Ferris TākutaTĀKUTA FERRIS (Te Pāti Māori—Te Tai Tonga): E te Whare kei ngā mana katoa kei ngā uri o Te Tai Tonga tātou tahi te iwi Māori kua whakarauika mai tēnā rā tātou. E te Pīka e Gerry tēnā koe.[To the House to all of the leaders to the descendants of Te Tai Tonga all of us the Māori people who have assembled here greetings to all of us. Mr Speaker Gerry greetings.]In 1835 28 October Māori declared their independence and sovereignty to the world and the world acknowledged it. He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand enacted by the authority of Te Whakaminenga o ngā Rangatira o ngā Hapū o Nu Tireni the Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand. The declaration was made and the country of New Zealand came into being.The Declaration announced the arrival of Māori into the international community and was a clear signal that Māori had the intention and capacity to develop internationally and independently in trade and diplomatic endeavour both on domestic and international fronts. These things will not be lost. They will not be forgotten will not be relegated to the dark corners of a colonial history. They have been maintained they have endured and we will continue to nurture and grow them in the hearts and minds of mokopuna and the nation; a national consciousness of a new Aotearoa New Zealand.The declaration asserted four key themes. Number one Māori sovereignty—sovereign authority over New Zealand Nu Tireni. Number two Māori would not accept any form of law or government any form of Kāwanatanga unless appointed by them. Number three the chiefs would meet once a year in congress in autumn to frame laws maintain peace and regulate trade. And number four they invited King William IV to continue as protector of their infant state and they in turn would continue to protect his subjects who resided in their country Nu Tireni.Ko te Whakaputanga te tuakana; ko Te Tiriti o Waitangi te teina. [The Declaration is the senior; the Treaty of Waitangi is the junior.]The declaration is the foremost constitutional document; Te Tiriti o Waitangi is the second. Mana motuhake is described in the declaration as emanating from the land—te mana i te wenua"—and is therefore inherent in every tangata whenua be they kaumātua pakeke tamariki or mokopuna. [elders seniors children or grandchildren.] Mana motuhake is not something we declare; Mana motuhake is something we possess. He iwi motuhake te iwi Māori. [The Māori people are a people like no other.] The Māori people are a sovereign people. That fact that the Crown signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi directly with the chiefs of the confederation—a clearly defined sovereign entity—acknowledged that Māori sovereignty was paramount in 1840 and that the Māori partner in the dual agreement was indeed the principal partner in possession of 100 percent of control power and authority over all land and resources in Aotearoa New Zealand. This did not change on 6 February 1840 as the Māori text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi was presented to the chiefs of the confederation and subsequently signed.The idea that a fierce and independent people who had actively asserted their independence only four years and three months earlier and had clearly stated they would not allow any form of Kāwanatanga any form of government to exist in their lands unless appointed by them would somehow now agree to surrender their independence cede their sovereignty hand over Kāwanatanga the government of their entire country to a people from a foreign power is nothing short of preposterous.If anyone needs help understanding which text is the legally binding text they need look no further than this quote by one of the longest serving Chief Justices of Aotearoa Dame Sian Elias who said and I quote "it can't be disputed that the [text of the] Treaty is … the Māori text." Why we continue to wallow in the ambiguity of interpretation is beyond me. It is time for this country to mature and let the English text of Te Tiriti o Waitangi be laid to rest. The time has come.Through the process of induction into this House I note there is only recognition of one sovereign namely the King of England. Could it be that the very people who were invited into a sovereign land by a sovereign people now consider themselves the sole sovereign of that land? The answer as we all know today is no they are not the sole sovereign of this land. Yet they have maintained the position and systems that would render the true sovereign invisible—well at least for a period of time.But that time ran out in earnest in 1975 as Te Ao Māori drew breath raised its head up and dared to look to the future. With unwavering dedication led by visionary thinkers such as Whina Cooper and Joe Hawke with self-determination Whatarangi Winiata with iwi development Taihakurei Eddie Durie in Māori law Hirini Moko Mead and Piri Sciascia in cultural revitalisation Ranginui Walker and Lisa Tuhiwai Smith in mātauranga Māori and academia Mason Durie and the māreikura Rangimarie Rose Pere in Māori health and Moana Jackson and Mereana Pitman in matters of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and constitutional law. From that time till now we have been in the process of undoing the countless unthinkable unscrupulous deeds that first sought to annihilate and then assimilate a people to oblivion. Yet this is not our history. This is not our story. This is not our reality. And it is most certainly not our future.So to this House I say: fear not. Fear not that you are incapable of identifying your sovereign counterpart in this country for I am here today to clarify for you and to declare to you that I am the sovereign. And that as I look at my own tamariki I know that they are the sovereign. And as I look at my parents and all of my kaumātua gathered here I know that they are the sovereign. For the Māori people are a sovereign people and we have never ceded our sovereignty we have never abdicated our sovereign authority and we have never ever left this land.I stand here as a reminder that the Crown signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi with the chiefs of the confederation in recognition of their sovereignty—the very same chiefs that the Governor-General acknowledged in her Speech from the Throne on Wednesday of last week. You see the relevance of the chiefs of the confederation is not lost on the Governor-General.I know many would rather we forget about 1975 and the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal and even more so 1985 when that tribunal won the right to investigate historical breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi dating back to 1840. That's right e te iwi when the tribunal was established it could only consider Te Tiriti o Waitangi moving forward. Heaven forbid there'd be a light shone into the dark corners and recesses of the colonial history and narrative by a now highly educated and experienced bunch of radical Māori.It took 10 more years of fighting to win that right and in 1985 we were 145 years into the Tiriti relationship with the Crown. Yet it would take only seven more years to prosecute the Crown and its Government find them guilty and settle the first Treaty settlement in 1992—the fisheries settlement.You see for a long time now the Crown and its Governments have been losing ground on their monopoly over power and resources in this country—a monopoly that they have held and enjoyed for far too long. From that time until today the Government's vice-like grip on control power and authority over resources has slowly but surely been undone. Its rule by iron fist has all but been halted as the principal partner to Te Tiriti o Waitangi regains their feet and we begin to re-establish ourselves economically politically in education socially and most importantly culturally.Belief in Te Ao Māori continues to grow. The seeds that were sown in 1975 that were tirelessly nurtured tended by generations of Māori—generations who would never live to see the fruits of their labour but had unwavering belief in their tīpuna in their whakapapa in their mokopuna and in their future. These seeds have grown into Tōtara haemata [great leaders] and they now stand strong and fervent all over this country. We know we were prepared for this job and we are ready and Aotearoa hou is within sight.I've not come here to speak about myself or the nature of how I arrive in this Whare. I've come to talk about our people: the many independent nations the hapū the iwi the tangata whenua of this land the principal partner in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the authors of He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tirene the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand the document that constituted this country we all call New Zealand. Yes my friends e te whānau Te Tiriti o Waitangi did not create a country; it established a constitutional relationship between two sovereign nations one in the South Pacific the other in the north-western hemisphere. It afforded Pākehā the dignity of self-government in a foreign land—a land upon which their Queen's own law and authority had no rights nor jurisdiction to exist. It afforded the Queen the right to purchase land in another sovereign's country enabling her to care for to nurture and to grow her own people. Quite the magnanimous gesture on behalf of those chiefs in 1840.In recognition of the rights the Queen and her people had been granted she in turn responded reciprocally extending the rights and privileges of her own people in England to her host nation via article 3 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. This koha this gesture of goodwill did not come at the expense of pre-existing Māori rights. We were granted the additional rights of British subjects; we were not subjugated. This symbolic gesture was a tatau pounamu [enduring peace; binding contract] from one sovereign to another in recognition of the significant rights and privileges she and her people had been granted. E te Pīka e Gerry might I say magnanimous indeed.I'm here to speak on behalf of the people who despite the relentless onslaught of colonisation in all its guises continue to maintain deep whakapapa connections to their land their kāinga their moana their language and their culture—not as theatrical expressions as some may have you believe but as an immovable foundation an ethos a philosophy a world view a kaupapa that drives every breath they take.This is the dream that was dreamt all of those years ago in 1975. I am indeed the product of the self-determining actions of Māori in the 1970s and 1980s and every year since. I understand completely that the current tension that exists between Kāwanatanga and rangatiratanga or between Māori and the Government—exacerbated in the extreme by the current iteration—is a direct result of the blistering speed at which we the principal partner in Te Tiriti o Waitangi are reclaiming reinstating rebuilding reinvigorating reimagining and reasserting ourselves in our own country.My message to all of the people in Aotearoa is this: fear not for your rights were gifted to you in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Take a personal responsibility for upholding Te Tiriti in your everyday life for it is your personal Bill of Rights here in Aotearoa. It is your family's declaration and ultimately the constitutional bedrock of your rights to be here in Aotearoa. Treasure it. It was a gift from our ancestors to you. Yet despite all of this the level of ambiguity that remains around the nature of the Māori-Crown relationship the role of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the place and responsibility of Parliament and Government in it somehow continues to defy explanation. Could it be that the political agenda of the Pākehā partner is aided and abetted by ambiguity? Successive Governments and generations of Pākehā settlers and their families have benefited and been privileged by this ambiguity but everything comes to an end. Clarity is what my generation of Māori demand and we are well equipped to assist—informed by 48 years of determined action from the tribunal; 48 years of prosecution experience against the Crown and its Government. We understand the story the context and the events perfectly well. The history the experience and the reality of the once-silent partner has now been unearthed investigated corroborated and laid bare for all to see. To my fellow MPs: if you are unaware of what I speak of then I would say you are underprepared—under-equipped—for your role as an MP. The Te Paparahi o Te Raki determinations of 2014 were a watershed moment in the history of the Māori-Crown relationship. The determination that Māori did not cede their sovereignty by signing Te Tiriti o Waitangi would alter the course of history forever. The current findings of the subsequent inquiry entitled Tino Rangatira me te Kāwanatanga are set to take the 2014 findings even further and require the Crown to revisit the constitutional settings of this country to more appropriately give effect to and embody Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Many politicians have quoted Apirana Ngata in relation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and his views of the early 1900s. What they failed to realise is that when Ngata Pomare and Te Rangi Hiroa came to prominence the greatest challenge was not Te Tiriti o Waitangi or the revival of te reo Māori; it was saving their people from extinction. This was the blood of Māori at the turn of the 1900s as the population plummeted to around 40000. The view of the day was that the most effective way to preserve the population was to assimilate rapidly to the now-dominant way of life the Pākehā way hence Apirana's great saying "Ko tō ringa ki ngā rākau a te Pākehā"—your hand to the ways of the Pākehā—as a means of preserving the life blood of his people. This did not preclude Apirana from the notion of research and discovery of new knowledge nor from investigation and the unearthing of new evidence and new understandings. You see there has been no rewriting of history. There has been no reinterpretation of history. There has only been an unearthing of history the investigation of history and the discovery of new understandings—which has ultimately led this nation to the current understanding of our dual history. And whilst this might not suit the agenda of those who seek to maintain the status quo that does not change the fact that this is the current understanding. If anyone thinks my explanations to be fanciful much of what I have quoted here is referenced from the He Tohu exhibition the national exhibit of the founding documents of our country: He Whakaputanga the declaration; Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Treaty; and the Women's Suffrage Bill are located just across the road in Archives New Zealand an exhibit that is visited by thousands of schoolchildren every year. So if you think I'm a lot to handle wait till you get a load of your kids or your grandkids.So let me conclude by saying I'm not here to service the needs of this House; I'm here to contest it and the manner in which it exercises authority over things it has no authority over. I am here to represent the 12800 Māori in Te Tai Tonga who voted me into this position to represent their views give voice to their aspirations and be a light for them. Te Pāti Māori does not presume to speak for all Māori. We understand perfectly well there are many colonised Māori trapped out there. But we do speak from a purely Māori perspective for and on behalf of a purely Māori constituency. I have to ask the House: is that not pure democracy pure democratic process in action? Yet Te Pāti Māori continues to be unapologetic championing Māori issues. We are continually called out as radical racist promoting apartheid—I must say the irony of it is not lost on me.So we go to raise an army of voters—young voters young Māori and non-Māori voters; tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti alike who will arrive in ever-increasing numbers into the future; numbers great enough to contest this democracy.So to all our whānau to all our people stand up. Stand up and be the light. Be the light for your whānau be the light for your communities. Toitū te Whakaputanga; toitū Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Tēnā tātou.[Honour the Declaration; honour the Treaty of Waitangi. Greetings to all of us.]Waiata—Tiaho iho rāHaka—Tēnei te rūrūSitting suspended from 6.23 p.m. to 7.30 p.m."