Harawira Hone: General Debate 
Harawira Hone: General Debate 
[Volume:662;Page:10324] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 I move  
That the House take note of miscellaneous business 
. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: From time to time all of us make the odd mistake in this place including me. That is no reason to make so much noise. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I wonder whether we should take another 30 seconds to allow the instructions to come in from New York. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I choose to ignore that. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: It was with a sense of enduring shame that when the rest of the world was signing up to the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 2007 the Labour Government of the time without consultation with its own Maori caucus or with the wider Maori population decided to oppose the declaration thus sending a very clear statement to the world that as long as Labour was in power New Zealand would oppose the fundamental rights and aspirations of Maori people. Labour openly declared that opposition even though Maori had attended meetings all around the world for more than 20 years in support of the declaration and even though the draft declaration had received the unqualified support of such national Maori icons as Sir James Henare Dame Whina Cooper Dame Mira Szaszy Te Atairangikaahu Sir Robert Mahuta Hui Vercoe Sir Paul Reeves and Sir Hepi te Heuheu as well as the Maori Women’s Welfare League and the New Zealand Maori Council. 
So it was with a deep sense of satisfaction from within the whole of Maoridom that Labour was dumped from the Government benches 12 months later and lost four of its precious Maori seats to an upstart party whose people had finally woken up to the fact that Maori aspirations were being strangled to death in a party of indifference. This cleared the way for the brand new Maori Party to open negotiations with the National Government which led to yesterday’s historic announcement to support the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—a document opposed vociferously by the previous Labour Government in 2007 and still opposed by Labour in 2010. 
Today I stand with pride to congratulate the Maori Party co-leader Dr Pita Sharples and his staff on the months of negotiation in the lead-up to yesterday’s announcement that New Zealand would be supporting without caveat the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the opening session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York. On behalf of the Maori Party I congratulate Prime Minister John Key and National on the boldness of the Government’s decision to work with the Maori Party in recognising that Maori do hold a special status as the indigenous people of Aotearoa and that indigenous rights and indigenous culture are of profound importance to this country and are fundamental to our identity as a nation. 
Again on behalf of the Maori Party I acknowledge the longstanding support of the Green Party for the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its commitment to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. I also acknowledge United Future for its support of the Government’s decision to adopt the declaration. For the rest of this House—those who would speak against this document—I have some very simple questions. Why is it that opponents in this House can so comfortably sign up to international covenants on the rights of women children gay people and even dogs but be so small-minded petty and mean-spirited in their opposition to an international covenant on the rights of indigenous people? 
This declaration is aspirational in its wording positive in its vision and uplifting in its nature. The adoption of this declaration deserves a greater conclusion than I can deliver so I leave my final words to the Hon Sir Edward Taihakurei Durie who emailed us this morning stating: “My congratulations to the Maori Party caucus for the Party’s role in securing New Zealand support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Were nothing else done during the Party’s lifetime this one thing would be enough to secure for it a treasured place in Maori history. 
Notwithstanding the progress made through all the tribunal reports and court cases from the 1980s and the consequential changes in legislation and official policy I would still rank the day that New Zealand gave support to the Declaration as the most significant day in advancing Maori rights since 6th February 1840. 
I do not overlook that the Declaration has only moral force. The same is said of the Treaty. Important statements of principle established through international negotiation and acclamation filter into the law in time through both governments and the courts which look constantly for universal statements of principle in developing policy or deciding cases. 
Most significant for the present is the statement that recurs throughout the Declaration that indigenous people should be dealt with through their own institutions a matter with potent implications for the Office of Treaty Settlements”— 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Before I call the Hon Gerry Brownlee I remind members that when the bell goes in the general debate that is the end of a member’s contribution regardless of who the member is.