Harawira Hone: Customs and Excise (Prohibition of Imports Made by Slave Labour) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Harawira Hone: Customs and Excise (Prohibition of Imports Made by Slave Labour) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5294] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 A tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Tena tatau e te Whare tena koutou katoa e te whanau. Hoi ano i ahau e rangahau ana i te pire nei ka puta mai te pukuriri. Tata atu ki te kotahi rau rua tekau pauna te utu ki te hoko i nga hu omaoma wahine Adidas i te Kotahitanga o Ingarangi. Ko tera te putea e riro ai te kaimahi o Adidas mo nga marama e toru. Kia kaua hoki tatou e pohehe he wiki mahi wha tekau haora noa iho te roa. Whitu tekau haora te roa o te wiki mahi mo nga manomano kaimahi o nga whare hanga-hu o Adidas ki Haina. Kei te takahi a Adidas i nga ture mahi o Haina kei te whati ano hoki i o ratou ake aratohu. Hakoa tera kei te mahia tonutia. 
Kua whakaturia e Nike nga whare tota i Haina i Initonihia i Whitinamu hoki. E 20 heneti ia haora te putea ka riro ma te kaimahi ki Whitinamu. Hara i te mea ko te putea papaku me te roanga o te wiki mahi noa iho te raru. Te kino hoki nga tuahua mahi o nga whare tota nei. I roto i te wahanga waru haora ka taea te kaimahi ki te haere kotahi ki te wharepaku. Mo te inu wai e rua nga wa. Maiangi ai te tangata i te wheru i te hau kino i te wera rawa atu. Te morikarika hoki o nga kamupene kaita nei e taetae ana ki enei whenua ki te takahi i te wairua tangata. Na te ngoikore o nga ture whenua ki te tiaki i te kaimahi ka tukinotia te kaimahi. 
No reira e tautoko ana te Pati Maori i tenei pire kia aukatihia nga mea kua hangaia ki te whare tota me ki kua hangaia e te kaimahi taurekareka. Roa te wa e noho tarewa ana tenei take Wha tau ki muri i heria mai e Trade Aid tetahi petihana ki te Paremata i hainatia ai e te 17000 tangata kia aukati i te hoko i nga mea no tawahi kua hangaia e te ringa o te kaimahi taurekareka. Engari i a ratou e whakarite ana i te petihana nei ko ta te Kawanatanga ke he whakatutuki i nga kirimana hokohoko watea no rawahi hakoa horekau he ture tiaki i te kaimahi. Hakoa Reipa hakoa Nahinara he orite tonu kaore he paku aha ki a raua. Engari he kaupapa nui rawa tenei ki a matou o te Pati Maori. I nga tau e rua ki muri i puta mai te kupu awangawanga a te Kai Titiro o te UN mo te mahi taurekareka; nui atu i te tekau ma rua miriona te tokomaha kua horohia e tenei ngarara te mahi taurekareka. Na kua ara mai te patai nui: mena ka aukatihia te putea ka riro ki nga kaimahi nei ka pehea ratou e whai oranga ai? Kua toitu te Pati Maori hei kaitautoko i te whakakorenga o te rawa kore. Kei te tino whawhai hoki matou kia patua i te pohara e pa ana ki te hunga tamariki. Engari he pohehe noa iho no tatou kua kore tenei ahuatanga e kitea i Aotearoa. Hei ta te Roopu Tiaki i nga Tamariki Pohara i tera tau he hauono te tokomaha o nga tamariki e noho ana i roto i te whare tino pohara. No reira me kaha tatou ki te whawhai i nga kino maha o te ngarara nei. Kei te tautoko pumau matou i te pire nei. 
Ka huri nga whakaaro ki tenei mea te mahi taurekareka me ona whakapanga weriweri ki te hunga tamariki ka koropupu te riri i roto i a matou. Neke atu i te wha miriona nga tamariki ki Parihi tekau mano ki te Hauauru o Inia tekau ma rima mano ki Pakitana e mahi ana i nga whare morearea ki te tuitui i nga poro poiwhana mo nga kamupene pera i a Adidas. Na te kino o nga tuahua o nga whare tuitui nei ka pangia te tamariki ki te matakerepo ki te ringa haua ki te mamae o te tuara ki te mamae o te kaki. No reira e tautoko ana matou i te pire nei?Ae Marika! I a matou e tautoko ana i te pire nei ko te tumanako kia whai wa te Kawanatanga ki te aro atu ki nga ahuatanga o te rawa kore e pa atu ana ki te tamariki. Kia ora tatou katoa e te Whare. Tena koutou e te whanau. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Assistant Speaker. Greetings to us in the House and to all of us the family. In researching this bill I got very very angry indeed. One pair of Adidas trainers in the UK can cost anything up to £120 for the latest women’s sports shoes. That is three times as much as a month’s wages for an Adidas worker. And we are not talking a 40 hour week either. For the thousands of Chinese workers who fill the factories in China making Adidas trainers their average working week is 70 hours. That is not only a breach of Adidas’ own workplace standards but also a violation of China’s labour laws. But it still happens. 
Nike sweatshops can now be found in Indonesia China and Viet Nam. Nike workers in Viet Nam earn on average 20c per hour. It is not just the low pay and the long hours that are the problem but the conditions are appalling as well. Workers are allowed to go to the bathroom only once in an 8-hour shift. They cannot drink water more than twice a shift. Many of the workplaces have inhumane conditions causing workers to faint from exhaustion the fumes and the heat. It is outrageous that these top corporate giants are able to come into these countries and exploit the fact that they have no protective labour laws in place to look after their workers. 
So the Maori Party will certainly support this bill to ban the importation of goods made in whole or in part by slave labour. It has been a long time coming. Four years ago Trade Aid brought a petition to Parliament signed by some 17000 people requesting New Zealand to legislate to ban the importing of slave labour products. But of course while the petition was being prepared the Government of the day was busy passing free-trade agreements with little or no protection for workers. Labour or National it does not seem to matter to either of them. 
Well this is an important matter to us in the Maori Party. Two years ago the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery said that he was deeply concerned that the minimum estimate of the number of people in slavery is over 12 million and that the problem appears to be increasing. The one issue that has caused some concern for our caucus is that if the slave wages are taken away from these people what will they live on?  
The Maori Party has made a conscious commitment to respond to the global call for action against poverty with a particular focus on the eradication of child poverty. 
Of course it is not as if New Zealand has got its own backyard looking pristine and clean. The Child Poverty Action Group said that in 2008 one in six New Zealand children still lived in a household below the very lowest poverty lines. So we need to tackle the many evils of this monster on all fronts. There is no question that we would not support this bill. 
Our anger is particularly profound when we think of the ever-growing problem of child slave labour. Some 4 million children in Brazil some 10000 children in western India’s Punjab region and some 15000 children in Pakistan are to be found working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions sewing of all things soccer balls for companies like Adidas. The factory conditions are so harsh and dangerous that it is not uncommon for children to lose their eyesight deform their fingers suffer from chronic back and neck pain and more. So will be supporting this bill? Too right! And while we are supporting this bill maybe there will be some support for our Government taking some action to respond to the persistent poverty that continues to drag us down including of course our shameful record in addressing child poverty. Greetings to us all in the House and the family 
.]