Harawira Hone: Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5280] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora tatou e te Whare. Hoi noa i nga tau e rua ki muri i te wa i haere Tai Tokerau ki Orakei ki te korero mo te kaupapa o WAI 262 ara te kaupapa mo nga uri a Tane kei to matou taha a w’aea Saana Murray. Engari ehara ko ia anake. E tautau mai ana i tana kaki ko tona taonga tuturu te anga o te pupu harakeke. Mo nga tau tekau ma waru mai i te timatanga o tenei kaupapa i mua i te aroaro o te taraipiunara i mau mai ia i tona pupu harakeke. Ko tenei te taura e here ana i a ia ki tona tupuna.Tata ngaro ana te pupu harakeke i te mata o te whenua a he kaupapa tino pouri tenei mo Ngati Kuri i te mea mo te mano tau ki muri ko ratou te kaitiaki o te taonga nei. I raro i tenei kaupapa te kaitiakitanga ko te tikanga kia tiaki i nga uri o Tane engari kei te whakaporearea tenei tikanga i te mea kei te tukinohia te taiao. 
Na kona ka hari au ki te tu ki te tautoko i taku tuahine a Metiria me tana pire hei tiaki i nga kararehe o te moana; kia pai ai te noho o nga uri o Tane kia maha kia noho ora mai ratou.Kei te whakaae hoki matou kia tuku putea te Kawanatanga hei awhina i a ratou kei te tokoiti haere kia maranga mai ano.E tautoko ana te Pati Maori i tenei pire mo nga tutumairekurai papakanua tupoupou hopuhopu tukuperu me nga upokohue nga aihe a Maui.Ko enei nga aihe tino tokoiti o te ao he tino taonga ratou ki a matou. E ai ki nga korero kotahi rau tekau ma tahi noa iho ratou e toe ana. 
Ko te wahanga o te pire nei kei te tino tautoko e matou ko te tikanga kia rahui i nga mahi a te tangata i o ratou wahi noho. E whakaaro ana ahau ki nga paru ka tukuna ki te moana nga rapihi paratutae. He tino raruraru ano wetahi o nga momo hi ika me nga mahi kari i te moana. Mai rano matou i whakahe i nga tono raihana ki te kari i te moana ki te rapuhinu me wera atu mea i te mea ko ena mahi kei te tukituki i te wahi noho o nga uri a Tane. Ko te nako a tenei pire kia tohu ki te Papa Atawhai kia whakamatautauhia nga mahi a ngai taua ki te taiao te kainga noho o nga kararehe nei. 
He whakaaro ano taku mo te komiti whaiti hakoa e tohu ana te pire nei kia wanangahia tenei kaupapa e te Tumuaki o Te Papa Atawhai me te Maori kihai i tohia kia korero hangai ki nga iwi kei a ratou te mana whenua o enei rohe. Engari i raro i tenei pire ko te iwi Maori he ropu kotahi i roto i te maha noa atu o nga ropu katoa. Ko to matau wawata kia whakamanahia te tangata whenua hei kaitiaki ki te haere whakamua i tenei pire. Kei te tautoko matou i tenei te panui tuatahi o tenei pire i te mea ko to matau hiahia kia noho ora noho pai te taiao mo tatou katoa me nga uri whakaheke. Kia ora tatou. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Deputy Speaker and to us the House. Indeed 2 years ago whenTai Tokerau turned up to Orakei Marae to speak to the hearings for the WAI 262 claim the indigenous flora and fauna claim we were flanked by our Auntie Saana Murray. She never travels alone; around her neck she carries the large coiled white shell of the pupu harakeke a flax snail. For the 18 years since the historic claim began Auntie Saana has worn her flax snail shell which links her directly to her ancestor. The flax snail is now a threatened native species—a fact of life that causes great sadness to Ngati Kuri who have been the guardians of this treasure for 1000 years. Our guardianship responsibilities the capacity to protect and care for our native plants and animals have been severely compromised by the destruction of ecosystems.  
From this context then I am pleased to come to support the sister Metiria in her bill the Marine Animals Protection Law Reform Bill to ensure that marine animals are a functioning element of their ecosystem. We support the objectives to maintain populations at healthy levels. And we also believe that the Government should make the investment to enable depleted or threatened populations to recover. The Maori Party supports this bill in particular on behalf of the Hector’s dolphin species of tutumairekurai papakanua tupoupou hopuhopu tukuperu and upokohue Maui’s dolphins. These are the rarest marine dolphin in the world revered by the people of the land as treasures and it is estimated that there are only 111 of these creatures left.  
The part of the bill we are most keen to support is the introduction of objectives to manage the human impacts in the marine environment. I am thinking of things like pollutants rubbish and human waste discharges into the sea. Fishing and harvesting seafood particularly with methods such as bottom trawling and dredging are disturbing. We have always spoken out against the granting of mining and oil exploration licences and related activities that cause adverse effects to the ocean environment and therefore marine animals. So what this bill will do is to require the Department of Conservation to regularly monitor human impacts on marine mammals to ensure that the protection objectives are being met.  
I want to plant an idea for further debate that we hope will come up during the select committee process because while the bill creates an obligation on the Director-General of Conservation to consult with representatives of Maori it does not create an obligation to specifically consult with those who have authority over the land. Instead what we see in this bill is that Maori are being positioned as one interest group amongst many. We hope that the unique status of people of the land as a guardian will come forward in later renditions of the bill. We are happy to offer our support at this first reading in our commitment to keep our natural resources and environment healthy safe and intact for everyone and for 
the generations to come. Greetings to us 
.]