Harawira Hone: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
Harawira Hone: Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill — Second Reading Procedure In Committee 
[Volume:657;Page:6400] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Normally I would be happy just to go with the flow of the korero and interject where possible but I think there needs to be some clarification about some of the issues. First of all there is all this talk about Labour’s support for the Maori seats. Mr Jones knows more than most of them do that that is clearly not true. In fact Mr Jones is known to have told Mr John Carter and Mr Tau Henare that Labour would not be supporting the Maori seats. 
When the Maori people of Orakei and all over Auckland called for a hui and invited all the Maori MPs to come back to that hui to discuss what to do to try to fight for the Maori seats do members know who turned up? Well I heard Mr Jones over there slagging off Georgina te Heuheu for not bothering to come along to the select committee but did she turn up to the hui in Auckland? Hell yes she turned up. Regardless of the fact that a lot of the Maori people up there were not particularly keen on National’s position on the Maori seats Georgina te Heuheu fronted. She fronted up to that hui. She was applauded for turning up and being honest. The only other MPs who turned up were the Hon Dr Pita Sharples and the honourable Hone Harawira. I did not see anybody from Labour. 
When we heard about the Labour members’ commitment to the Maori seats it was the first opportunity that they have taken to declare their position in support of the Maori seats. For about 2 or 3 weeks after the time that the issue was laid before this House Labour members were deathly silent. They never took a position on it. They came out in favour of having Maori seats only when they realised that National would be desperately opposed to it and they decided that they could get on to this issue. That is the only reason that Labour has come out in favour. 
I will tell Labour members something else too. Mr Jones clearly has a completely different opinion from the rest of the Labour members. Every single one of the Labour MPs who has spoken on this issue tonight has spoken about the “Maori seats”—Maori seats with an “s” at the end. Mr Jones got up and said that Labour never supported the Maori seats but that it supported only one Maori seat. Well come on I ask whether Mr Jones is right. I know that he expects to be the leader of the Labour Party in the very near future but I ask whether he is right or whether the rest of those members are right because it clearly is not the same position. When I hear all the Labour MPs talk about the right of iwi and the importance of mana whenua and then Mr Jones gets up and says that Labour does not support mana whenua that it does not support hapu and that it does not support iwi then clearly there are some major differences within the party on that side of the Chamber. 
When it became clear that Labour had to get in on the act there was a massive hikoi through Auckland but where were Mr Jones and Mr Parekura Horomia caught and where were their photos taken? At McDonald’s. They were not even clever enough to come with me around the back to Burger King but they went right out and were snapped at McDonald’s right on Queen Street. That was very good I say to Mr Jones. That has really been— 
Hon Shane Jones 
: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. For the record it was Burger King and it was a cup of tea. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I withdraw and apologise I say to Mr Jones. I simply make the point that although I am happy to stand alongside Labour in this instance to fight for the Maori seats and I am not supportive of the Government’s position on this issue I do need to clarify exactly where Labour is coming from on this. It was only when Labour saw that the Maori Party was going to get a run on this that it decided to come out in support. That is the only reason it came out in support. 
To stop all those people on the other side of the Chamber from yelling at me I will now turn my sights to Mr Rodney Hide who has said on numerous occasions that the importance of this vote is about one man one vote. Well if it is true that in this country we believe in one man one vote then how come Winston Peters’ party got 10000 more votes than Rodney Hide’s party but Winston Peters’ party got no seats in the House and Mr Hide’s party got five? I say to Mr Hide that clearly the democracy he talks about is not the democracy that he is happy to enjoy. 
It is also important to realise that when Mr Hide talks about one man one vote the democracy that he espouses is not the democracy that he enjoys. In this House Mr Hide enjoys not the one man one vote but an MMP form of Parliament. I from the Maori Party am more than happy to go with the one man one vote in the seats in the House—this person sitting near me won his or her seat this person won his or her seat I won my seat Mr Flavell won his seat and Mrs Katene won her seat. That is what we call one man one vote. There are no list seats in the Maori Party. 
On the other hand the ACT party which talks all about one man one vote has had only one person elected into Parliament and he is Mr Rodney Hide. Who are the other people in that party? I happen to know that Mr Garrett’s wife did not even vote for him. So I want people to realise that the one man one vote that Mr Rodney Hide espouses in the Chamber is simply not the democracy that he and his colleagues enjoy. Seriously who on earth in their right mind would vote Roger Douglas back into Parliament! 
Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga 
: Sir Roger. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Sir Roger my apologies. The ACT Party is in Parliament because Rodney Hide won his seat and was able to bring in a suite of candidates. That had nothing to do with one man one vote. 
I think that we need to clarify these issues because when we call for Maori seats in Auckland it is not because we are after a special vote and Maori who would get to vote for the Maori seats would get to vote for only those Maori seats. They would not get to vote for the Maori seats and for some other seats as well. That is one man one vote; one woman one vote. It does not really matter. 
I think that Mr Jones needs to sit down with his colleagues and clarify the situation. The Labour Party supports Maori seats—with an “s”; it is more than one. We are not supposed to stand up and say “only one”. The Labour Party also supports the principle of mana whenua. It has said so on numerous occasions. I think if Mr Jones is to achieve the aspiration of getting to the very top of the Labour Party tree within the next 9 years because Labour will be in Opposition right up to that time he really does need to clarify to the fullest his position on these very very important issues. Thank you Mr Chairman. Thank you e te Whare. Tena koutou tena koutou. Goodnight. Kia ora tatou katoa. 
I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson. Could I suggest that the Committee rise at this time. 
The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch) 
: No we cannot because we are in a time-limited debate.