Katene Rahui: Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Katene Rahui: Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:656;Page:5775] 
RAHUI KATENE (Maori Party—Te Tai Tonga) 
: 
 There has been a great deal of talk today—well actually I have been talking a great deal today—about the injustice created through the impact of institutional racism. So I have looked through the Antarctica (Environmental Protection: Liability Annex) Amendment Bill considering the effects of institutional racism upon agencies represented on the Officials’ Antarctic Committee as played out in this draft legislation. If we recall institutional racism is a bias in our social and administrative institutions that automatically benefits the dominant race or culture while penalising minority and subordinate groups. My review did not start off too well. Seventeen agencies were included in the consultation process for parties interested in treaty action in Antarctica. Missing from the list were Te Puni Kokiri the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs and the Office of Ethnic Affairs. 
So then I turned to the actual text of the bill and the circumstances described. Obviously I thought there would be acknowledgment of the fact that Maori tradition tells us that a tupuna by the name of Huiterangiora was the first person to discover Antarctica. He is said to have encountered the icebergs of Antarctica in AD 650 during a voyage south of New Zealand. Huiterangiora was in fact an explorer of such import that in my electorate in the whare tupuna at Te Awhina Marae in Motueka the tekoteko at the top of the meeting house is Huiterangiora looking out—looking for land. His achievements are also honoured in the island opposite the Riwaka wharf known to us as Hui Te Rangiora or Outer Island. Well there is no mention of Huiterangiora or of the importance of cultural sites of significance in this bill. 
Perhaps then there might be mention of Ngapuhi man Tuati who had been part of the United States Exploring Expedition that explored the Southern Ocean between 1838 and 1842. In fact Tuati Peak at the head of the Mount Mitchell glacier is named after him. While we are looking at the lie of the land we might also wonder whence Potaka Inlet at the north side of Thurston Island—the third-largest island off Antarctica—derives its name. It is traced back to Louis Hauiti Potaka the fifth Maori medical graduate in New Zealand who served as a doctor in the Antarctic in 1934. 
Well without further prolonging the House it has become rapidly evident that the Antarctica (Environmental Protection) Act is completely silent on matters of Antarctica’s own cultural heritage and the unique relationship between that land and the tangata whenua of Aotearoa. This is of course a great disappointment for a nation in which as senior National MP Tau Henare put it so eloquently such representation is supported across many levels including as an expression of justice democracy economic value cultural identity political diversity and even the potential for successful prototypes. Instead we have a bill that seeks to implement a number of New Zealand’s obligations under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty without any acknowledgment at all of another treaty Te Tiriti o Waitangi—strange but true. We are not talking about a 1 percent population; we are talking about tangata whenua—the indigenous peoples of this land; the first peoples of this nation—who in 1840 signed a treaty with the Queen of England to create the foundation for the future advancement of this land. 
The Maori Party’s greatest desire is that Maori representation be valued and acknowledged in every debate and in every bill. I want to make it quite clear that our support for this bill is driven firmly and unequivocally on the basis of our kaupapa to promote sustainable environmental management. The Maori Party is committed to keeping our natural resources and environment healthy safe and intact for everyone and for future generations. By this we mean that our respect for Papatuanuku extends past the mere geographic boundaries of these shores. 
The bill requires New Zealand operators—those organising expeditions to Antarctica—to immediately notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade should their activities give rise to an environmental emergency or should they discover an environmental emergency. It goes one step further and notes that operators must take prompt and effective response action. To fail to do so is an offence and if convicted a New Zealand operator is liable for up to 2 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $200000. We absolutely endorse the bill’s intention to legislate a requirement for responsive action to an environmental emergency in Antarctica as this is consistent with Maori Party policy. We concur with the liability annex in that imposing legal liability to clean up or pay the costs of response action where damage does occur will act as an incentive for operators to minimise damage to the environment. In other words supporting a healthy and sustainable environment is valued and a failure to provide the appropriate protection will come at a cost to the operator. 
Finally the Maori Party is proud to support the Antarctic Treaty as a very important mechanism by which to regulate international relations in respect of Antarctica. The treaty has 14 articles which establish Antarctica as a natural reserve devoted to peace and science providing for freedom of scientific investigation and cooperation and prohibiting military activity. I remind the House that Aotearoa was one of the original 12 countries that first signed up to the treaty in 1961. This bill sends a very strong signal to all parties involved in scientific research programmes tourism and all other governmental and non-governmental activities in the Antarctic Treaty area about the intentions in relation to environmental emergencies in the Antarctic Treaty area. 
In keeping with our responsibilities and obligations as a good global citizen we are happy to support this bill. We welcome the introduction of the annex to the environmental protocol setting out legal liability for damage to the Antarctic environment and we look forward to further debate on this bill. We do so finally in the hope that when this bill next comes before the House at least the word “Maori” may grace its pages. Kia ora.