Hawkins George: New Zealand Geographic Board  (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — Second Reading 
Hawkins George: New Zealand Geographic Board  (Nga Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:646;Page:15467] 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS (Labour—Manurewa) 
: 
 I want to talk about the New Zealand Geographic Board Act of 1946 which this new bill will replace. 
Shane Ardern 
: You can remember when it was passed George? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Of course I was born in 1946 and as people here will know the Labour Party is going through a renewal process. As I was born in 1946 people have suggested that perhaps it is time for renewal for me. But of course it is not. 
I am pleased to be able to speak about this bill because I think it underlines a change in New Zealand culture. When I went to school as a 5-year-old the national anthem was “God Save the Queen” and we all sang that heartily as 5-year-olds. When I was a teacher we were singing “God Defend New Zealand” in English. Now kids very proudly sing our national anthem in Maori. So things change. For Sandra Goudie to talk about a beach changing its name as causing serious harm to the industry of tourism is a nonsense. We have to change. 
I am in an electorate where I have a large Maori population. Most of them vote for me even though Pita Sharples wishes they would vote for him. Of course we have to respect the indigenous people of New Zealand. It is interesting. I went down to Egmont in January for a holiday. In days gone by I would have said I went to Mount Egmont. 
Shane Ardern 
: You would but now it’s Taranaki. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: But now it is Taranaki and New Zealanders accept the change. Everyone welcomes it of course apart from the members of the National Party. Those members have their heads in the sand and when their heads are in the sand they deserve a kick in the rear end. They have to change. It is all right being conservative; it is all right grabbing hold of those things that are of value to New Zealand— 
Ron Mark 
: What about Mount Cook? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: We are all proud of the name change to Aorangi / Mount Cook. We have accepted the change. I did not know where Aorangi was when I was at school. I learnt about Mount Cook and I think it was 12349 feet or something like that—I probably have that wrong. Those were the things we learnt about. 
This bill went to the Government Administration Committee. It is not often that a select committee cannot agree; committee members work together to try to get agreement. I think Shane Ardern is a good chairman but it is a pity that the select committee did not come together more on this. 
You see it is very important that we look to see how things are changing. We have to change. We have identified the names of our mountains and our rivers and for most of the time people do not worry about it. In respect of the Waikato River everyone talks about the Waikato and it does not worry people because it is not an issue. However when people like Sandra Goudie get up in this House and say that changing the name of a beach will cause all sorts of problems—you know it will cause the tourism industry great concern—I say that is a load of rubbish. But what do we expect from Sandra Goudie but a load of rubbish? And we got it. 
It is interesting. We had some Japanese visitors at home the week before last and we were having a look at the map of New Zealand. It is really good to see so many changes from the old maps of the 1970s compared with the latest maps. We do change. People have talked about the changes in names to recognise the life of Sir Edmund Hillary and people accept that changes will come for one reason or another. It is important that we also have jurisdiction over naming features on the continental shelf. This is very very important; if we want effective management of undersea resources in that area then we should be looking more seriously at it. 
When I was mayor of Papakura one of the great debates we always had was on the names of new streets. People used to get very passionate about the names of new streets. Well in Auckland there are new suburbs practically every month and the naming of them is important. It is great to see so many people lobbying over naming rights. They want to name a street after their great-grandfather their grandmother or someone else. 
Shane Ardern 
: Where’s Hawkins Boulevard? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: They never named a street after me unfortunately— 
Hon Rick Barker 
: I mean a whole suburb—Hawkinsville! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: There should be a Hawkinsville—yes that is right. Street naming is something that people are keenly interested in and it is important that we show people that we recognise the indigenous people of New Zealand more and more in this country. For many years we just went along naming things after European settlers—for example Dannevirke. Dannevirke is in Hawke’s Bay I think. Of course we have other places named after early settlers and some of that is good because it is right that we understand our history. It is right that we understand our origins but it is also right that we recognise indigenous names as well. Sometimes a dual name is quite appropriate and at other times we go a bit further. But having listened to the speakers on the other side I— 
Hon Rick Barker 
: What about passing Martians? Do they get a say or not? 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Talking about margins I remember John Hayes. I was going to talk about him because he is in a marginal seat. They will not be naming his seat after him once he goes later this year. We do have— 
Hon Georgina te Heuheu 
: Dream on! 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: Dream on? I daresay that John Hayes never dreamt he would be here and he will probably get his wish later this year when he goes. 
With this bill we had a situation where people could not agree in a select committee and where people just could not come together to talk this through. Any legislation that is as old as I am has been around a long time and when we have been around a long time we get a bit of knowledge. I am very willingly going to support the second reading of this bill and I am pleased to see that my colleagues from the Maori Party will support it as well. I think it is important that Oppositions act as Oppositions but that they do not always carry on in the way they are acting in a very narrow manner over this particular legislation. In a few years’ time this will not be an issue at all. People will have accepted it. They will have moved on and this bill will be legislation. 
Chris Tremain 
: You commenced your speech talking about renewal. 
Hon GEORGE HAWKINS 
: There we have the member for Napier—the temporary member for Napier—who is sounding off. I ask whether the member knows the Maori name for Napier. No he does not know the Maori name for Napier. He has not thought about it. I do not know what it is but if I lived there I would most certainly find out. But that member has not. He has not bothered to learn what Napier’s Maori name is—what the indigenous people called it originally. 
Sandra Goudie has just walked back into the Chamber. I hope that she will be able to find her beach and spend her time lying in the sun thinking about what it was like in Parliament when she was there because she will be going at the end of this year.