Paraone Pita: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
Paraone Pita: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement 
[Volume:629;Page:1194] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
A tena ano koe a tena koutou o te Whare nei. Ahakoa kua tata ke te pau te rua marama engari tenei te mihi atu ki a koutou mo te tau hou. 
In spite of almost 2 months of the year having passed I still want to take the opportunity of wishing yourself Mr Deputy Speaker and everyone in this House a happy New Year. I do so mindful of the fact that that is how my parents brought me up—to respect others and I do so. However I just want to make a few comments following some of the utterances of the previous National speaker. I remind him that I forgive him for his ignorance because he is my tamaiti and I just want to point this out to him. 
Hon Tau Henare 
: Mana muncher! 
PITA PARAONE 
: Well talking about mana munching who left New Zealand First so that they could maintain their ministerial baubles of power? Now if that is not mana munching then I do not know what is. But in response to his reference to my leader misquoting Fiji as being part of Polynesia I just say that his comments were in respect of the Prime Minister of Fiji who comes from the group within Polynesia called the Lau Group. Therefore it was his reputation that my leader was referring to. I also want to remind that tamaiti of mine that when he was last in Government with the National Party that Government took the kindergarten teachers out of the agreement. So it is a little bit rich to hear him harp on about the agreements that have just been made. 
Over the last 24 hours since the Prime Minister delivered her speech this House has heard that this country has the lowest unemployment in the Western World. It is sitting at around 3 percent as at the last December quarter. That is all well and good but like all other statistics it is not so much what it reveals but what it hides. What it does hide is the fact that the Maori unemployment rate stands at 7.6 percent. Although we might talk about what was we ought to be talking about what is to be or what should be. I am really concerned so is New Zealand First about the high Maori unemployment rate. I can now see why there was very little reference in the Prime Minister’s speech with regard to Maori development. But there was some reference and the words were “Hui Taumata”—the great gathering of Maoridom where they were given the opportunity at their own expense to advise the Government on what needed to be done for Maori. Where in the Western World would people be required to pay the Government for the opportunity to proffer advice with the view that the advice would form the basis of Maori policy? 
But it gets worse. How long has it been since we had the Hui Taumata? What has come out of it? I believe that it is true to say that to date nothing has come out of it. As I understand it we are still awaiting correlation of the issues that were discussed at Hui Taumata. A small group is being well paid to do that yet that advice has not been given. But like my leader I too have a few emails regarding the National Party. I have one in my hand that emanates from National’s caucus meeting in Taupo. It states that National remains committed to removing unnecessary reference to the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation. They actually acknowledge that it is not as straightforward as they think it might be. But I tell my relatives in the Maori Party that there is a saying “beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” Quite clearly after National’s perceived discussions with the Maori Party they really have some concerns about what its supporters perceive they are doing.