Fox Marama: Debate on Prime Minister’s StatementText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFox Marama: Debate on Prime Minister’s Statement[Sitting date: 10 February 2016. Volume:711;Page:8850. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]MARAMA FOX (Co-Leader—Māori Party): Ā tēnā koe Mr Speaker tēnā koutou ki Te Whare koutou i haere ā-tinana mai ki tēnei Whare ki te whakatutuki i ngā mahi o te tau kai te mihi atu ki a koutou ōku hoa mahi. Anō na te pai te tuku whakaaro ki a rātau kua mene atu ki Te Pō i ngā rā i ngā wiki i ngā marama kua hipa atu nei. Tēnei te mihi atu ki a rātau kai roto i ngā ringa o Te Atua i tēnei wā tēnā koutou.[Greetings to you Mr Speaker and to you as a collective the House. To you who came here physically to this House to complete the year’s tasks I salute you my fellow work colleagues. How nice it is once again to give a thought to those assembled in the void of recent days weeks and months. Those in the arms of God at this time my tributes to you collectively.]We are here to speak about the PM’s statement—the PM’s statement about the future of this country. I want to say clearly and loudly to the people of this nation that the Māori Party is here to add value not only to this Parliament but to our nation. We add value to this Parliament when we work with the Government of the day to ensure that the rights guaranteed under the Treaty to Māori are upheld and that is not just for Māori; that is for the benefit of this entire nation.Those people who stand up and say that to do so is divisive need to think about that because in 1835 a collection of Māori chiefs declared this nation a sovereign nation. Under He Whakaputanga we declared this nation a sovereign entity on its own and 5 years later we gathered at Waitangi the birthplace of this nation to enjoy a duality of nationhood where two partners come together to celebrate living together in a pristine country.When we talk about pristine let us have a conversation about the Resource Management Act. Let us have a conversation that starts with Māori rights under the Resource Management Act guaranteed to them in that Treaty and upheld by this Government not put down as divisive and not put down as some members and some parties would have us believe as excluding others. This is not about exclusiveness; this is about inclusiveness and under the Resource Management Act if we can guarantee the rights and the protection of kaitiakitanga in section 6 and section 7 then that is not just for the benefit of Māori. That is for the benefit of this entire nation and it needs to be celebrated.That brings us to the argument over fresh water. Much we have heard in the last couple of days from a particular party in question that says that this is a divisive element that we are “brownmailing” the Government and that the Māori Party is not serving the interests of this country. I tell you that that is not us being divisive; that is that party being divisive. To go back to Ōrewa and to make those speeches in front of a crowd of sympathisers and to come out not 2 days after being at Rātana and to say that is divisive.If those members want to make those claims over the Treaty having to be pulled out of the Resource Management Act then why did they not say those things at Rātana in front of the Māori people? They need to stand up and own that because actually do they vote on Treaty settlements? No they do not. Do they support the Treaty? No they do not. They use it as a tool to drive a wedge in this country and to split our nation. It is not exclusive; it is inclusive.When we recognise the rights of Māori people and fresh water we recognise the rights of all of us because actually the Government will say that no one owns fresh water. Well I tell you if the regional councils in this country allocate fresh water then they act like owners. When they allocate fresh water for the corporate needs of our farmers of our industry of our horticulture and of those who want to bottle it and sell it for profit that is corporate welfare. When we stand by as the observers of the degradation of our rivers that is corporate that is welfare that is benefit fraud. That is exactly what that is. If we have to spend more of the public purse to clean up the rivers in this country so we can go back to the places where we spent our childhood swimming in the rivers of this nation and enjoy our time with our family then that is corporate and benefit fraud and that is what they are committing.The Māori Party is not advocating for the rights and interests of Māori so that we can be exclusive; it is so that we can be inclusive. This country needs to stand up and recognise that recognising Māori rights as guaranteed to them under the Treaty ensures that our people can live in the duality of nationhood in this country. That is value added to our nation not the deficit theorising that is going on over in that quarter of the House. It is not deficit theorising. When we realise that to include Māori is inclusive we sit together in this country in the true understanding of what partnership means and that is what we advocate for every single day when we come into this House.I say to all who are listening that you have no need to fear because of Māori having rights and interests recognised. There is no fear in that. That was the irrational fear that the Labour Government tried to perpetuate over the foreshore and seabed. What? That we could not go to the beaches if you dared give some rights to the Māori? Well lock up the doors shut them now keep your daughters locked away because the Māori are coming. And we should fear that? That is the fearmongering that goes on in this place when we do what is popular and not what is right. What is right is to recognise those values those things those privileges guaranteed under the Treaty that we came together to sign at Waitangi—a partnership agreement.So let me tell you about that because 60 years ago Māori lived in this country next to its riverways as their source of life as their mana o te wai. We lived there in a pristine environment and since the allocation of water we have been merely observers to the degradation of our rivers and we have sat on the sidelines while it has been allocated to the corporate benefit of those who produce our food. That is not a bad thing—people need to produce food we need to eat and we understand that—but it needs to be done in fairness. So if anybody thinks that that is exclusivity it is not. It is inclusivity and it allows all of us to live here together.Actually I think we should hold back 40 percent of water allocation for the good of our community so that we can never over-allocate our waters so that our waters will be pristine and we can live in a country where we value our green clean New Zealand.Hon Te Ururoa Flavell: That is just the start.MARAMA FOX: That is just the start. The Māori Party is not here just for the benefit of Māori as people think. Yes we advocate for Māori but that is a good thing because we want Māori to be independent not co-dependent on the Government. The Resource Management Act is one area where we can do that. The fresh water is another area where we can do that. And we can work on the Marine Reserves Act because yes we need to have places that are held in posterity for all of us but not if it then further takes away the rights and privileges of Māori that are guaranteed under the Treaty.Yes we go on about the Treaty all the time and people say “Oh you’re only about Māori.” but it is about value-add to this country. What is wrong with a kaupapa Māori model of practice that upholds everyone’s rights? When we guarantee the rights of Māori we guarantee the rights of all in this country. That is not exclusive; it is inclusive and we need to get that right.This brings us to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. We have been vocal over the TPP agreement for a long time. Actually in Pita and Tariana’s day they sat and put out a press release with the Greens objecting to the TPP agreement because we did not know what was in it. Now we know—6000 pages of it. Now we know.Well I tell you we are not against free trade; we are just against unfair trade because if there is not a greater distribution of wealth to all peoples in this country then what good is it? What good is it to have a free-trade agreement if we have poverty in this nation? What good is it to have a free-trade agreement if we have homelessness in this nation? We have to have structural intervention in our system so that all people can realise the benefits of free trade—so that it becomes fair trade. Our people should not be struggling to buy a loaf of bread a block of cheese and a bottle of milk so that they can feed their children. That is the real struggle that people feel today.The TPP agreement has a clause in it called the Treaty clause as everybody has come to call it and it guarantees the rights of our people. But actually it is up to the interpretation of the Government and we only need to look back at the 175 years gone by to see that that is not always conducive to the thoughts of Māori. So if we have to rely on the Government to interpret it well we have seen what the Labour Government does—it just changes the law. We want to say to the National Government be careful. This may be the same clause that has been in every free-trade agreement but all those free-trade agreements did not extend to intellectual property to biodiversity to environmental issues and to the Wai 262 claim still remains unrecognised today.So we say to the Government that we do not support anything that breaches the rights of the Treaty not just for Māori but for all New Zealanders. That is what realising the duality of nationhood is. Thank you.