Logie Jan; Allan KiritapuJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Mr Chair and I welcome this opportunity to take a short call to put on record the Green Party's support for Supplementary Order Paper 6 in the name of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and to explain briefly our rationale for that. I'd like to draw on one of the submissions to start with and reference some of the others to explain that and one of the first points that was made by the Interchurch Northland Urban Rural Mission was that the Constitution Acts of 1852 and 1856 created space for Māori representation. Their point was that this piece of legislation has been long signalled in our country's history and that in the implementation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi there is space and value and importance to having a specific voice for Māori representing Māori. I also have heard and I do need to speak to some of the speeches we've heard in the House making this about race as if colonisation had never happened and as if Government and local government have not been part of this confiscation and the devastation of the land and water that belongs to our tangata whenua and mana whenua. We heard specifically from councils all around the country through the hearing of this legislation that for those who are wanting Māori wards it's because they've come to a point of recognising that they do not have the relationship with mana whenua that they need to be able to fulfil their duty under the Local Government Act 2002 and Te Tiriti o Waitangi. They've come to the point through discussion with hapū and mana whenua that having Māori wards will help them build that relationship to be able to effectively represent the people in their community. If only special privilege was a positive thing! The truth is that Māori have had special painful privilege of their loss of land and life-supporting systems through the actions of our Governments. That has been ongoing special treatment and we urgently need to redress that. This legislation removing the discrimination in the existing legislation is part of that. We support the voice and the call from the Māori Party to go further and to have Māori wards established in every area and for each district to be able to be divided into two or more Māori wards for electoral purposes. It's part of lifting our heads as a country to think forward into the future about how do we truly actually repair the harm that has been done take responsibility for it and build a country that is true to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and that actually gives us all a place to stand with pride and honour in an environment that will support all of us which is at the heart of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I also just need to point out that there was a speech from one of the National Party members earlier talking about having got emails that had been really nasty and accusing the Government of being responsible for that. I've got to say sitting listening to this debate and knowing some of the content of the submissions that members in the National Party heard that they have chosen to willingly ignore and create a lie I would say in this House of this being discriminatory—[Interruption] CHAIRPERSON (Adrian Rurawhe): Yeah I'll make a ruling that that is actually out of order. You cannot accuse other members of lying. It's one of the fundamental Standing Orders that every single member in this House should know. I'm going to require the member to withdraw and apologise. JAN LOGIE: I withdraw and apologise. It feels as if there have been many misleading submissions from the National Party that I fear are leading New Zealanders to think that we're doing something that we're not and that are actually seeding discomfort and anger and that is resulting in emails and threats against people who are already more at risk. I really wish that they would be more considered in their contributions and I do on that—[Time expired]Hon KIRITAPU ALLAN (Minister of Conservation): Just in response to the member Jan Logie's contribution I acknowledge the several points that she made. I'll start with the special privileges point. We do concur. This isn't about creating special privileges but rather about bringing about parity in the law. Secondly with regards to the more substantive matter that she raised with regard to Supplementary Order Paper 6 before the committee as the member will be aware this particular piece of legislation is an interim fix to something that creates a broader injustice and inequity in the law. We are doing this to enable those councils that have to be able to get it done in particular time frames prior to the election. So I acknowledge the contribution that the member has made and when we do address the more substantive issues I'm sure this will be one of the many more issues that we will be able to turn our minds to at that point in time.