Waititi RawiriRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Thank you Madam Chair. Kia ora tātou e te Whare. Well we know Aotearoa has one of the most imprisoned populations in the world with 170 per 100000 in prison. Of those people 52 percent are Māori. The majority of Māori prisoners are locked up on drugs- and property-related offences. In other words crimes of poverty. Since this Government began its programme to decrease the number of Māori in prison—in 2019—our prison population has gone up by 2 percent. Two-thirds of our prisoners have been denied their right to maintain contact with their whānau due to the ban on face-to-face visits long after the rest of us have had COVID19 restrictions removed. So not only has the prison population increased under this Government but life for prisoners has gotten worse. In fact this has been the case for the last 35 years. Since the publication of Moana Jackson's groundbreaking report He Whaipānga Hou the rate of incarceration for tāne Māori hasn't changed at 50 percent. The rate of incarceration for wāhine Māori has risen significantly. Today Māori women make up 64 percent of the female prison population in Aotearoa. Our people suffer unequal outcomes at every level. We are more likely to be stopped searched arrested and convicted. Despite what the ACT Party believe and the National Party tāne Māori receive special treatment from the Crown as in the criminal justice system. Does the Minister believe that the system is racist and how is she going to decrease Māori incarceration rates? It was only last year that an investigation by the Privacy Commissioner and the Independent Police Conduct Authority found the police guilty of racially profiling and illegally photographing rangatahi without consent. Children as young as 15 were approached in broad daylight and threatened with arrest if they refused to have their photo taken all for the crime of looking out of place. That is not policing with consent; that is bullying. It is predatory behaviour and a total abuse of power. We know too well what happens when Māori break the law. We are reminded on the news every day. But what happens when the police break the law? Well in this case the Minister of Police—who is now the Prime Minister—pledged to change the law to allow the police to continue to violate our rights. No consequences for the police. But we know what the consequences are for Māori: over-incarceration and the continued intimidation of our rangatahi by the State. The question I'd like to know is: how will the Minister ensure the police are held accountable for breaking the law as we citizens are held to account? After those particular reports have found that it was illegal to be photographing rangatahi without parental consent the whakamā trauma of these incidents shouldn't be carried by the rangatahi and their whānau; instead it should be the police. Crime in Aotearoa is a result of colonial inequities here in Aotearoa. It's past time the colonial Government stop feasting on the misery of our people. Under Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Crown has no right to take our people from their whānau hapū and iwi and put them in the State prison system. The impacts of the prison pipeline from State care and the education system are clear. Studies have shown that one in three children placed in residential care by the State ended up in prison later in life. Recent reports including Ināia Tonu Nei and Turuki! Turuki! put forward a series of recommendations to restore power to tangata whenua and end inequality in our justice system. Here are the questions we would like to ask of the Minister. Would she take a look at establishing a Māori justice authority? A Māori independent justice authority—precedence has been used in the health space—and we want to ensure that we can mirror the opportunities that the Māori Health Authority has in the justice system to be able to come up with our own solutions by iwi hapū whānau Māori organisations. We know there's $97 million of Whānau Ora money sitting in prisons. What is happening with that money? What is Whānau Ora got to do with the justice system? It's actually got absolutely everything opposite to do with the justice system. So those are some of the questions that I have for you Minister through the Chair.