Horomia Parekura: Foreshore and Seabed Bill Resource Management (Foreshore and Seabed) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Horomia Parekura: Foreshore and Seabed Bill Resource Management (Foreshore and Seabed) Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:621;Page:17190] 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Minister of Maori Affairs) 
: 
 E tikaakeano ki te mihi akeanoi a ratau e tae akeanoikonei nga kanohi Maori mai i te motu. 
[ 
It is apt that I acknowledge those from Maoridom who are present. Greetings! 
] 
Another great Winston said: “We will fight them on the beaches fight them in the trenches and make sure that we go forward.” Another leader in this House said that he would fight against this legislation with every fibre in his body. Quite certainly the acceleration of osmosis would have to happen to get through that thick naive skin.  
This legislation is significant because it clarifies an issue that has threatened this country for the last 18 months. We have heard all the intellectual debate from the over-endowed academia and those who live off the slush fund. I have sat here and listened to those people talk about white people. That is disgraceful. Those same people are pumped up and pontificating about all New Zealanders. At one extreme we have this belief that there is only one way in this country. Rangatiratanga is not about going one way down a blind alley to a hollow end. Rangatiratanga is about our people’s rights. Those people want everything for the white people and the National Party. How sick can we be in this country?  
This is about protecting Maori rights. People who understand what goes on in this building what happens out there and what the impact of that is on our young people’s lives have done something about it. I unashamedly stand here today. I will go down in history as being a part of this. I have the burden of knowing that even at this stage some of my whanau disagree with me in my view that we have made the right choice.  
That is not the end of the matter. The legislation is also significant because of the recognition and protection it gives to Maori customary rights. Maori have rangatiratanga. Out of rangatiratanga is born kaitiakitanga and tikanga. That is not too different from what that Scottish bloke was saying about his clans. He understands it but he does not want it to happen for the Maori people. People accept that they marry some of them. They accept that they are friends because they go to rugby with them and do the haka but they do not want them to get into a better position. Wake up! They should come down to this House more often especially the leaders.  
The legislation upholds the mana of Maori people and certainly—as the great leader of the New Zealand First party said—we have done something about it. We do not get a fair show from the press at times because they want to get the No. 1 ranking on the front page without people having to read the detail. I know they will take a lot more time to do it now. But I tell our young demographic again so we keep this simple that we—the Maori caucus in this Government—have done a lot for our people. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: No! 
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA 
: I tell Mr Brownlee we have not shied away from this. We know the tensions the strains and the anxiety. But this is good legislation. You own what you did in 1992—the deal signed here in Wellington in this House in the dark trading customary fishing rights with no consultation and no hui. That is what they like: the great rubber band stretcher of race—racist comments in Orewa. That is what that was about. It was nothing to do with all New Zealanders. It was nothing to do with this great nation. It was about somebody getting off on himself trying to believe that he could still control the Maoris.  
He says: “You can be tangata whenua in this country but you sit over here because that is what I said in this great place in Orewa.” We talked about the elite. We talked about where everybody else is. This legislation does the right thing. It allows access it creates protection and it creates a regulatory framework. Most of the land that is still held in Maoridom is held in a regulated framework. That land could be alienated which is one of the principal reasons why the Maori caucus stepped up to defend it from the outset. Buy a house buy a car sell it—kei te pai! Inherit something and get it sold—no! If you want to stretch the truth sir be careful especially when you are talking about tangata whenua. All I have heard is the opposite. The other option would take some thinking about because you would not do the right thing by Maoridom. I am more than certain of that. We have done the right thing.