Samuels Dover: Local Government Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
Samuels Dover: Local Government Law Reform Bill — In Committee 
[Volume:632;Page:3816] 
Hon DOVER SAMUELS (Minister of State) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Chairman. I will take a short call. Some of the issues raised by Hone were very pertinent but I think we have to look at something that is more fundamental. I am reminded of the arguments that took place when the original legislation came before the House and of the adverse reaction from the National Party to Maori having separate regional or local council representation. It is very pertinent that National members actually have some consistency in their argument. 
I do not believe that Maori representation in this Parliament is tokenism and I want to say that very clearly. Our people fought for a long time to be represented in the House of Representatives in this Parliament and to say that that Maori representation is tokenism undermines and degrades Maoridom’s intelligence. Local government may be considered a separate stratum in terms of democratic representation. I for one have represented my people at the local and regional government level over many years but I never saw it as tokenism; I saw it as a different stratum in terms of the democratic right of Maori to be represented at all levels of government. If it is good enough for Maori to be represented in this House from the perspective of parliamentary representation democratic representation it is good enough to accord the same rules to our people in terms of local or regional government. 
It is an absolute turn-round and unacceptable to hear from the National Party that in fact Maori representation is OK on a parliamentary basis. I remind the people of New Zealand and Maoridom that at the last election the National Party tried to cosy up to the Maori Party so that it could get the numbers to be the Government of this country. I am reminded by my colleague in New Zealand First of the “h” word. I will not say that word but one has to be consistent in one’s argument. If someone says it is not good enough for Maori to be represented at the local government level that person is actually saying it is not good enough for them to be represented at the parliamentary level. Members should be consistent in their arguments because the argument is a democratic one. If Maori can be represented in this House democratically then they can be represented at the other level—local government—through exactly the same system. 
So what is wrong with setting up these wards? The argument I heard in terms of Maori development is valid but we have to look at the sets of values we are talking about. I appreciate the endeavours of some colleagues to lessen Maori disparities and to ensure that Maori have the same opportunities—economically socially and culturally—at that level. But what we are talking about here is democratic representation. It is very important in terms of achieving the goals of the legislation which we require local government to acknowledge and put into place that we allow our people to have democratic representation on our local authorities. 
I look across the room to my colleague John Carter. John and I have been in local government for many years. We have encouraged our people to stand for Parliament. We have always encouraged our Maori constituents to stand and be represented at the local government level. I ask colleagues to be consistent in their arguments. If our people wish to have local government representation and separate local government wards then I think they should be given the opportunity to be consulted about that. At the end of the day the community will make the decision. It is up to the local authorities or the regional councils to make the decision after conducting a fully democratic consultative process. If that is not democracy I ask what is. It is not a matter of our coming down arbitrarily and saying what people shall have. Rather after going through the process in a constituency like that of my colleague John Carter and me the far north if it is considered prudent and if the people of our Far North District Council democratically decide to put into place separate wards why should it not do that? That is the democratic process and I believe as a matter of principle that Parliament should support it. Thank you Mr Chairman.