Warren-Clark AngieANGIE WARREN-CLARK (Labour): Thank you Mr Speaker. Before I begin my speech I'd just like to acknowledge the fact that I am wearing sunglasses in the House and that is due to recovery from eye surgery. I have permission from the Speaker for that but if any of you are wondering why that is the answer.It's a real pleasure to stand here in this House to speak on the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill. It is a great honour actually. I noted on the Order Paper that I'm the only Pākehā from this side of the House that is speaking on this issue. Therefore I think it's important to acknowledge the privilege that I've been given on this issue but also the fact that our great leader the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern spoke to us at Waitangi about the bridge and Māori crossing the bridge: every day that happens and for us as Pākehā we need to cross that bridge at times as well. So for me this is a great honour to speak to this.It's also with some sadness that we're here in 2021 talking about an issue which is fundamental to our democracy and partnership under the Treaty of Waitangi. For me it is a real shame. In my community of Tauranga Moana—and I am a list MP in the Bay of Plenty electorate which is the horseshoe that wraps around the centre of Tauranga City. Hon Simon Bridges: Strangles it!ANGIE WARREN-CLARK: Ha ha! We're a vibrant—very vibrant—part of this city. The issue for our city has been the Māori wards very lately. It's been very divisive and heartbreaking. As the mother of Māori children and the wife of a Māori man I find it really difficult but it is important that we have these conversations and that those of us here that are Pākehā remain to be allies in this issue.Māori wards are the only opportunity that people have to say No we won't do this." That 5 percent vote—do you know in Kaikōura that's 100 people that will stop the democracy of having Māori people represented—100 people. In my city that's 5000 people and those 5000 people are not representative of the majority of us. They just have to put their signature. They are told that it's anti-democracy it's anti-democratic. It is not anti-democratic to have representation from one Treaty partner. It cannot be anti-democratic to have people represented at the table not just being consulted on but actually helping to make the decisions. It is important that we remember that tangata whenua were here first that tangata whenua have a different view from myself perhaps—it's a unique view and it's an important view.In my city it has been 28 years since we had a Māori member on our city council. Twenty-eight years does not tell me—well actually 29 now that we're in 2021. Twenty-nine years does not tell me that it's about an equal playing field; it tells me that there is something else going on in our city. It tells me that racism is alive and well in our city. Certainly for me and my experience as a Pākehā woman who nobody can tell has Māori children or a Māori husband I experience the racism on a daily basis and I hear it from the people of our community. It breaks my heart but my job as a Pākehā woman is to speak back to that and that's what I am doing. It is incredibly important to me that we have representation from our Treaty partners. If we don't have that if we do not wind this back we will never ever cross that bridge.Finally in closing be gentle with each other in this conversation. It is hurtful—it is hurtful for people to hear these conversations and we must be respectful. I commend this bill to the House."