Ririnui Mita: General Debate 
Ririnui Mita: General Debate 
[Volume:656;Page:5893] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Labour) 
: 
 I start by saying that if we were playing a game of rugby the old outdated rules would come into effect. One can tell when a team is losing because they forget to play the ball and instead they play the man. That is exactly what that previous speech from Christopher Finlayson was about. My whanaunga from Ngati Awa Paul Quinn knows exactly what I am talking about. Sadly the Attorney-General the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations forgot what the game was about. Maybe my whanaunga will take a call and highlight the issues that are really important today. 
I want to make a statement: the issue of representation for Maori in local government is a significant issue and not just for Maori. It has been around for a long time as evidenced by a notice in the  
Auckland Provincial Government Gazette 
 on Saturday 6 May 1867. J Williamson the superintendent of the Auckland province gave notice that he had appointed Paora Tuhaere of Ngati Whatua to give advice to him and the Executive Council on matters relating to Maori in the province of Auckland. It is a significant issue and an issue that will not go away. Maori will not let it go away. 
The person who brought that statement to the House was the Hon Georgina te Heuheu Associate Minister of Maori Affairs. If Government colleagues are not listening to her; if they are not listening to the honourable Minister of Maori Affairs Dr Pita Sharples; if they are not listening to Maori and the iwi of the Auckland province; and if they are not listening to New Zealand in general then who are they listening to? Let us take a guess. I take it that they are listening to one person whose track record on Maori representation has been obvious in this House for a very very long time and that is the Minister of Local Government Rodney Hide. In 2001 National allowed Georgina te Heuheu to cross the floor and vote in favour of the Bay of Plenty Regional Council (Maori Constituency Empowering) Bill. Donna Huata as well sought permission from her party the ACT Party to do the same and both members did so. 
What has changed since that time? Absolutely nothing has changed which we will note from the statement by the chairman of Environment Bay of Plenty in terms of the quality of Maori representation on that council. Mr John Cronin made it very clear that the Maori members on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council give advice not only on issues relevant to Maori but on issues relevant across the council’s responsibilities. Here we are some 8 years later debating an issue that we should not be debating. The fact is that New Zealanders by and large have accepted that Maori representation on local government is very important that the voice of tangata whenua is very important and that Maori who hold important assets at regional level should have a say at the top table. We do not see that happening in terms of this process. 
It is interesting that the Auckland Governance Legislation Committee has yet to report back to the House on its findings as part of the process of hearing submissions yet the Prime Minister has already announced that Maori representation on this very very important body the Auckland Council is out of the question. There is not a sound from the other Maori members apart from the Hon Tau Henare. There is not a sound from the Maori Party members apart from the Minister of Maori Affairs. Why is that? I send a challenge to my whanaunga on the Government benches to get up and make a statement about just where the Maori members stand on this issue. It is all right interjecting and heckling and playing the player rather than the ball but sooner or later as my colleague the Hon Shane Jones said there will come a time when those members will have to stand up before their communities and make a statement about their position. Are they pro Maori representation or are they not? Are they just going to sit here and do whatever the Prime Minister tells them to? Are they going to sit here and do whatever the Minister of Local Government dictates? 
As I said there will come a time when they will have to front up as all of us have fronted up over the years. Those members highlight the fact that the Labour Maori members did not cross the floor when voting on the Foreshore and Seabed Act although anyone can do that. That is easy. What is hard is to stay here and hold one’s ground to make a bad situation better. That is why people send members here: to be their voice in this House and to stand up for the issues they consider to be a high priority. That is exactly what Labour members have done over the years.