Flavell Te Ururoa: Motions — Queen Elizabeth II—Longest-reigning British MonarchText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: Motions — Queen Elizabeth II—Longest-reigning British Monarch[Sitting date: 09 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6437. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon TE URUROA FLAVELL (Co-Leader—Māori Party):Ā tēnā koe Mr Speaker kia ora tātau katoa. I te tuatahi i roto i tōku ake Reo me mihi rā ki a Kuini Irihāpeti kua eke ki tēnei taumata ko ia arā te uri o Wikitōria! He aha te tikanga o Wikitōria ki tēnei rā? Ko ia Te Kuini i te wā i a ia i haina nei i Te Tiriti o Waitangi i te tau 1840 i te 6 o ngā rā o Hui-tanguru arā koi nā te here! He aha te here o tērā kaupapa ki tēnei rangi? Ā i tēnei ata tonu nei i tae mai ngā iwi o Te Motu o Te Tai Tokerau o Tāmaki anō hoki ki konei whakarongo ai mō ngā take e pā ana ki Te Tiriti o Waitangi.Ka whai wāhi anō rā Te Ao Māori ki te kōrero mō te āhuatanga o tēnei mea o te haki e kōrerohia ake nei kia whai wāhi tātau ki te kōrero mō te haki. Ko te kōrero mō te haki? E kōrero anō hoki mō tō tātau mana motuhake ā-whenua ka mutu he kōrero anō tērā mō tēnei mea e kī ana ko te constitution.Nō reira he aha te tikanga o te constitution? Te tikanga ia he kaupapa tērā hei here haere i a tātau kaua ki te whakawehewehe i a tātau nō reira koinei tētahi kōrero hei whakatakoto ki mua i a tātau i tēnei rā![Thank you Mr Speaker and acknowledgments to us all. Firstly I pay a tribute in my own language to Queen Elizabeth who has reached this pinnacle; she is truly the relative of Queen Victoria! What does Victoria mean to this day? She was the ruling monarchy at this time when she signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 6 February 1840. That indeed is the link! And how does that link to this day? Well tribes of the nation from the North and Auckland as well arrived this very morning to listen to matters pertaining to the Treaty of Waitangi.Māoridom has an opportunity to talk about the situation relating to this flag thing and to discuss it. And what is there to talk about the flag? It is about our sovereignty in regard to landandfurthermore about this thing which is referred to astheconstitution. So what is its meaning? Well technically it is a way of binding us together as we go along but not dividing us and so this is something to put before us today for consideration.]The Māori Party is pleased to support the motion from the Acting Prime Minister and offers congratulations to Kuini Irihāpeti. I noted in my kōrero that she descends from Queen Victoria and Queen Victoria is the person whom most Māori think about. When we think about Queen Elizabeth Queen Victoria also comes to mind. The Treaty of Waitangi comes to mind because Kuini Wikitōria was a part of that Treaty negotiation and of course today in the House we had a lot of discussion and debate in respect of the shortcomings of various Governments over time and the Crown in maintaining the dignity and respect of our Treaty of Waitangi.In talking about that also we think about the notion of a flag being debated at present because a flag is symbolic of a nation’s sovereignty and a part of that must be the discussion around a constitution. Therefore today is pretty significant because Māori in a sense worry about that disconnection with England because of that relationship with the Treaty of Waitangi. Nevertheless we understand the desire to stand firm and stand on our own two feet. In that regard the one thing we can say about the rārangikōrero—about the line of accession I suppose—is that it brings us to today and I hope brings us together as a constitution does. It is about bringing people together as opposed to our differences. Hopefully that is what is symbolised today with Elizabeth’s reign and into the future. Kia ora tātou.