Rurawhe AdrianADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour—Te Tai Hauāuru): Tēnā koe e Te Māngai o Te Whare otirā tēnā tātau. E mihi hoki au ki a koe e te tuahine Marama Davidson mō tēnei pire i tēnei pō; tēnā koe otirā tēnā tātau katoa.[Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker but at the same time to us. I also congratulate you sister colleague Marama Davidson for this bill this evening; accolades to you and to us all indeed.]It is really tough out there. It is tough for all whānau out there. In my electorate of 36000 square kilometres there are 18 territorial authorities three regional councils and most of them do not have Māori representation. The voices of those who are struggling the most do not get heard. Their voice is not represented. It has been really difficult since 1868 to have Māori representation on anything and we come here today to ask through this bill that Māori can have representation taking away a major barrier to that representation at local bodies. That is a hurdle that general constituencies do not have to go through. That is the hurdle.So in the Local Electoral Act 2001—and here is the challenge I guess for the members opposite who have spoken against this bill. There is a facility within the Local Electoral Act 2001 that allows Māori wards to be established. We are not actually arguing about whether or not we should establish Māori wards no. We are already able to do that. What we are discussing here tonight is whether or not we should take away a hurdle that no one else has to go through. That is the real issue and I have not heard one compelling argument from members opposite or from New Zealand First that convinces me that this bill should not go to a select committee. As my colleague Peeni Henare has pointed out the general public will be able to have their say on it.There have been arguments like economic reasons. Well do it for economic reasons. Save money on having that final hurdle. That is a good reason for doing it. It is not a reason not to do it. It is actually an argument in support of removing that barrier. The voices of our people those who are struggling the most are not being heard in my electorate or any other electorate. Their voice counts. We should be standing up for those who are least likely to be heard and I have not heard arguments about that. I am really disappointed at some of the members' comments. And I am afraid Joanne Hayes that our aunties and uncles from the awa will be very disappointed to hear those comments. They are not the comments that I know that I have heard from the people of Whanganui—no way.Hon Jacqui Dean: You shut down free thought.ADRIAN RURAWHE: Shut down free thought? Well let us have a look at that eh? Ha ha! Shut down free thought! What about the free thoughts of those ones whom I talked about? Who represents us? So we have heard from members' opposite about mechanisms that are in place and I say to that member I think you are quite deluded about whose voices they are and where those voices get to be heard because I can tell you that if one goes knocking on the doors of those who are not represented they will tell you very clearly about what they believe. So I am probably wasting my voice on answering those kinds of interruptions.Here is the thing: I totally agree that the status of Māori should be recognised in a bill like this because of the Treaty of Waitangi. And I will always stand up for those rights.E tū ana ahau ki te tautoko i tēnei pire. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou e kaha ana ki te tautoko i tēnei wā tēnā tātau katoa.[I stand to endorse this bill. Huge acknowledgments to you collectively who support it rigorously at this moment well done to us all.]