[Volume:608;Page:5208] 
PITA PARAONE (NZ First) 
: 
 A tena koe e te Heamana. A nga mihi ki a tatou katoa. He mihi hoki ki te tuahine mai i Tainui mo ona whakaaro ki te whakahe i te pire nei. Kei te tatari mai i a au i ona tungane tokowha i tautoko mai i tenei pire. E aha ana te tino putake i tautokongia ratou te ahuatanga o te pire nei na te mea kei te whakapae te nuinga o te iwi Maori. A na te mea kei te whakapae te nuinga o te iwi Maori kei hea nga mema Maori o te Kawanatanga nei i runga tenei kaupapa? E aha ana te take kei te noho wahangungu i a ratou? Tena pea e tika ana te korero o toku rangatira a Winitana. He toa ratou i runga i te marae he reme i roto i te Whare nei. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
Greetings to you Mr Chairman and greetings to us all. An acknowledgment as well to our sister member from Tainui for her thoughts about why she is against this bill. I am waiting here for her four brother members who supported this bill. What is the real reason they supported this bill and its effects because the majority of Maoridom are against it? Because the majority of Maoridom are against it where does that place the Maori members of this Government in relation to this policy? Perhaps what my leader Winston Peters has stated is correct: they are bold on the marae but meek in this House 
.] 
I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate and in particular to express my own views pertaining to the Prostitution Reform Bill now before this Committee. I should state from the outset that I do not support the bill and cannot see my way clear to do so even with the proposed amendments. I like a great number of members of this House came to Parliament with the hope of making a difference. That meant making New Zealand a better place for ensuing generations. I do not for one minute consider this bill to be in the best interest of our country and the people of New Zealand irrespective of one’s moral social and cultural background. However in considering a cultural perspective I should say that as someone of Maori descent who has been fortunate enough to have been raised with values that have included Maori ones the notion of any abuse of te whare tangata—in other words any activity that debases women in the way that prostitution does—threatens the whole concept of whanaungatanga and indeed of whakapapa. [ 
Interruption 
] Engari pai atu tena mema ki te whakahe waku korero engari ahakoa ko te iwi Maori i tautokongia i roto i tenei Whare engari kua he rawa atu wana whakaaro ki nga kaitautoko i a ia. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
But it is fine for that member to say that what I am saying is wrong and that the Maori people were supported in this House. Yet to the ones who support him what he thinks is absolutely wrong to them 
.] 
Whanaungatanga is the deeply ingrained concept that requires the desire to unite or link individuals with one another. My observations of some of the consequences from the activities of prostitution have seen the numbers grow albeit small in number to my tribe. 
I had a grand-auntie who as a consequence of the involvement of one of her mokopuna in this profession was left with three children. That aunt and the rest of her tribe feel bereft of being able to link those children with the whanaungatanga I talk about. That imposed a burden on my aged auntie in terms of the care and protection that she had to afford those children. This bill however will certainly lead to an increase in those who might choose or be coerced into this profession. Is this the direction in which we want to take our country? I believe that it is not and that we should oppose this bill. 
Does the bill make prostitution safer? I know that that member who represents the urban Maori of Auckland thinks that it does. In fact it will increase the need for greater safety measures. I do not believe that those who have supported this bill are promoting the evils of child prostitution or corruption but I believe that the introduction of this bill has already signalled a possible increase in the numbers of those who participate in this profession. Already we have had a person with a legal background advocating the lowering of the age of consent for sex and I need to say that that is as a consequence of this bill.