes quite a good description of what New Zealanders would see our national day to be. I think that this would be a very good alternative to what is being proposed in this New Zealand Day Bill. To me it would seem that to establish our nationhood and draw on the theme we were expressing yesterday in Parliament that being a peacemaker is part of our national identity. We need to draw out all the different threads of what makes us proud to be New Zealanders. To reflect that in having a whole series of paid holidays would also extend the number of our paid holidays and it would allow more leisure time for New Zealanders and their families which again should be a part of our national identity. We are not the sorts of people who naturally like to work every hour of the day and be part of the rat race that is being driven by international economic globalisation. I think that the second part of reasserting our national day would be for us to have these extra holidays that together make up our national identity. Thank you.