Ririnui Mita: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill — Second Reading 
Ririnui Mita: Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:643;Page:12893] 
Hon MITA RIRINUI (Minister of State) 
: 
 I do not intend to take a very long call in terms of my views on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill. I certainly want to thank the previous speaker Tau Henare for his contribution and his enlightenment of the House in terms of what the Treaty has done in relation to the bringing together of a number of communities—particularly Maori and non-Maori. The non-Maori community is made up of a lot of ethnic groups as well. But I think the previous speaker undersells the value of this bill even though it is our intention to oppose it at this stage. 
I want to thank the New Zealand First members. Although I was very concerned at the outset when they tabled this bill in the House I want to thank them for one simple reason. This bill gave us the opportunity to debate the purpose of the Treaty of Waitangi in our society. I always had the view that when I spoke about the Treaty of Waitangi I would be speaking about Maori and the Crown—the Treaty partners. I found through this whole process that I am actually talking to a lot of ethnic groups. I never believed at any time in my life that I would be talking to the Indian community to the Bangladeshi community or to the Chinese Vietnamese Malaysian or other Asian communities about the Treaty of Waitangi yet I found myself doing exactly that. 
When I say thank you to Doug Woolerton for introducing this bill—although I know that Pita Paraone had a lot to do with it—it is because we should have an open discussion from time to time about who we are as a nation. Certainly this bill has provided us with that opportunity. Although I have some concerns about the intentions behind the bill I think it is well accepted that the Treaty is very well embedded in the history of our country. I have had the opportunity many times to speak about the importance of the Treaty in terms of who we are as a nation. 
I understand that during the select committee process a number of ethnic groups requested the opportunity to speak to their submissions at the select committee and that they expressed concern that such a bill was before the House. They expressed concern that there may be some attempt to play down the value of the Treaty of Waitangi in terms of who we are as a nation. There was an expression of gratitude for the opportunity to actually express their views from an ethnic point of view about the Treaty of Waitangi and on what it does for them in terms of their value in this country. So I say again on having been given this opportunity to speak to this particular bill although I am opposed to it going any further I thank the New Zealand First members for the opportunity for all New Zealanders to debate the value of the Treaty in our society and debate who we are as a people. 
Statements have been made about a lack of understanding about the Treaty although we have inserted the Treaty of Waitangi into something like 32 Acts of Parliament and the question is raised as to what those principles are. There is quite considerable pressure on Ministers and the Government in general to identify what those principles are. In the Health and Disabilities Services (Safety) Act 2001 those principles are very strongly defined so there should be no argument about what it means in terms of the health of our nation. But even though those principles are defined in the legislation it should not limit the extent of how the Treaty can be used or defined in law. We have a number of legal academics of all persuasions who from time to time offer up some views of how the Treaty should be interpreted in certain situations. What that tells us is that the Treaty will speak for itself. 
There is an old proverb amongst Maoridom from the great Ngapuhi leader Aperahama Taonui whom they call the great prophet and who many in this House are familiar with. I am not talking now about Willie Jackson or John Tamihere who are the prophets of doom from time to time. The prophet said: “Waiho ma te wa. Ma te Tiriti ano hei korero ana ritenga ehara ma te tangata.” The translation of that is: “If we listen very carefully the Treaty will speak to us. If we do not listen very carefully we will never hear what it is telling us.” 
So in terms of our development as a nation let this particularly important document speak to us and tell us about who we are our genesis how we became a country and how we became a nation. We must let ourselves grow without being too academic about this whole exercise. It is incredible how the words of wisdom of the past come back to remind us that rather than talking too much we should be listening a lot more. 
I do not intend to speak too much more about this particular bill but once again I thank the member who introduced this bill and New Zealand First for giving us the opportunity to have an open discussion about the Treaty of Waitangi its principles and who we are as a nation. Kia ora.