Sharples Pita: General Debate 
Sharples Pita: General Debate 
[Volume:675;Page:14399] 
Dr PITA SHARPLES (Co-Leader—Maori Party) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. On a different note one of my great loves is to go back home to Ngati Kahungunu and the people on the marae and to listen learn and reconnect. All our marae have histories and legacies that can assist us in understanding our world. I think particularly at this time of Rongomaraeroa and its dining room Te Uaua Tamariki—literally the Sinews of Youth. This name came from a great feast kaihaukai hosted by our tipuna Te Whatuiapiti and his eldest son Te Rangiwawahia. But like so many of our names it represents another meaning. It honours the effort the sinews of the younger people of Ngati Kere who fundraised who refurbished the marae and who made it happen. The name recognises the hope that young and old like Te Whatuiapiti and Te Rangiwawahia can work together. And this is the ambition I hold for our nation. 
It is an expression of hope that I have returned to in sharp contrast to the otherwise grim anger and despair that have played out across our screens over these fledgling weeks of the New Year. We have had talkback radio erupting with the rage of New Zealanders about tagging and taggers a rage so violent that one would almost assume that the brutal death of a young tagger in Manurewa was being minimised—accepted as his fate. In the same period we have witnessed an elderly couple— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: I am sorry to interrupt the member but would members having conversations—unless they are directly related to their portfolio areas—please take them outside and show some courtesy to the member who is trying to address the Chamber. 
Simon Power 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I apologise to Mr Sharples for interrupting his speech further and in no way Mr Assistant Speaker do I dispute your ruling in respect of people their seating positions and the conversations they may be having. But it is also important that we have a line of consistency here. During the speech made by the Hon Bill English during the general debate several Labour members moved from their seats to positions of advantage and barracked during the entire speech that Mr English gave. Mr Assistant Speaker no action was taken by you to rein in that barracking and I would ask for some consistency to be applied to both sides of the House. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (H V Ross Robertson) 
: Thank you Mr Power. Both sides were engaged in barracking and the issue raised by me was not to do with barracking; it was to do with general conversation. There is a difference. 
Dr PITA SHARPLES 
: I was referring to talkback radio erupting with the rage of New Zealanders against taggers and tagging and that it was almost assumed that the brutal death of the young tagger in Manurewa was being minimised—accepted as his fate. In the same period we witnessed an elderly couple randomly attacked in their home by a man armed with an axe and a knife. 
We have had a Cabinet Minister describe Waitangi Day as being a recruitment drive for gangs and referred to what he calls the “ongoing degeneration in the behaviour and conduct” of young Maori men doing the haka as “making growling noises like underfed mutts”. While these comments were being aired other media outlets were seeking conflict as the theme for Waitangi Day in 2008—the fascination with Tame Iti and with whether the Prime Minister would go on to Te Tii and the astonishment that there could be peace at Waitangi. Well contrary to some speculation Waitangi Day has always been an opportunity for peaceful reflections around Te Tiriti o Waitangi for collective spirit and commitment to our nation’s good and for challenges whether they be in protest or in the addresses presented in the church services of this festival. 
I could go on but it gets depressing. The point is that if one is searching for conflict and fury sooner or later an issue will come bubbling to the surface. But just when we thought Operation Eight and the terror raids against Tuhoe were a bad memory more arrests in Ruatoki and Maketu have taken place. As Tamati Kruger the chairperson of Te Kotahi a Tuhoe Trust remarked these arrests felt like further persecution of Tuhoe. 
This weekend at Opotiki the Mataatua kapahaka regional competitions were held and I am informed there were 18 teams with over 700 adult performers. And every group had chosen in their compositions to deal with the terror raids from their viewpoint. This shows the effect that those events have had on the people of Mataatua waka. So what will be the legacy from this period of time for the mokopuna of Mataatua? 
Last November the  
Marae 
 DigiPoll of 1003 Maori voters described how Maori perceived the impact of Operation Eight. The poll revealed that 68 percent of Maori surveyed saw the armed raids in te ao o te Urewera as unnecessary overreaction 52 percent of Maori polled saw the raids as having negative consequences for race relations and 55 percent of Maori surveyed agreed that the police had acted in a way that has terrorised Maori communities. 
In the midst of this darkness I do however hold perpetual faith that it is the very nature of our people and our traditions that we can stand strong as we face our future. For what our histories also show is how uniquely Maori responses developed across Aotearoa in resistance to the actions. In Kahungunu at home when the police commissioner came to visit and talk about these things the elders all wore black balaclavas as they sat on the paepae to greet him. Other iwi made their way to Tuhoe to show support others lodged complaints with the Human Rights Commission the Police Complaints Authority and so on and others had peace vigils.