Waititi RawiriRAWIRI WAITITI (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Point of order Mr Speaker. Because my name was brought into the debate by one of the speakers I would expect to be afforded the same respect and given another minute in my speech.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is not a point of order. The member has sat down. Does that mean he doesn't want to take his five-minute speech?RAWIRI WAITITI: That was a point of order Mr Speaker so I'm waiting for your ruling. DEPUTY SPEAKER: I'm ruling it's not a point of order. Does the member wish to take his five-minute call?RAWIRI WAITITI: Point of order Mr Speaker. Can you point out that my point of order is not a point of order or are you rewriting the book?DEPUTY SPEAKER: Just hold on. We're always in the order of compromise. The member can seek the leave of the House to have a minute added to his speaking time. So does the member wish to do that?RAWIRI WAITITI: Yes please Mr Speaker.DEPUTY SPEAKER: So is there any objection? There is no objection so a minute will be added. So we'll add the minute. You'll note that the clock has gone to six minutes now just to save any confusion at the end of your speech.RAWIRI WAITITI: Thank you Mr Speaker for your generosity. E te Whare tēnā tātou. E te Wānanga o Raukawa tēnā koutou. Anei tā koutou tangata. [To the House greetings to all of us. To the Wānanga o Raukawa greetings. Here is your man.]I'm alumni of Raukawa so I'm really proud to have them here today and I'm really excited about what this bill does for our people. First of all one thing I've learnt is you never take tikanga advice from arrogant and ignorant people. So that's something I will never do. Kei te mihi atu rā ki a tātou i tēnei ata. [I acknowledge all of us this morning.] What a fun morning and start for us here today. What I do want to say is that the changes to this bill recognises the mana of kaupapa Māori education providers which should have been recognised years ago. However we do have a few concerns around the commitment of the Crown and this Government to truly honour and support a rangatiratanga-based education sector which means that we are in total control of what we do how we do it and the way we do it. So mātauranga Māori experts and our people across the board have long called for the unique and distinct status of kura kaupapa—I'm not a kura kaupapa child; I was through the transition of kura kaupapa but I am a kōhanga reo tamaiti and I'm also a wānanga Māori tamaiti that has gone through that particular system—to be recognised and enshrined in law which is not tinkering. It's not achieving very little or nothing but it is the right thing to do. It is totally unacceptable for kura kaupapa to be relegated to the status of designated character schools as they are in current legislation. We therefore support the provisions that uphold recommendations of Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori. I also note that this bill seeks to recognise the mana of whare wānanga and their unique status in the tertiary education system by enabling them to convert to non-Crown entities and being responsible and accountable to tangata whenua to iwi to hapū who pay their taxes in this country whose assets have been stolen to build this country and who have had their backs stood on for the betterment of this country. So I will not accept that we are anything less than that but we are contributing more to the kaupapa that we're trying to drive today. For example we have te whare Wānanga o Raukawa—that their order in council is well advanced and that their accountability to their founding iwi Te Atiawa Ngāti Raukawa Ngāti Toa Rangatira and all the other iwi that are supportive of our wānanga will be strengthened that it will be a great outcome and we welcome it. And I reckon those Crown entity wānanga—universities if you want to call them that—should jump on board because they should have more accountability to iwi and hapū that they are established in which they are not. We know how important this is for Māori education institutions to be able to determine their own governance and accountability frameworks rather than being forced into one-size-fits-all Crown models. It is like Rangi trying to put her foot into Cinderella's slipper. Rather than being forced into one-size-fits-all—it is not designed with the interest of Māori students in mind. This has been our reality for far too long and any move away from that is to be acknowledged. However do we have some concerns about the bill and require some assurance going forward? Yes we do. We put before this House that the kura kaupapa Māori claim is currently before the Waitangi Tribunal and to the Government we need you to have a look at the outcomes of that particular tribunal hearing and adopt the tribunal recommendations. It is the utmost importance that Government stop cutting across tribunal claims and stop cherry-picking what to implement in these types of changes. I think it's really important Minister that we do that—that we consider and that we ensure that those tribunal hearings are part of the changes that we're trying to achieve here for a better Māori-medium education model. I wero to the Crown and the Government where the resources to power and sector to achieve rangatiratanga is stated in the goal of this bill—we need to see that. We need to start seeing more of that in the legislation passed by Government.What are the funding implications of these changes? Will this isolate kura kaupapa Māori? Will it isolate whare wānanga? These are the things. And when I heard one of the speakers this morning—that is exactly what he was talking about. It was about isolation was about separation and was about making something less and making something more. So these are the things that we want to ensure: that there is equity that there is equality and the resourcing of Māori medium kaupapa whether it's kura kaupapa or whether it's whare wānanga. These are the things that we are concerned about. The Government needs to recognise the similarly the nature of State schooling. Kura kaupapa Māori are self-developed development initiatives that mediate the assimilation tendencies implicit in the conventional schooling system. You know Labour has I'm sure had a look at the Māori Party education policies. You know we want to establish a $200 million fund to drive whānau hapū and iwi education and training initiatives. I hope that this bill reflects that and that we're able to establish those things at that particular level and we will implement the tribunal claims and make this a legal requirement of the Crown. We look forward to this in the select committee process. We look forward to participating. We want to ensure that Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not just principles but the articles are upheld in this bill as we head forward to ensure protection of Māori-medium education. Kia ora tātou.