Tirikatene RinoELECTORAL (ENTRENCHMENT OF MĀORI SEATS) AMENDMENT BILLSecond ReadingRINO TIRIKATENE (Labour—Te Tai Tonga): I move That the Electoral (Entrenchment of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill be now read a second time.E Te Māngai o Te Whare tēnā koe. E tū ana ahau ki te hautū i Te Pire Whakatikatika Pōti (Whakapūmautanga o ngā Tūru Māori) i tēnei pānuitanga tuarua. E ngā mema o Te Whare tēnā koutou tēnā koutou tēnā tātou katoa.[Madam Speaker greetings. I stand to lead the Electoral (Entrenchment of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill during this second reading. To the members of this House greetings one and all.]It's a delight for me to speak as the sponsor of this bill at its second reading. This is a very simple bill. It's only four clauses long but it is highly significant for Māori representation and the recognition of Māori representation in this House. Currently the general electorate seats under our Electoral Act are entrenched but our Māori seats are not and there is no valid reason for that discrepancy. So I'm delighted that this bill made it to select committee and I want to acknowledge our coalition partners who supported my bill to select committee. I do want to acknowledge the Māori Affairs Committee for its examination of this bill all members and in particular our acting chair who stood in my stead our deputy chair Marama Davidson who ably chaired our committee as we considered this business.As I said it is a simple bill but it's quite extraordinary how it has struck a nerve in terms of the feeling that is out there against so-called Māori privilege or Māori special rights that emerged through the submissions. I do want to acknowledge that we did receive many submissions. Those in favour were from up and down the country from Māori from Pākehā from all groups—hapū whānau communities trade unions the Human Rights Commission some august academics and individuals—who were in support of the bill. Likewise I do want to acknowledge there were many individual submitters who opposed this bill. Conspicuously those who opposed this bill had rather similar form submissions which emanated from groups like Hobson's Pledge and other similar groups and they are conspicuously Pākehā too. But be that as it may it is our right as a Parliament that we do examine and we do consider all of the different views in relation to this bill. But I want to really cut to the nub of this legislation. As I've said it's a simple bill. Currently general electorates have an extra protection under our Electoral Act. It requires three-quarters—a 75 percent majority—of the Parliament to vote down or do away with any general electorate seats and yet our Māori electorate seats which have been a part of our Parliament and our constitutional arrangements for over 150 years can be voted out and voted away by a simple majority of this House. Again there is no real valid reason why we should be treated differently and have different treatment. I have been just trying to come from a very principled position just to ensure that there are very strong arguments around equality and making sure that we are treated the same and also very strong arguments around our rights as tangata whenua. The fact is that our Māori electorate seats in Parliament are a taonga. Basically we wouldn't be here as Māori today in society in 2019 had it not been for Māori elected members of Parliament being able to make those advances for us as the indigenous tangata whenua of our nation. So surely in this day and age—in 2019—why shouldn't Māori electorate seats have the same protection as general seats? That is the question that has been posed. We've heard a lot of views obviously to the contrary and quite frankly they don't stack up in my book. We've heard technical views around the view that Oh well the electoral laws aren't really entrenched because not all the provisions are entrenched."—we've heard technical things around that. We heard arguments that "We already have too many Māori in Parliament." or "There are lots of Māori MPs in Parliament."—and we do and that's a great thing. Look we don't have too many. We can always do with more—Hon Dr David Clark: Too few—too few. RINO TIRIKATENE: —too few indeed—but we do have many Māori in Parliament. Just looking around our House this evening and around our Māori Affairs Committee we have members representing their party lists and we have members that represent certain general electorates. So there is a great variety and number of Māori in this House—as there rightly should be—but the Māori seats are a taonga. They are special. They are a world-leading model of indigenous representation that we have had for over 150 years and I believe that if we cannot ensure that we are treated the same here in 2019 it really reveals I think another side. There is a dark side. Dare I say it there is racism that runs deep within our country and that reared itself with the views that we heard from certain sections of certain interest groups—very small interest groups I might say. But that was on full display for all of us on the committee. So this is a significant bill. It has been a significant day in Parliament with our very first mixed-member bill on female genital mutilation and obviously we've also been chewing through quite a lot of heavy electoral legislation. But I like to think that with this piece of legislation it has had very good scrutiny. It has a very strong sound basis in fairness in the Treaty and in ensuring basically that Māori electorate seats can be treated the same and therefore we as tangata whenua in this House don't feel like "Oh we're inferior because we can just be wiped aside and extinguished for ever just by a simple resolution of this House." So I want to just once again reinforce that this is an important bill. There's a lot of history behind our Māori seats and if I could just reach out to the other parties—in particular the National Party and New Zealand First—I'd say to try and put principle ahead of politics on this particular matter. I know that obviously there is a constituency out there that you want to appeal to and that you want to blow that dog whistle to to send them the message that "Yes we're going to keep these Māoris down." or "Yes we're not going to give them more rights." and I would just say let's rise above that. Let's think of the future of our country how far we have come and how far we have yet to go. Another thing I'd like to say is that I'd rather not hear some empty compliments placed towards me being a promoter of this bill. There's a lot of that kōrero that goes on in the House for members bringing in bills. This bill is not about me. This bill is about all our Māori MPs and all our Māori people right across Aotearoa mai rānō tae noa mai ki tēnei wā—from way back to here where we are now. I am just a torch-bearer that was lucky enough to bring this bill to the House. I want to acknowledge the late Parekura Horomia before me who brought this bill and who waited on this bill; likewise the former member the Hon Te Ururoa Flavell. There are a lot of past members and I'm sure that if it doesn't pass tonight there will be future members that will continue to carry the torch to ensure that we are treated equally in this House and that we stand for an Aotearoa which is respectful for tangata whenua and us all as Aotearoa. With that I commend this bill. Kia ora tātou."