Brownlee Gerry: Treaty of Waitangi (Final Settlement of Claims) Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
Brownlee Gerry: Treaty of Waitangi (Final Settlement of Claims) Bill (No 2) — First Reading 
[Volume:618;Page:13900] 
GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
: 
 I say right at the outset that National considers this bill to be very poorly drafted—to be of very very poor quality in its draftsmanship and indeed in the intent that goes with it. The reality is that the ACT party remains stalled at the beginning of the 1990s on this particular issue. There has been considerable history since that time as to how these things should be progressed. But I want to make it also clear that because of the intent and goodwill expressed in this bill and because of the idea that New Zealand cannot progress until as Dover Samuels just outlined for us— 
Hon Dover Samuels 
: Honourable. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: —the Hon Dover Samuels—these matters have been dealt with then clearly it is a bill that the National Party will have to support. I found it fascinating that the Hon Dover Samuels could sit there and say that more time was needed to consult with Maori in order to get enduring settlements of issues they might raise before the Waitangi Tribunal. In many ways he is simply saying that the Labour Party has completely bought into the idea that the Treaty of Waitangi means that if people are Maori they are owed an obligation and if they are not Maori they owe the obligation. That is quite wrong. I ask Mr Samuels and his cohorts over there—and I hope Mahara Mita and Georgina will take a call— 
Hon Taito Phillip Field 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I think the member is well aware of the rule that members are to be referred to by their full names not just their first names. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: That is correct. 
GERRY BROWNLEE 
: At least that member knows why he is in Parliament. He has done nothing for the Pacific Island people but by gosh he has picked a lot of nits in this place. 
Let me say very clearly that the Hon Dover Samuels just told this House that more time perhaps up to 15 years is needed to discuss these matters with Maori. Well the Government is about to pass legislation that will take away the interests of every non-Maori in the coastline the foreshore and the seabed of this country and it has not consulted at all. I know that when that legislation goes through the select committee process those members opposite will go to Auckland Wellington and Christchurch but they will not go anywhere where someone might have a view that seriously disagrees with the Government’s position. 
Those members opposite are frightened and they are guilty men. Although they will stand in this House and say that Maori need 15 years to be consulted over this issue when it comes to something like the seabed and the foreshore Maori can get lost. They can go back to the wops. Maori can take what they are given. 
I find it a complete inconsistency that those members will vote against this bill tonight but will quite happily hold up their hands sometime in the middle of next year to pass the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. They need to ask themselves whether this process is a genuine process. Are there two parties represented under the Treaty of Waitangi? Were rights conferred in that treaty on all New Zealanders or are those members going to hold on to the mistaken view that the treaty is something that belongs only to Maori? 
We support Rodney Hide’s bill. I see that Mita Ririnui is yielding; I am still on my feet so I will take the other 5 minutes. Mita Ririnui has disappeared back into the woodwork where he has spent the last 5 years of his political career. The simple intent of this bill leaving aside some of the silly ideas in it about a race relations council is to acknowledge that there are historical grievances out there that wrong was done that those issues can be dealt with and that New Zealand can move on. Dover Samuels and his fellow Maori MPs Mahara Okeroa and Mita Ririnui—all of them Irishmen I might say—want to make the issues last longer and longer because they do not care about this country’s future. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: I call Mita Ririnui.