Ngarewa-Packer DebbieDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Paati Māori): Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Tēnā tātou e te Whare. I rise to speak on the third reading of the Water Services Bill. Tangata w'enua as you know have been protecting wai since we arrived in Aotearoa. Wai—water—is central to our w'akapapa and is embedded in our very essence our wairua. You don't even need to look at our history or activism to understand this connection. Just listen to our waiata and our pepe'a. This bill as it was introduced threatens to sever that connection and it's that I'd like to speak to and like the COVID-19 Public Health Response Act it was met with a large outcry from our people. To allow Crown agents warrantless entry to marae without consent would be a direct attack on our mana motuhake. It's despicable. I would like to mihi to the many tangata w'enua marae and Māori organisations who made their voices heard at select committee: to Te Hiiri marae and Ngā Pae o Rangitīkei Rānana Māori Committee and Rānana Marae Trust Pariroa Pā Kokiri Marae the National Urban Māori Authority the Māori Climate Commission Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa Te Korowai o Ngāruahine Trust Te Hunga Rōia Māori o Aotearoa and to the young wahine Maringi James and everyone else for their leadership on this kaupapa. We also acknowledge the significant concerns of local government and rural sectors and the large degree of uncertainty that they also face with this legislation and finally the Health Committee for listening to our concerns by removing the provision that would have allowed warrantless entry into our marae. I believe this process has been somewhat of a learning curve for the Government and the lesson I hope the Crown will take from this is that kāwanatanga does not sit above mana motuhake and tino rangatiratanga. Clean drinking water is fundamental to tino rangatiratanga and our marae is where tino rangatiratanga is held. I guess too the other thing that we'd want to talk about is that we will never accept your perceived right to impose your own rules in places governed by tikanga. Our tikanga are vital for our cultural safety and our sovereignty. Before I go any further I would like to applaud the intent of this bill and mihi to that—that is to ensure that people have access to safe clean drinking water so that we do not see a repeat of what happened in Havelock North. Nobody should ever have to worry about being made sick from drinking water in this nation or lose their life because of it. The legislation however has been rushed and it puts in place wide-ranging reforms that would centralise power and decision making in response to a localised event. I'd also like to note that no marae water supply has ever caused an outbreak of illness. I stand here as co-leader to echo my tungāne's challenge to Parliament last week. Let this be the last time we see such a provision brought before this House. We're tired of making speeches justifying our rights. I'd like to once again commend our people who time and time again at our own cost and their own energy have to organise and lobby to protect our most basic rights. Once again tangata w'enua have been sidelined and treated as every other stakeholder and not Tiriti partners. This is wrong. Major reforms in water regulation and management should not go ahead while tangata w'enua rights and interests over water remain unresolved. We also have raised concerns about compliance costs associated with this legislation including upgrading and maintaining drinking-water infrastructure paying annual registration fees building a workforce and developing safety and risk management plans. Without exemptions their extra cost would cripple many of our marae—many of our marae who are there serving their communities when they're needed. This bill was a missed opportunity for meaningful engagement that would embody Te Tiriti o Waitangi and our rights as Māori. Would it be unreasonable to allow us to do our own monitoring or to work alongside Taumata Arowai to grow our own workforce? As the only tangata w'enua party in this House we cannot support this bill as it stands. Start over come back to us when you are ready to talk about indigenous rights about Te Tiriti and about tino rangatiratanga. Nō reira tēnā tātou katoa.