Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Brownlee Gerry: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:616;Page:11628] 
1. GERRY BROWNLEE (Deputy Leader—National) 
 to the  
Prime Minister 
: Why is she now reported as saying there will be no announcements this week regarding a commission of inquiry into Treaty of Waitangi matters when on Thursday she was reported to be set to go on an inquiry? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) 
: 
 Because I cannot be responsible for newspaper headlines. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can the Prime Minister confirm that there will be an inquiry into Treaty of Waitangi matters and will the findings of the inquiry into Treaty of Waitangi matters be recommendatory or will they be binding on the Government? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I have not heard of an inquiry where the findings would be binding on a Government. I am exploring ideas with a range of people inside and outside this place and I will have something to say in due course. What I do agree with is Mr Brownlee’s statement last Tuesday that “a commission of inquiry is an interesting idea”. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to give the House the balance of that quotation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought is there any objection? There is. 
Jill Pettis 
: Has she seen any reports on how New Zealand should deal with issues related to race relations and the treaty? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I have seen rather a lot including well-informed editorials. I was taken with one suggestion that we should approach the subject by having what was described as a “rational intelligent mature debate which I am committed to having”—that was Dr Brash on 11 February! 
Jeanette Fitzsimons 
: Does the Prime Minister agree that in order to avoid a debate led by sound bites and slogans we need a well-resourced well-informed public dialogue about the role of the treaty relationship in a modern society before we move to any decision-making process? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I think the issues being raised do cut to the heart of New Zealand’s nationhood. They need to be carefully considered and it would be good to see them debated much more widely in the community than they traditionally have been. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: Does the Prime Minister also agree that an inquiry into or a review of the role of the treaty is in itself somewhat limited and that to achieve the wider objectives she has just referred to the inquiry has to have the capacity to cover other issues related to our constitutional structure and framework? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I am aware that the Justice and Electoral Committee was discussing a broader inquiry and indeed unanimously recommended that there should be a broader inquiry of some kind into constitutional issues. What those undertaking such an inquiry would find is that they will at a very early stage run up against the issue of the place of the treaty—whether it has a place in constitutional arrangements. Indeed a constitutional conference in this very building ran slap bang into that around 4 years ago. So these issues around the place of the treaty need to be taken seriously and debated seriously at some point. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Why will the Prime Minister not accept responsibility personally as an elected leader in this country to lead the debate on the role of the Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty of Waitangi matters in this country and rather want to abdicate her responsibility to a group of unelected officials who have an interest in the matter. 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I intend to be at the forefront of any debate about emerging nationhood in New Zealand. I intend to have the issues taken seriously. I am really surprised that the National Party is so interested in a debate it does not want to take part in. 
Hon Richard Prebble 
: Can the Prime Minister explain to us how she can lead the debate when 2 weeks ago she was reported in the news media as ruling out a royal commission then last week saying it was a real possibility and was all ears and yesterday at her select committee closing down the debate; what sort of leadership is that or is the Prime Minister just having another panic attack? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: I do not recall being at a select committee yesterday. What I want to see is the issues that cut to the heart of New Zealand’s nationhood given a proper airing and the most appropriate form for that is still being considered. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: Is she having difficulty in coming to grips with Dr Brash’s policy because up until now the National Party policy and the Labour Party policy on this issue have been identical? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: The Minister can comment with regard to the Labour Party’s policy. 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: What I have observed in recent weeks is that in good faith for the last 20 years Governments of all kinds have got on with building a Crown-Maori dialogue. It now seems that one of those that was party to that debate has decided it does not want to be part of the dialogue any more. 
Hon Peter Dunne 
: What responses has she received from groups or persons from outside the House to the idea of some form of inquiry taking place? 
Rt Hon HELEN CLARK 
: The feedback I am getting is that people feel there is a debate to be had; that probably while in good faith Governments over the past 20 years have got on with developing a Crown-Maori relationship that perhaps that has been seen as peripheral by the general community. I think the general community is now interested in how those issues impact on New Zealand’s developing sense of nationhood and I think we as political leaders owe it to the public to try to bring some rational and reasoned discourse to that. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: I seek leave to table a list of all the occasions on which the Prime Minister has refused to debate Dr Don Brash on this issue particularly those dates since her “bring it on” speech. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought. Is there any objection? There is. 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I seek leave to table a list—a long one—of all the times the National Party has backed separatist race-based legislation. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Leave is sought to table that. Is there any objection? There is.