Hide Rodney: General Debate 
Hide Rodney: General Debate 
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Hon RODNEY HIDE (Leader—ACT) 
: 
 We clearly have a problem in New Zealand when we have just announced the Government’s ratifying of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but even within the Government even within this Parliament we have such a widely divergent view of what it means. On the one hand the Prime Minister says that it is of no practical effect and that it is aspirational. On the other hand MP Hone Harawira says that it is of enormous impact because as Mai Chen says it will inform the courts it will inform the Waitangi Tribunal and it will inform political discourse for years to come. 
I believe that Mr Harawira is right because words have to mean something. The words of the articles of the declaration are very very clear in what they say but I do not believe for a minute that the majority of New Zealanders agree with the sentiment set out in that declaration. I do not believe they want to live in a country where we are divided into two: those who are indigenous and have a separate set of rights and privileges and everyone else. I certainly do not want to live in such a country. It is very clear when we read the articles that they say that indigenous people should be able to have political autonomy. Well the Prime Minister says that that is an aspiration but is it truly an aspiration for New Zealand that Maori people within New Zealand can have their own political structures their own State? I say no. 
Article 26 says that indigenous people have the right to the land and the resources that they traditionally owned or occupied. Clearly if we look at that we see that that is all the land and resources of New Zealand. We have followed a process where that land has been alienated sometimes unjustly and we are working towards fixing that through the Treaty. But this article does not allow for that; it says all the land and resources traditionally owned or occupied should be returned to the indigenous people. That is why Helen Clark as Prime Minister refused to ratify the declaration. She would sign up to anything from the UN that was put in from of her but not this declaration; Parekura Horomia said it was incompatible with the democratic processes and the fundamental laws of New Zealand. 
We cannot get around this by saying: “Don’t worry. Nod nod; wink wink. We will ignore it.” What sort of integrity do we have as a country and as a Government to sign something that we do not believe in have no intention of honouring and do not accept? And what sort of approach do we have to Maori in New Zealand when we sign something without meaning that it sounds a bit like 1840 all over again? I believe that the fact we have such divergent views on this matter is a cause for division in New Zealand. Hone Harawira clearly has a view of what it means but the Government has a different view. Well that is a cause for discord and disharmony. Why would we sign up to something that would cause such discord and disharmony? And why do it under the cover of darkness covertly? 
The ACT Party has been shocked and appalled because when we signed up to support a National-led Government it never occurred to us that National would depart so radically from its founding philosophy and its election manifestos over many years of having one law for all New Zealand with everyone being treated equally. I believe that that was a founding principle of the National Party and that is why we are so concerned. Thank you.