Luxton CameronCAMERON LUXTON (ACT): Thank you Mr Speaker. Local community did ask for this. This Government is not turning its back on local community. It is the core foundation of localism to return control to those closest to the ground as possible and the individual is the closest to the ground as possible. Giving people a right to have their say on the make-up of their council is the core of localism.ACT is proud to support this bill. We had campaigned on this during the election and there was a coalition Government elected on listening to what people in their communities want and giving it back to them because it was taken away. We are restoring local democracy.Shanan Halbert: Stop flashing your logo.CAMERON LUXTON: It's a great logo—you should get one.Councils will have their chance to implement this bill. These 50 mayors that are complaining that they want to have a say—they have a say. They can either choose to disestablish a Māori ward if it was created without the consent of a binding referendum from their people or they can go to a referendum. That choice is going to be created for them.Mariameno Kapa-Kingi: It's not a choice.CAMERON LUXTON: And that means—that is a choice. That's two options; options create a choice.Then we will go to another situation that I have had in my home council of Tauranga. We had the people the citizens go out and get the signatures 5 percent of the local electors to have a referendum on the Māori ward. The Minister of Local Government at the time under the Labour Party Government took away the ability of people who had gone out done the hard work in collecting signatures and had their say—to just be wiped over. The Tauranga commissioners—who thank goodness have now vacated their spot and we have democracy in its whole form returned to Tauranga—implemented something against the will of the people of Tauranga. Now we are restoring in this Government the right of local communities to have their say.There are local communities who have established Māori wards: 45 councils have established a Māori ward without a binding pole but four have established a Māori ward which will not be affected by this legislation.Although I do not support race-based wards one can support Māori wards and this bill. This bill is healing a divide that was created in this country—a divide which puts the provisions of race in the first place. This change is not an attack on Māori it is a defence of the liberal value that all human beings have equal moral worth and our political rights flow from that fundamental principle. Removing this divisive and backwards race-based policy from what is currently happening in local government is something that I'm incredibly proud to support.Tangata whenua will still have a say on many institutions in councils. For example take again the Tauranga City Council. We have the tangata whenua and council committee which is a standing committee; we have the Rangapū Mana Whenua o Tauranga Moana Partnership which implements initiatives as well as advances and protects the interests of tangata whenua; and we have the Kāhui Kaumātua which is the kaumātua forum in which any kaumātua in and around Tauranga can raise concerns and issues with the mayor the chief executive and the staff. That is a form of consultation that I think—if the members on the other side of the House would listen carefully—takes into account the feelings and the issues that are affecting mana whenua in their regions and brings that to the community and to the council without having to have a race-based ward.Post-settlement Government entities represent 81.2 percent of Māori. These entities in many cases have a—well these entities in many cases have a line directly to the decisions which are made in their local regions. And rightfully so—rightfully so—they should have that line. This party the ACT Party has supported Treaty settlements because we believe that the wrongs of the past need to be addressed. But we do not think that going forward over the next 200 years our country can come together and be served by dividing people based on race.On that note I remember after the last Government was unceremoniously sent into the night the Hon Nanaia Mahuta gave an exit interview with Jack Tame. I listened to it and I was quite impressed actually.Mariameno Kapa-Kingi: Oh that's [Inaudible]. Stop talking like that. Jeez!CAMERON LUXTON: She said something in there which I—oh well look I'm impressed by many things Nanaia Mahuta has done. This is one in particular—Mariameno Kapa-Kingi: Say her name right if you are.CAMERON LUXTON: —she said—Nanaia Mahuta—I think fundamentally having a political party based on identity can be a challenged space." She went on to ponder "How do we bring Māori as indigenous people and the rest of New Zealand closer together rather than further apart?" Well I would say removing race-based wards is a key step in moving New Zealand closer together and not further apart.To the people who have campaigned in the past to have a referendum to remove race-based wards I would like to say that I'm sorry that you had to go through that and have that squashed by the last Government. But this coalition Government is standing up for the rights of New Zealanders in their local communities to have a say on fundamental things such as electors in a race-based ward. I think that my fellow New Zealanders from all walks of life and all ethnicities—when they think it through if they haven't already—will find it abhorrent to go about classing people based on who their ancestors were. We want to see all New Zealanders respected in their own inherent dignity—as an individual; as a person who's making a key part and a key difference to the life of our country and the future that we can have together. I very happily commend this bill to the House."