Flavell Te Ururoa: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Urgent Debates — Mercury Energy—Disconnection of Electricity Supply 
[Volume:639;Page:9751] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
Tena koe Madam Speaker kia ora tatou katoa iteneipo. Hei whaiwhai haere i te ia o te korero ko te wahanga ki ahaui te tuatahi ko te tuku inga poroporoaki ki tera o ngawhaea kuangaroneii te tirohanga kanohi ingawikitatakuahipaakenei. 
Kei te rongoi te ahuatanga o te ngau o mamae. Ka tapirihia atu tera o ngaaitua ki tera o ngapepii mate neii te marae o Hoani Waititi. Ka mutu ki terai pa mai ki a au ki a Te Arawa a ko Weterina Harris. 
Me peneirawa te korero haere koutou haere koutou haere koutou ki te rua koiwi o ngamatua o ngatupuna moe mai. Ka huri ki teneiwhakatipuranga tatou e noho neii roto i te Whare tena koutou tena koutou kia ora tatou. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to you Madam Speaker and to us all tonight. To follow the trend that the debate has taken the part for me to address first is to add my condolences to those expressed already to a beloved mother who died in tragic circumstances in the weeks just past 
. 
The pain of the loss through such tragic circumstances is keenly felt. To that one I add the tragic death of the toddler at Hoani Waititi marae as well. Finally I acknowledge Witarina Harris whose death is keenly felt by me personally and Te Arawa. 
And so I say to them farewell farewell farewell. Return to the resting place of the ancestors rest there. And now to you of this generation to us seated about in this House greetings greetings and greetings to us all. 
]  
This issue the tragic loss of life that the Muliaga family has experienced over the last fortnight—and indeed it has had major ramifications throughout this country—is not we regret to say the first event of this nature. We in the Maori Party have been painfully aware that in too many families there have been lives lost hardship endured poverty experienced and no one taking responsibility. Responsibility must rest in the hands of many not the least being the State and its agencies. We concentrate here within this Parliament on our ability to make a difference. In this case we know there were rules and policies that should have been followed we know that there are already electricity and gas commissioners and we know that there have been guidelines for low-income and vulnerable consumers. So the question would be: why did this tragedy occur? 
Some have chosen to point the finger of blame at individuals. We have been appalled that the crisis that occurred for the Muliaga family should have been turned inward on the community on to the family and on to consumers rather than people looking at blaming those with the responsibility for what occurred. Responsibility and accountability for crisis management must be taken seriously and not just in this sad case. 
We think too of the train crash last Tuesday at Kerang in Australia in which New Zealander Nick Parker lost his life. That crisis sent shock waves across the Tasman. It is not the first time of course that fatalities have occurred in public transport. Who will ever forget Christmas Eve of 1953 the night that 151 people died when the rail bridge at Tangiwai collapsed causing the Wellington express to crash into the flooded river? Later investigation suggested that although a lahar was undeniably responsible for the disaster warnings by amateur geologists about the state of the crater wall should not have been ignored by the authorities. 
April 10 of next year marks 40 years since the  
Wahine 
 sank in the worst recorded storm in our history. The court of inquiry which was held 10 weeks after the disaster found that although conditions had been fatally dangerous errors of judgment had been made both on board the ferry and onshore. 
We can fast-forward to 1979 and to the Mount Erebus disaster which was New Zealand’s biggest single tragedy killing all 257 people on board Flight 901. The Chippendale report attributed the captain’s decision to drop to a height below the approved level as being the main cause of the accident. A year later Justice Peter Mahon’s report instead placed the blame for the accident on the airline’s systems. Public opinion has remained divided ever since on where the blame for the disaster should rest. 
Then 12 years ago 14 people lost their lives when the viewing platform at Cave Creek collapsed. That platform had been designed approved and built by people who lacked engineering building or design qualifications. A commission of inquiry found that the Department of Conservation had acted illegally and negligently in constructing the platform. Resignations followed and procedures were changed but no prosecutions resulted. 
Although mass fatal disasters such as those are engraved on our collective memory less known but just as worthy of attention is the number of individual deaths that have occurred from the malfunctioning of corporate State or company responsibility. Edited out of the glossy annual reports has been the fact that people have been dying of poverty and neglect for years. Every member of this House will have been approached by advocacy groups such as Grey Power the Child Poverty Action Group and others who have warned us all that the savage and consistent toll of rising rates electricity and other prices is creating accelerated levels of severe hardship amongst many superannuitants beneficiaries and low-paid workers. Have we listened? What have we done? We have elderly people who die from the cold every winter. We have children who die from their basic needs not being met yet the agonising price of poverty is considered to be of less interest than the debate around a sports stadium or the victory at Valencia. Hospitals and health authorities have buried their fatal mistakes in hearings that blur the boundaries between medical misadventure and medical error. 
On the question of life and death who will take responsibility? When will we recognise that when tragedies occur and corporates are involved we expect people to take responsibility? How hard is it to say one is sorry? Not only did the Muliaga family suffer because of the neglect of a State agency but what must be of serious concern to all members in this House is the way that the family was treated after the tragedy occurred. One would have expected the police with their recent profile to show far more sensitivity than to rush into the house and treat the children—the recently bereaved children—as witnesses in terms of a crime sheet. It is very sad and disappointing that innocent children heartbroken by the loss of their mum were then exposed to the cold process of interrogation which has been reported at large. And then for the widowed husband to be put through the gauntlet as well—well that beggars belief! 
Accusations of brutish corporate heartlessness in the wake of recent events have given rise to the call of the Maori Party to consider the relevance of providing for an offence of corporate manslaughter. It is a concept that the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions President Ross Wilson has previously supported suggesting that in cases of gross negligence company principals should not be protected from criminal law by the corporate facade. Of course we do need to have proper guidelines in place. We need regulations in order to determine where responsibility lies—the lines of accountability between companies State-owned enterprises businesses and the Government. But when accidents occur and when tragedies happen—as they do and will continue to do—the law must see that justice will be done. 
Justice will be seen to be done when we have effective laws in place to prosecute organisations that pay scant regard to the proper management of health and safety—with fatal results. Justice will be seen to be done when an organisation accepts liability if the way that its activities are organised causes a person’s death. Justice will be seen to be done when a corporate body acknowledges that its culpability amounts to a gross breach of the duty of care owed by that organisation to the deceased. Justice will mean that we have legislation that will make it easier than it is at present to prosecute companies when gross negligence is deemed to have contributed to death. 
We in the Maori Party believe that many more issues surrounded the health and well-being of FololeMuliaga. We asked why she was discharged from hospital when clearly her health was in a crisis state. We asked why the guidelines that Mercury Energy and Mighty River Power already had in place were not followed in that case and perhaps in many others that we have not heard about. We asked when agencies will take seriously the task of making information freely available to their clients in order to enable them to be able to enjoy a quality of life rather than having their guidelines and policies simply gathering dust and sitting in manuals that are never looked at. I personally have been asked by people about what they should do when they get into situations like that of the Muliaga family. We think that New Zealanders have the right to ask for information about basic services—services that sustain life and well-being. We do not think that is too much to ask for. 
We cannot let another tragedy like this occur again. It is up to all of us in this House to ensure that information is available that guidelines are tight and most of all that communities are cared for. Kia ora tatou.