Flavell Te Ururoa: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFlavell Te Ururoa: General Debate[Sitting date: 10 October 2007. Volume:642;Page:12227. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TE URUROA FLAVELL (Māori Party—Waiariki):Tēna koe Mr Speaker. While it is quiet I thought I would share with the House some views about Te AoMāori as an educational exercise. Ourtūpuna continue to amaze me with their insightfulness about life often explained inwhakataukīkīwahawhakatauākī; and for those who are not sure what I am talking about let me give a bit of an explanation. Mr Speaker you might have heard this one: e kore tepātiki e hoki kitōnapuehu; the flounder never returns to its disturbed sand. Have you heard that one? [Interruption] Yes now and again. Some of the tribes talk about it like this: e kore tekurī e kaiitōnaruaki; the dog never eats its own vomit or “chunder” in rugby terms! These are the sorts of encouragements that tell us today “If you do a job do it right first up; don’t stuff up and try to cover your tracks with excuses; and don’t excuse your incompetence.” There are some others such as ko tekōura hokiwhakamuri; the crayfish that walks backwards. Those in the know will be aware thatkōura have a sort of reverse gear. When they become alarmed or shocked they shoot back into shelter by flicking their tails pretty violently.I reckon ourtūpuna had a fairly insightful understanding about things and that probably explains some of the things we have dealt with in the last couple of weeks and indeed we are dealing with today. Firstly there was the unprecedented back-down covering the sale of Crown land. In February this year the Hon Mark Burton came out loud and clear stating: “The Crown’s policy is that Landcorp properties are generally not available for use in settlements.” TheMāori Party raised some alarm.Ngāti Kahu HaurakiTūwharetoa and other iwi andhapū spoke out publicly about the management of those lands by Landcorp and the Office of Treaty Settlements. Nationwide attention centred on the role of Landcorp in threatening to sell Whenuakite on the Coromandel PeninsulaRangiputa in Northland as well as Raurimu in the national park area. And then what do you know? Thekōura starts edging backwards and hey presto another new process is created. It is a major back-up; a 360-degree reversal if you like with officials now being specifically asked to consider whether there are cultural values in such properties as well as assessing potential claimant interest in the land for Treaty settlements.In talking of Treaty settlements let us go back to 23 and 24 August 2007. The main players are the Waitangi Tribunal the Federation ofMāori Authorities the New ZealandMāori Council and other central North Island iwi including Te Arawa andNgātiTūwharetoa who had been following legal action through the courts. On 23 August the Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations was reported by theNew Zealand Heraldas saying that despite the grave concerns expressed by the Waitangi Tribunal about the interests of overlappinghapū and the durability of future central North Island settlements “the Government would be moving ahead with the settlement and it was up to interest groups to organise their own hui.” Hello! Within less than 24 hoursi hokiwhakamuri tekōura thekōura retreated once more.The Minister in charge of Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations the Minister of Finance and the Minister ofMāori Affairs announce that they will meet with central North Island iwi who are not part of the affiliate Te Arawa iwi andhapū settlement agreement to discuss their concerns about the accumulated rentals for deferred purchase land arising from aspects of the settlement package. Not long after this the Ministers announce that they wantTāmaki-makau-rau iwi to have a workshop to advance their claims on the back of the Waitangi Tribunal report that said there were serious issues to be dealt with resulting from the failure of the Office of Treaty Settlements to act in good faith.Then there is housing. Our co-leader Tariana Turia says that there are major housing problems in Porirua—leaking homes no restoration work and the health and well-being of people is being seriously compromised. There are similar cases I might add in theRūātoki valley and the Waitahanui area in my electorate. The Minister is hot off themark and defends the ministry to the hilt but once again 24 hours later admits that there is a serious problem. Too much!One other fact about thekōura that might be relevant to the discussion is thatkōura are scavengers that feed off left-overs that float by in the water or settle on the bottom. Once the food is caught its sharp pincers push it into its mouth where it is ground to a pulp in order to digest it.So I turn to the issue of the status of tangata whenua. For 24 years tangata whenua includingMāori have been working with the UN working parties responsible for the current draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is an aspirational document—something to aim at—yet we have a Government that once said it saw the Treaty as the foundation of this nation. That is why theMāori Party is important in this House.