Harawira Hone: Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill — Procedure Second Reading Third Reading 
Harawira Hone: Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill — Procedure Second Reading Third Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:18037] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Kia ora Madam Speaker. Kia ora tatou e te Whare. Tena koe Tau Henare. When the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli touched down at Auckland airport last week he described his welcoming ceremony as a wonderful surprise complete with beautiful music. The beautiful music he was referring to was not that of the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra of New Zealand Opera or the Auckland Theatre Company. The music he was referring to was a traditional Maori welcome from Te Pou o Mangatawhiri—a historic association that all of Auckland can be proud of. 
Back in 1860 when Matutaera Potatau Tawhiao became the second Maori King he named a small settlement near Meremere Te Pou o Mangatawhiri after the river. Sixty years later his mokopuna Princess Te Puea started a kapahaka group at Turangawaewae. She later toured with the group to raise funds to restore the marae and for the building of Mahinarangi. The concert party travelled far and wide inspiring interest from Sir Apirana Ngata who became so interested in the Mahinarangi project that he became directly involved in supervising the tukutuku work finding a builder to complete the plans and bringing expert carvers from Te Arawa to do the interior carving. That building was eventually opened in 1929 by the Rt Hon J G Coates a former Prime Minister and Minister of Maori Affairs. 
The House may wonder what all that has to do with the Auckland Regional Amenities Funding Bill. The answer is everything and nothing. It has everything to do with it because the history of our national identity our cultural heritage and our distinctive sites of significance such as those at Ngaruawahia Maungakiekie Orakei Rangitoto and the beautiful Waitemata are intimately connected to the well-being of the region we now know as Auckland—our history which visitors from all around the world see when they enter our world at Auckland airport. I hate to break this to the “MP for Western Springs” but despite Auckland Zoo’s having 179 different species and over 1300 animals it is not the primary reason that tourists come to Tamaki. Aotearoa is the home of the Maori and kapahaka is the cutting edge of the renaissance of a positive Maori identity but the “nothing” part is how much recognition the bill has given to kapahaka. 
Members would not notice this from going through the bill but kapahaka has a significant and growing market and nowhere more so than in Tamaki-makau-rau. The Auckland regional kapahaka competition always pulls more than a thousand participants and thousands more spectators. The Nga Manu Korero regional speech competitions draw thousands more people and the ASB Maori and Polynesian festival gets up to 100000 visitors every year. The Ahurea kapahaka competition and the primary school kapahaka competitions pull tens of thousands more people. 
That as my colleague Pita Sharples will tell members is just the tip of the kumara pile a mere glimpse into the passionate and incredibly rich world of kapahaka and Maori performing arts nearly all of them organised by the Tamaki Makau Rau Senior Kapa Haka Society every year. The society made a submission to the Local Government and Environment Committee that everyone in this House should read because it gives an idea of the massive effort that people put in to ensure that kapahaka flourishes in the Auckland region and that visitors to the region can continue to be welcomed and entertained appropriately. Indeed it is the society’s view that kapahaka and Maori arts are fast becoming the flagship of Auckland’s cultural expression. Furthermore with only 3 years until the 2011 Rugby World Cup is held there we know that Maori will be very much the face of Auckland that kapahaka will be the enduring memory that people will take home of the mighty All Blacks and that cultural tourism will help to shape our unique regional and national identity. 
Just as important we who are charged with ensuring that the best interests of the nation are upheld must appreciate that the promotion and enhancement of Maori performing arts are fundamental to our development as a nation. The issue is not just an Auckland issue. In fact kapahaka is of huge relevance to my constituents in the Tai Tokerau as well right from Te Rerenga Wairua down to Te Raki Pae Whenua and across into Te Atutu Massey Henderson and Kelston. Indeed Hoani Waititi Marae long revered in Auckland circles as one of the heartlands of urban kapahaka sits proudly within the Te Tai Tokerau electorate as do Waitakere and North Shore cities. So naturally the provision of arts education and community facilities are high on my own priority list though I do not know whether the 11 amenities that are given preferential treatment in this bill are the same ones my constituents from the Tai Tokerau would have voted for. 
That is not to say that some of those amenities are not doing a fine job of course. Waiora for example—WaterSafe Auckland—along with the Auckland surf lifesaving organisation and the coastguard shows a strong commitment to kaupapa Maori and waka ama. Waiora recently appointed Moana Tamaariki-Pohe to oversee a programme dealing specifically with reducing the alarming 21 percent of drownings that are Maori. Being able to swim well is more than just a school subject for Maori; it is an investment in a future that includes Maori people’s love of the sea diving fishing surfing swimming waka ama waka hourua—just name it Maori do it all the way up to the America’s Cup. The importance is seen of recognising and including mana whenua and Maori organisations within decision-making bodies such as those. That will support Auckland’s regional amenities by including Maori representation on the funding board and avoid the glaring and outstanding omission from the list of amenities included in this bill: the Tamaki Makau Rau Senior Kapa Haka Society. Inclusion of that society is an essential element in the renaissance of Maori identity the participation of Maori across the region and the value of cultural tourism. 
In terms of the Manukau Harbour a local icon Angeline Greensill Maori Party member of the “house of Hauraki-Waikato” who grew up in the area tells me that the Waitangi Tribunal report on the Manukau Harbour includes stories of the people of Ihumatao and Mangere catching heaps of flounder with just their feet. In a more current setting another good friend of mine Derek Fox Maori Party member of the “house of Ikaroa-Rawhiti” who is known for not being backwards in coming forwards for a free feed of kai moana tells me that the Manukau Harbour has provided him and his scurrilous mates with many a choice feed over the years of kahawai parore tarakihi moki hapuku toheroa pipi paua kina pupu toitoi karengo koura and many other little treasures contained within the Manukau’s inlets rivers and creeks. Water safety is a huge part of the life and livelihood of Maori in and around the Auckland region and we congratulate Waiora on lobbying long and hard for amendments to this bill to ensure that mana whenua would have a role under the legislation through the membership of the electoral college which now includes specific representation “as appropriate to represent the interests of Maori in the Auckland region”. 
Returning again to the point about the Tamaki Makau Rau Senior Kapa Haka Society I tell the House that inclusion of the society is an essential element in the renaissance of Maori identity the participation of Maori across the region and the value of cultural tourism. Exclusion of the society would have led to some strident and justified charges of racism against those who would try to deny Maori their rightful role in the cultural fabric of Tamaki-makau-rau which is home to the greatest concentration of Maori people in the entire universe. We are glad that at the eleventh hour the Minister has said that the Tamaki Makau Rau Senior Kapa Haka Society will take its rightful place as one of the lead agencies encompassed within the scope of this bill. In that light at the eleventh hour of this debate the Maori Party will support this final reading of the bill. Tena koe Madam Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou e te Whare.