McAnulty Kieran; Tuiono TeanauHon KIERAN McANULTY (Labour): This bill is nothing short of appalling. The speech made by the Minister was nothing short of disingenuous and the entire rationale behind this bill is racially motivated. It is a disgrace—an absolute disgrace—to stand up in this House and present this as being about democracy when the changes apply only to Māori wards and are not about any other aspect of it. Simeon Brown should be ashamed—be ashamed—for giving in to extreme elements for the sake of a cheap vote.I predict that in 20 years 30 years Māori wards will be normal. They will be universally adopted and people will wonder what the argument was all about. Just like the homosexual law reform or marriage equality—and Simon Watts scoffs. He probably voted No. Maybe that's why he's scoffing. The point is that we look back. People might look back to their grandparents' views at that time and they might look back with disgust or they might be ashamed of the way that their grandparents voted on an issue and in time you wonder what on earth the fuss was about. That is my challenge to these members today. In 20 years' time or 30 years' time are you going to be proud of yourselves because what you are doing today is you are voting to impose a stricter criteria on things that impact on Māori and Māori only.The Minister's defence of the Government's position that rural wards are different because there is a provision to go to the Local Government Commission was pitiful—absolutely pitiful. If they wanted a level playing field simply make Māori wards have the same provision and then you've got what you say you're after. But no. If there was a member's bill in Parliament today proposing that what they are putting forward for Māori wards applied to rural wards or urban wards or any other form of wards—but especially rural wards—they would vote against it because they would argue that there's a very good chance that the much higher-population urban areas in those districts would not vote in the rural people's interests and because rural people vote for them. But the same rationale that they would use to oppose this provision on rural wards they are saying is a virtue for the sake of Māori wards. That is why I say this is racially motivated—because their principles apply when it suits them. Their principles apply when there's a chance they might be able to get 5 percent of the vote in order to form a Government. I think it's disgraceful and I'm not surprised that there are a couple of backbenchers looking down because if I was on their side I'd be looking down too. I would be ashamed because this isn't anything to do with democracy. This is a politically expedient opportunity to kick Māori—to kick Māori while they're down. Local government finally got an opportunity to put forward the idea of Māori wards in exactly the same way that they would consider any other ward. That is all that the change did—exactly the same way—and the Government is changing this knowing that some communities will vote these out and deprive Māori of a voice. Some communities that have never had a Māori councillor voted for Māori wards because they knew that it would benefit and add to their decision making.Fifty-plus mayors have signed a letter to this Government saying Do not do this. This is an overreach." The Government is ignoring them. It's another example of this Government ignoring local government. An appalling Minister—no one likes him because he never turns up and when he does turn up he lectures them just like he did then. It's another example of this Government breaking promises. They went right round the country—oh Simon Watts has quietened down because he knows what I'm going to say. He went around the country and promised local government that if National were elected they would help them pay for their water. What did those members do when they got elected? They broke that promise. That is why so many mayors went for them instead of water reform—because they promised them they would pay and they lied to them and today they are ignoring them. Shame on this Government for ignoring local communities that have made a decision for themselves and for putting extra burden on people because they are Māori. It's a disgrace.ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Teanau Tuiono): The question is that the motion be agreed to."