Donnelly Brian: General Debate 
Donnelly Brian: General Debate 
[Volume:620;Page:15897] 
Hon BRIAN DONNELLY (NZ First) 
: 
 I want to congratulate the Hon Trevor Mallard. 
Simon Power 
: Steady! 
Hon BRIAN DONNELLY 
: I do. I want to congratulate him on having the gumption to stand up and say that we need to look at the length and frequency of powhiri in our schools. What he said is justified. He did not say we should not have such ceremonies at our schools—although by the way there is a mismatch with the secular clause in the Act. He said that the length and the frequency need to be considered. 
Trevor Mallard is talking about adaptation and I have to say I have also witnessed children sitting for long periods of time—up to an hour in one case—on concrete or asphalt sometimes in the rain listening to what are in effect meaningless whakapapa. A formulaic protocol devised for a marae situation—an adult situation—is being thoughtlessly forced upon our children. So I praise Trevor Mallard for standing up and saying something about it. But where is the support of his colleagues? They know that what he is saying is true. Where are the other members of the Labour caucus? Where is the support of his ministerial colleagues for the statements he is making? Where are the Labour members who are prepared to stand up and say that some of the practices carried out in the name of meeting the demands of the Treaty of Waitangi verge on child abuse? In no other context would we tolerate this nonsense. I say we have lost the plot somewhat. Trevor Mallard said we have lost the plot somewhat and his colleagues have left him hanging out to dry. 
Where are the Labour members who are prepared to stand up and say New Zealand First is correct when it suggests that any reference to the principles of the treaty should be expunged from legislation? Labour members have come to conclude that the existence of such principles within legislation is in fact a load of nonsense. When Geoffrey Palmer first put them in there it seemed like a good idea but the reality and the practice has not been the same. At select committees now it is argued that the principles of the treaty are too vague to be included and that they create too many problems. The treaty principles can be everything to everybody and they create a form of temporary insanity within our bureaucrats. Labour Ministers know this and they do not include such clauses in legislation nowadays. Margaret Wilson knows this. Where is the reference to the principles of the treaty in the Ngati Awa legislation? It is in the explanatory note and nowhere else. 
Officials advise us that including the principles of the treaty in legislation is no longer considered to be the brightest thing to do because of the chaos it causes but what Labour MP or Minister has come out and said that New Zealand First and Winston Peters have got it right in moving to expunge that unfortunate phrase from legislation? No one. In fact they have said nothing. There has been not a sound a syllable a murmur or a mutter. They are not allowed to say anything about it. The reason nothing is being said—normally we would get a humungous attack on such a policy as was announced last week—is that Labour members know that what New Zealand First is saying is right and correct and will take this nation forward. 
What other announced treaty policy from New Zealand First has received deadly silence from Labour? It is New Zealand First’s policy that refines the process of addressing historical grievances in order to enable these to be brought to resolution in an expeditious way. If members were to ask 100 New Zealanders 99 would answer that they recognise there have been injustices and that these need to be settled and that then we can get on as a nation. However there is real frustration with the seeming endlessness of the process and the frivolous claims elicited by the nebulous principles-of-the-treaty clauses in legislation. 
The Government knows that there is an inherent conflict of interest when an activist and Maori Land Court judge acts as chairman of the tribunal. How many times must Margaret Wilson have thought: “Who will rid me of this troublesome judge?”. But she will not come out and say it. She would risk putting herself in the politically correct firing line. So she says nothing and in saying and doing nothing she endorses the very policies that New Zealand First has been putting forward. The Government knows that restructuring the mechanisms for reconciliation is critical to the expeditious resolution of grievances yet it will do nothing on its own initiative. We have to ask why the Government is so quiet on all these matters. Even the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is saying that its relationships with foreign countries are formed with regard to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Hello! The Government is quiet because it knows that New Zealand First is correct.