Peters Winston: Maori Fisheries Bill — First Reading 
Peters Winston: Maori Fisheries Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:614;Page:10475] 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS (Leader—NZ First) 
: 
 The Government’s handling of the Maori and the general fisheries area in this country is an utter and total mess. 
Hon Paul Swain 
: Oh! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: The first person to complain about that is Mr Swain. That is typical because he knows nothing about it whatsoever. I ask him where the framework for the oceans policy is after 2 years of unmitigated delay. 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Where is it? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Where is it? He is the first to shoot his mouth off but he cannot answer the question. Where is the framework for the oceans policy in this country? Where for example is the resolution of aquaculture management in this country? 
Hon Paul Swain 
: Good progress is being made. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: He says that good progress is being made. We have a moratorium that is now to be delayed at least until 31 December 2004. In the meanwhile all sorts of groups—European and Maori—have their investments languishing and all their programmes on hold because the Government cannot resolve a critical issue of this country’s resource management. 
Regions and industry are unable to proceed. I ask the member where the Marine Reserves Bill is. That is three in a row. The Marine Reserves Bill is probably delayed until the end of 2004. That is a mess and into that mess the Government throws this bill. 
Some of us at least had the presence of mind back in October 1992 to say that this issue would be the biggest area of legal contention with Maori and over 11 years that is precisely what it has been. In fact I can recall— 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: Move on. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Tariana Turia says to move on. I will be moving on to her very shortly. I can recall being expelled from the National Party caucus the day after I was the only member of Parliament to oppose that deal. I was expelled on 2 October 1992 and I have moved on. There is nothing so sterile or antiseptic as the phrase “I told you so.” but I did—and I paid a big price for that. 
We need to remember that the Government’s claim in respect of iwi support needs to be revisited. It says that Ngapuhi supports this bill. What about Ngati Hine the biggest hapu? It has about 45000 members and they do not support this bill. What about Ngati Porou? What about Ngai Tahu that huge landed tribe? What do they say? 
Edwin Perry 
: What about Ngatiwai? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I will get to Ngatiwai shortly. I pick up the bill and I see that the resource will be distributed on the basis of population. How is that fair to Ngai Tahu? 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Treaty property rights. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Yes it is amazing is it not? When the Government says that the bill has the support of Maoridom I ask whether it does. Is it not a fact that one of the reasons the Maori people wish this bill to go to a select committee is so that the model can be revisited? Those are all facts. It is no use for Government members to say they are doing something about it when after 4½ years we have an utter and total mess and delay across the whole fisheries scene and the Maori people are no better off. 
Mr Horomia said: “I am going to refer it”—that is the bill—“to a select committee yet to be formed.” I ask the Maori members over there in the Labour Party whether this bill will be going to the Maori Affairs Committee because that committee is formed and has been for decades. Is the bill going to that committee—yes or no? I want to hear the answer. 
Hon Tariana Turia 
: No. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Oh no. They do not trust their members. They do not trust those Maori members. So here we go. We do not have the “magnificent seven” in the seven Maori seats; no we have seven vertically challenged followers of Snow White—or at least her ugly sisters. Here we go—“It’s taihoa taihoa off to some other select committee we must go.” When are those Maori members going to stand up for their honour their mana and the integrity of their people? How long can they go on being doormats to people like Helen Clark Cullen and Swain? Have they got a Maori member chairing this committee? 
Opposition Members 
: No. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Oh no; they cannot have a Maori member from the Maori seats chairing a select committee! 
Pita Paraone 
: Don’t trust them. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
:They do not trust them—precisely! No they will have Mr Fairbrother from Napier. This man is so steeped in Maoridom Maori history and Maori anthropology that in a court case he said the reason why a Maori was offending was that he had been colonised. The Treaty of Waitangi was not being honoured and that was his defence. Here is this man Russell Fairbrother who knows nothing about Maori whatsoever and he is to chair the committee on Maori fishing assets. How do members like that for an insult? I tell members not to talk to me about tino rangatiratanga and all of those beloved lofty statements they make out there on the marae where they are real lions but in the caucus—lambs utter lambs. Helen Clark and Cullen stomp all over them and they do not care what it means as the image of representation for Maoridom. Can members imagine Ngata putting up with this? 
Opposition Members 
: No way! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Can members imagine Bill Gudgeon putting up with this? 
Opposition Members 
: No way! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Can members imagine Pita Paraone putting up with this? Can we imagine Ron Mark Edwin Perry or for that matter my brother and I putting up with this? 
Opposition Members 
: No way! 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: There are seven Maori members in seven Maori seats which those in Government say they must retain because they are “the voice of Maoridom”. It is that peculiar special voice—unparalleled and unique in Parliament. The only problem is: I cannot hear it. I cannot hear a syllable or a sound a mutter or a murmur. It is absolutely mute—silenced. 
I think that when young Maori look at this Parliament they will wonder why we need those seats. They never asked that question in the time of Ngata Pomare and Buck or in our time but they are asking it every day now because they cannot hear the voice. Worse still in their name those seven Maori members are subjugating them to absolute insults. Why will this bill not go to the Maori Affairs Committee? Because the Government does not trust its members. Why is the chairman of the committee not to be a Maori member? Because the Government does not trust its members. 
Pita Paraone 
: Sorry Mahara. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Yes—“Sorry Mahara. You are a good man but we don’t want you chairing this committee.” But he chairs the Maori Affairs Committee now. Why does the Government not trust the member for southern Maori? He is an honest sort of guy. Why will it not trust him? What is it about Fairbrother that tells us he knows more about Maori fisheries and Maori matters than the honourable member for southern Maori? 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: He does what Helen wants him to do. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: Is that what it is—because Fairbrother does what Helen wants him to do? The member is right except that my question is: why are those seven Maori members allowing this to happen to them? 
Hon Ken Shirley 
: Who’s the sycophant? 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: That is what it brings to mind—sycophancy. There is a better phrase for it but I cannot use it. It starts with a “b” and ends with “nosing”. 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: If the member is referring to other members he must refer to them by their correct names. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I will. What did I say wrong? Is it honourable sycophants? 
Madam DEPUTY SPEAKER 
: The member will be seated. The member will now stand withdraw and apologise. 
Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS 
: I stand withdraw and apologise. Here is another great defender of the Maori people eh? Apparently I am insulting someone. The insults are coming from that party over there in this bill. When Labour says it will not trust the seven Maori members in Parliament that is the insult. I ask whether that party would be asked to get up and apologise.