Harawira Hone: Standing Orders 
Harawira Hone: Standing Orders 
[Volume:650;Page:18843] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Tena koe Madam Assistant Speaker. Tena tatou katoa e te Whare. The Maori Party was proud to stand alongside our MMP colleagues in the Greens United Future and ACT to support a code of conduct for members of the House and to reduce the disorderly conduct that diminishes Parliament and all of its members as well. I note that such a call was once made in the 1880s by MP Vincent Pyke who described members of Parliament like this: “there were the speechless members who were never heard of except by their votes. Then there were the silly members who talked nonsense by the yard. And thirdly there were the sensible members who said very little and said that little to the purpose.” Nearly 130 years later Parliament still seems to be struggling with the challenges of the speechless the silly and the sensible although the public could be forgiven for thinking that only the silly ones are to be heard. 
That is why we called for and supported a code of conduct being instituted in the Standing Orders. The slanging matches the petty attacks the snide remarks and the often mindless attempts at humour that characterise question time in the Chamber create a very poor environment for political debate and it is no wonder the general public has such little confidence in us as politicians. 
The Maori Party looks to kaupapa and tikanga Maori to guide us in our behaviour and although I personally struggle with them sometimes I recognise that such principles require us to treat one another with respect and with integrity. I have no doubt that the people of Aotearoa want to see standards of behaviour in this House that acknowledge those values. Indeed my good friend the Most Rev. Desmond Tutu said it well when he said: “If I diminish you I diminish myself.” Certainly none of us is perfect but it is worthwhile that we strive to address the issues at hand rather than the person so it is disappointing to note that the review made no further commitment about standards of conduct that MPs could follow. 
A big part of the report was about the proposal that the Maori Party’s Te Ururoa Flavell raised at the very first Standing Orders Committee of the 48th Parliament for simultaneous Maori-English interpretation in the House so it is with considerable satisfaction that as the current Parliament draws to a close we see that the Standing Orders Committee has agreed that the establishment of such a service is desirable and that we are finally able to progress the introduction of a simultaneous interpretation service in the Parliament of Aotearoa. We believe that the successful regeneration and revitalisation of te reo Maori relies on promoting its usage as an ordinary everyday language. In the same way as we want to hear te reo Maori in the shopping malls the marketplace and our homes so too should we aspire to having te reo Maori heard regularly in this House. The Maori Party looks forward to the day when simultaneous interpretations in the House set the scene for what can be done throughout the country. 
I also note the proposal for the display of the New Zealand flag in the Chamber and select committee rooms. I wish the House to note a complaint that the Maori Party has laid which is still in progress in regard to the double standards of flying the European Union flag from the Auckland Harbour Bridge while denying the flying of the Maori flag. I note too that the select committee did not agree to the New Zealand flag being flown in the Chamber and in select committee rooms at this time. I sincerely hope that when the time arises that we can make that decision we also have the courage to fly the Maori flag as recognition of this country’s Treaty partnership. 
Finally we come to the issue of proxy voting for smaller parties. I note that in  
Parliamentary Practice 
 David McGee describes the Standing Orders as representing the political accommodations and allocations amongst the various parties. A specific example of this is the proxy voting provisions that were written into the Standing Orders in 2003 for the Progressive Party. The crux of that change impacts against four-member parties and works to support three-member parties. In effect the proxy voting provision means that the only time that the Maori Party can cast four votes in the House is if we have an MP in the House itself and a total of three MPs within the parliamentary complex. To cast our party votes we can have only one MP away at any time whereas United Future can cast three votes in the House if it has one MP in the complex—the member need not even be in the Chamber. It can have two MPs away at any time. This issue is a constraint upon our MPs. Although it will not be an issue for us in the next Parliament when we will have seven members in the House we are thinking of the natural justice issue in general in relation to such a glaring difference in the voting provisions for parties of three or four members. 
Hoi nano ka nui tera maku mo tenei wa. Tena koe Madam Assistant Speaker tena hoki tatou e te Whare. Kia ora tatou. 
[ 
So that is enough from me for now. Greetings Madam Assistant Speaker and to all of us as well the House. Thank you all 
.]