Samuels Dover: General Debates 
Samuels Dover: General Debates 
[Volume:618;Page:13865] 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State) 
:  
A tena koe Mr Speaker. Kei te mihi atu ki a koe ara kei te panui atu ki te ao Maorimonga kaupapa e paana ki a ratou ara nga kaupapa hoki a Te RopuNahinara e whaineiratou ki te murungamangaiMaori katoa i roto i te Whare Paremata. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Speaker. I acknowledge you in this address to the Maori world in regard to policies relating to it and those of the National Party as well; in particular the one whereby it is seeking to abolish all Maori representation in the House of Parliament 
.] 
The question is: to be or not to be? It is a question not in the sense of Shylock in the  
Merchant of Venice 
 but perhaps for Don Brash and Gerry Brownlee. Are nuclear-powered ships to be or not to be allowed? The people of our country want to know and the Maori nation wants to know. I am a little bit disappointed in some of the comparisons and statements made by Mr Brownlee and Phil Heatley when they talked about Maori taking three bites of the cherry—and Mr Heatley went on to say that Maori have taken four bites of it. My advice to them is to combine the bites of the two cherries—seven bites—and take one bite of the kumara. Then they might understand and be enlightened on issues that affect Maori. 
First of all I want to say that I admire the enlightened statements made by the former Minister of the Crown in the National Party Sir Douglas Graham and I congratulate him on them. I say to him that the vacant spaces across the other side of this House surely need him right now. They need his wisdom and they need him to jolt the memories of the corpses that sit over there because quite clearly they have forgotten a lot of things. Sir Douglas Graham had integrity amongst the Maori people. He knew tikanga Maori and he understood the Maori nation. He knew what Maori dimensions were all about and he put on the table a fair square deal in terms of Maori and the Crown. 
From what I am hearing Gerry Brownlee say I can see that he has absolutely no understanding about Maoridom and a Maori dimension. He has absolutely no understanding about his role in terms of the perception of Maori. He should at least have some understanding about how to relate to the Maori people. The first thing he said was that he wants to abolish the Maori parliamentary representatives in this House—representatives who were elected in Maori constituencies by Maori voters. I want to say to Maoridom so they hear me loud and clear: “The National Party’s policy is to abolish your Maori representation in this House.” Secondly he also wants to abolish Te PuniKokiri the Ministry of Maori Development. He wants to repeal all legislation that refers to the Treaty of Waitangi. He wants to demolish the Maori Television Service. And he wants to be seen as the future Minister of Maori Affairs? Come on get a life! This is the deputy leader of the National Party the so-called shadow Minister of Maori Affairs saying that he wants to demolish the Maori nation. How does that line up with representing Maori issues and a Maori dimension? I say: “Come back Doug Graham!”. 
I remind members across the other side of the House including my friend the MP for Whangarei in the meantime that the 1992 settlement deal was a very comprehensive one. If he looks at it he will see that it contains some references to aquaculture. Aquaculture in terms of the proposed 20 percent is unfinished business. It was business that was negotiated in 1992 and the Labour Government has the courage to front up and finish the business. It is absolute humbug that Maori already have 10 percent that they already have 5 percent or that they have had three or four bites of the cherry. 
Let me put it to the House this way: when the National Government introduced a quota management system Maori were already fishing with the general quota but this was a completely different quota to the customary quota and the traditional quota that had been negotiated. My colleague across the other side of the House knows that. Maori not only fished in the fishery but also bought and sold commercial quota from the general pool. That was fine. But in terms of the treaty settlement that was something completely different altogether and I am afraid I am a little bit disappointed that my friends across the other side seem to suffer from some sort amnesia when it comes to the true facts. Kia ora tatou. Tihei mauri ora.