Delahunty Catherine: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Delahunty Catherine: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 09 May 2012. Volume:679;Page:2088. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Speaker. Thank God this day has finally come and we can stop wasting money on the most bizarre and ridiculous legal beat-up in modern times and start thinking about real justice and apologising to the Tuhoe nation. The decision means that the Urewera Four are now free to consider their future and it is a piece of common sense on behalf of the Deputy Solicitor-General. It is an excellent decision. It is also well understood that the whole Terrorism Suppression Act debacle was based on 9/11 and was an appeasement policy to keep the United States happy. However what Operation Eight has shown us is how dangerous it is to mix paranoia-based political policy and the racist undercurrents of a supposedly free democratic State. All the critics of the Terrorism Suppression Act have the right to continue to say “I told you so.” because in fact they said that the laws would be used against activists particularly Maori and that proved to be 100 percent correct. But what could not be proven was that the people involved in this case were in fact a criminal group. That failed.  
It is very worrying that the Prime Minister has announced today—this morning I understand—that there will be a review of the Terrorism Suppression Act. We are very concerned about that because we hardly think it is going to improve it. We are very concerned that this flawed and horrible Act which could not find these people guilty could be made worse. The Green Party has never supported the Terrorism Suppression Act and we do not support its review. We support its repeal and we have been consistent on that. Repeal is the only solution to an unnecessary Act. We have plenty of laws for addressing crime and potential terrorism. We do not need the Terrorism Suppression Act and we do not need a review of it. We need to repeal it particularly given the fact that the Search and Surveillance Act came in and has provided sufficient Draconian powers for anybody’s liking. It means that the Solicitor-General’s call for a review of the Terrorism Suppression Act in 2007 was not followed through. But let us not review it; let us forget it. The Prime Minister should just accept the court’s reading and get on with it.  
The far greater price for this debacle has been paid by Tuhoe and the whanau from Parihaka. History it seems repeats itself in the most extraordinary way. Apart from the cost of the trial which is yet to be counted and the terror at dawn which cannot be forgotten that occurred in Ruatoki there are some other prices that are being paid and will continue to be paid by the increased surveillance culture in our society. I am speaking from personal experience. At the age of 15 the SIS started its file upon me. It was following a 15-year-old schoolgirl around Wellington trying to find out why I was involved in student politics. Ever since that day we have seen a growth in a surveillance culture that is at best laughable and at worst oppressive. The year was 1968 when the SIS was following me around Wellington and there was not even the excuse of a terrorist attack in New York to do that; there certainly was not.  
But this surveillance culture has continued to focus on Maori tangata whenua activists. Why? Because we the Pakeha-dominated State know in our hearts that there is one culture in Aotearoa that has the most reason to be angry. That is there because of their dispossession and it is connected to our privilege. Activists remind us of the inconvenient truths of how colonisation operates in a 21st century framework. That is why the creative flair of Tame Iti his theatrical re-enactment of history and his rituals of symbolic resistance are unwelcome and people do not want to see them. “Couldn’t he just put up and shut up?” is their message to him. Let us remember what happens when we demonise the other when we demonise people who do not agree with us and decide that they must be watched. Even though they have never stolen a dollar from a pensioner or committed gross corporate fraud they must be watched—people like myself people like Tame Iti.  
For 4½ years the police have tried to justify the raids on Ruatoki and they have failed to do that. They have failed in a succession of court battles. It is time for us to absolutely understand the lessons. We celebrate the common sense of the decision today and we say to Tuhoe: “You are owed an apology. Don’t hold your breath but kia kaha on behalf of the Green Party.”