Flavell Te Ururoa: Urgent Debates — Rugby World Cup—Extension to Queens Wharf Fanzone 
Flavell Te Ururoa: Urgent Debates — Rugby World Cup—Extension to Queens Wharf Fanzone 
[Volume:675;Page:21367] 
TE URUROA FLAVELL (Maori Party—Waiariki) 
: 
 Tena koe. Kia ora tatou katoa. I have to say I was sort of standing in the middle of the field listening to the Hon Heather Roy. Get it? In the middle of the field? Anyway I digress. On the one hand I have that sense of real pride around the events in the opening ceremony because I was there with a number of colleagues and on the other hand I experienced the other side and the issues that have been well documented. For that little group of parliamentarians in the New Zealand Parliamentary Rugby Team—which won the Parliamentary Rugby World Cup I might add—a range of events happened. For example I arrived early. I got there on private transport and went straight into the game with no problems. The crowd was great. Yet all of my colleagues rolled in at various times having come in on public transport and were telling me about their stories. Some missed the start of the opening and they were pretty brassed off I would have to say. Some even missed the start of the game and they felt worse. 
Across the length and breadth of that Friday evening we had the full range of things that one could actually think about in terms of this particular debate. But the one thing that really worries me about this whole debate—and it is not to get into what the Minister for the Rugby World Cup should or should not do—is the issue of public safety. If there is an issue of public safety then I reckon we have to do everything we can to make sure that that is dealt with. 
I have to say that there were some warnings. There were some warnings. I can report that in my first reading speech on the Rugby World Cup 2011 (Empowering) Bill—looking back it was on 22 June last year—I spoke about three key things. The first one was the problem of one person namely the Minister making all the decisions over matters pertaining to the Rugby World Cup. That was problem No 1. The second issue I suggested was that of the involvement of the Minister of Maori Affairs with the Rugby World Cup Authority. I thought that was quite important. The third issue that I spoke about was alcohol consumption. There were three issues and I have to say that there were some warning signs there right from the very start. 
Following on from that on 17 November last year my colleague Rahui Katene said these words—I think they are quite important which is why I pulled them up—“We have been keen to ensure appropriate management to avoid public disturbances or mass arrests from the specific liquor-licensing requirements but I raise the concern that we might be placing too much emphasis on liquor licensing and allowing people the opportunity to become inebriated while watching the rugby. For a significant sector of our population simply getting to the game itself will be an issue.” She carried on to say: “alcohol is already playing too prominent a role in the World Cup and we are concerned that the Minister for the Rugby World Cup has too much power under the bill”. That is what my colleague Rahui Katene said and lo and behold here we are today just after the start of the World Cup and most of those issues have come to pass. I reckon we sort of got it right. 
In reflecting on this the key concern that I had was around public safety. Clearly it is not a good idea to have a lot of people in a small space with alcohol. We know the various reports about delays the aggression of some people spilling out into the crowds hundreds of people on stalled trains and crowds packed in like sardines. There were elements there that could have caused some serious chaos. For all intents and purposes all of us agree that the scale was just huge; it was immense. In fact Mr Shane Jones was talking about it yesterday in the Maori Affairs Committee. He reckoned that it just needed something to spark and it could have turned that whole environment into something pretty dangerous. Having been down to the Cloud I saw that one piddly little iron fence by the side of the water might not have saved some people from going in. 
The reports also talked about some technical difficulties with some big screens further up Quay Street. That also contributed to people massing down at the waterfront. There were technical delays there were transport delays there was alcohol misuse and of course as has come to light more recently some of our waka paddlers were assaulted and abused. Again they recount that alcohol was at the heart of it. We had this awesome scene of 20 waka coming down the Waitemata Harbour and berthing there and our paddlers getting out doing the haka and trying to get back to where they came from. Lo and behold we had some alcohol-fuelled crazies who decided for whatever reason that they wanted to take certain feathers and also get in the road of our people. Young people—young girls—were assaulted and all of that. Bottles were thrown and the paddlers were physically and verbally abused simply while they were walking from point A to point B. Hair was pulled and taonga were taken. Some were questioning why the carriers—the waka kaihoe people—did not hold their waka paddles up high. Instead they held them down the side as a form of protection for those people involved especially the young people. 
I was pretty sad and brassed off to read the account from a 14-year-old girl who attends Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Puau Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. Her name is Binny McGee-Repia. Binny’s memory of the grand opening of the Rugby World Cup was of getting pushed back and hit on the head which eventually led to a CAT scan to investigate a possible head injury. One other girl suffered from shock and another girl ended up with broken ribs. All of this is not a good look and it sort of soured the occasion really because it was such a good day. 
I have to say that the other unfortunate aspect of this particular situation about the kaihoe was that despite calls for help to the police and security people or indeed to the general public there was no attempt to intervene. 
Hon Judith Collins 
: It’s just not true. 
TE URUROA FLAVELL 
: The Minister says that it is not true but it is the account from some people to us that the general public did not help out. That is a disappointment that we hope will be addressed in future. 
In talking about dealing with what could have been a catastrophe a number of people turned up at Auckland City Hospital. There was a letter to the editor of the  
New Zealand Herald  
on Tuesday from a gentleman Les Galler who is an intensive care specialist at Auckland City Hospital. It was his assessment that Friday’s opening celebrations could easily have turned to tragedy because of the large crowds the cramped conditions and limited access and escape routes. He reported that the hospital was basically overloaded with drunk and injured revellers on Friday and that ambulances had to take patients to other hospitals. 
Against all that and on the positive side we had Precious Clarke with the sound of the karanga to open the Rugby World Cup we had the Pacific Island dancers and drummers and we had of course Te Arawa kapahaka Te Matarae i Orehu. The ceremony as I say was awesome. We also had Ria Hall who sang. She is from Tauranga but lives in Wellington. I send a special message to her to say that she was awesome. There were some great things there—the fireworks and all that sort of stuff—and of course the moment with Jonah Lomu walking hand in hand with the young boy from Canterbury. That was pretty powerful in itself. It was a great great occasion to be at and we hope that the positiveness takes over from all of the negativity that we have had to run through. 
In the end I think it is important that we consider where we go to from here. We welcome the news that the Auckland Council will compensate for Friday night’s fiasco by rewarding affected fans with tickets to the semi-finals but we would really like to talk about crowd control as opposed to compensation. Our collective efforts must be given to ensuring that party central on Queens Wharf is well managed in order to avoid more Rugby World Cup chaos. I think it is important that we get it right. Things are tracking along quite well as other speakers have said with the games being managed pretty effectively. The test may come this weekend. 
I reflect on the reaction from the Mayor of Auckland Len Brown who urged us all to keep calm and carry on. In that regard he has probably set the scene for what we need to do. If the measures that are being contemplated today are about taking us through to having a positive end to the Rugby World Cup then we should all get right behind them and ensure at the end of it that not only is public safety dealt with and taken care of but also everybody has a good time while we are at it. Kia ora tatou.