Harawira Hone: Electoral Finance Bill Broadcasting Amendment Bill (No 3) Electoral Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
Harawira Hone: Electoral Finance Bill Broadcasting Amendment Bill (No 3) Electoral Amendment Bill — Third Readings 
[Volume:644;Page:14042] 
HONE HARAWIRA (Maori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) 
: 
 Kia ora Madam Assistant Speaker. Kia ora tatou e te Whare. Over these last few months of intense and passionate debate about the Electoral Finance Bill one email stood out for me because it said a lot about who we are as a Maori Party. I paraphrase part of that email here: “We are not members of the Exclusive Brethren. We are not members of the ACT party. We are not members of the National Party. We are not members of John Boscawen’s team as Helen Clark scathingly and incorrectly called those who marched in Auckland against this bill.” 
We are the Maori Party and I welcome this opportunity to set the record straight on our party’s position on this legislation. We are the Maori Party and contrary to the Government’s claims this legislation is not being attacked only by those New Zealanders who are able to pour thousands of dollars into electioneering campaigns to buy influence in Government. We are the Maori Party with nothing behind us save the tens of thousands of voters who put us here and our absolute commitment to the well-being of those voters and I tell everyone now that we are opposed to the Electoral Finance Bill. We are the Maori Party with not a bean to our name— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. There used to be a Standing Order in this Parliament a Standing Order that I think still pertains. This is a debating chamber and when someone brings a laptop down here puts it on top of his desk and reads out his or her speech from it word for word then I think it diminishes this Parliament. It diminishes the whole debate because it means that no matter what is said we do not know whether it is the member’s view or the research office’s view. That is the point here. 
What has happened to this Parliament when someone can get up in the House and read out his or her speech word for word from a laptop particularly when that person is a Maori? Maori are meant to have oratorical skills. Why is a laptop needed? But here is the point: how does it help the debate? I think we should look seriously into what is going on here. 
Rodney Hide 
: The Rt Hon Winston Peters is right up to a point. Up until 1996 it was not possible for members to read out their speeches but since then the Standing Orders have changed. I noticed that Mr Peters throughout the delivery of his speech made liberal use of papers in front of him. Indeed it has been the case in this Parliament for well over 10 years that laptops have been able to be brought into the House and used in delivering speeches. I commend the Maori Party for being up with the times and making use of a laptop. Reading a speech from a laptop in this way is no different from reading out speeches written and printed off for a member by a researcher as in Mr Peters’ case. 
Ron Mark 
: It is very well and fine for Mr Hide to raise a point of order but he knew the inaccuracies he was making as he articulated them. That can be proven by tabling both the  
Hansard 
 of the Rt Hon Winston Peters’ speech and a copy of the document he was holding while he was speaking. Mr Hide would then see that they do not match at all. 
But the point here is that we have heard a lot in this debate about the waste of taxpayers’ money. The member on his feet is a man who is paid $130000 to come here and speak and to stand up here and read out from a laptop the words that a researcher has put before him is not actually to do his job; it is simply to read out what the researcher has given him to read out 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: I will rule on this point of order. The Standing Orders have been— 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I take exception to what the member just said. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Wait on I am just dealing with the point of order that has been raised specifically. I ask that there be silence while we are dealing with it. The Standing Orders have been changed. The member is allowed to do what he was doing. Furthermore instructions from the Speaker on 15 August 2007 on the use of laptops and mobile devices in the Chamber state that these may be used after question time. The member is allowed to use a laptop.  
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. I would like to confirm for the benefit of those members from New Zealand First that I wrote this speech myself completely. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No that is not an issue at all. It is not a point of order. Was that the member’s point of order? 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Yes. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: OK that is fine. Please continue. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I hope this has not affected my time Madam Assistant Speaker. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No it has not. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: Hei koreroano mena e hiahiaana a Winitana Pita kia koreroMaorimaua ka pai tera; engari e kore ia e mohioana ki taku reo. 
[An interpretation in English was given to the House.] 
[ 
In addition should Winston Peters want us two to converse in Maori that is fine; but he will not understand my language 
.] 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: That was not a— 
Rt Hon Winston Peters 
: I raise a point of order Madam Speaker. First of all the principal language this Parliament uses is English. The second thing I want to say is that if I wanted to consult an expert in te reo I would not be consulting Hone Harawira; I would consult someone who is qualified. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: That was not really a point of order either. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I want to make the point that if I wish to speak in Maori at any time I will do so. 
We are the Maori Party with not a bean to our name but we still turned down $250000 rather than compromise our independence and for the same reasons we are opposed to this bill. We are the Maori Party and we were angry with both the divisive “Iwi/Kiwi” campaign run by National and the nasty “a vote for the Maori Party is a vote for National” campaign run by Labour because we did not have the wherewithal to counteract either. Yet still we are opposed to this bill. We are the Maori Party with not a bean to our name but we stand free in this House answerable to no one but our own people uncompromised by shady deals with either of the major parties and we are proud to say that we are opposed to this electoral finance legislation. 
Yes like most New Zealanders we were horrified at the revelations of secret trust accounts and the millions of dollars being spent by other groups in support of the campaigns of both Labour and National. And yes we agree that Parliament should pass laws to prevent the undue influence that lobbyists can have on our electoral process. But unlike Labour our focus is not only on the rich the very rich and the obscenely rich. We also saw unions spending heaps of money to undermine us at the last election. It was a classic third-party attack to try to link Maori Party votes with National when in fact our voting pattern has always been more in line with that of the Greens. And I am proud to say that regardless of all the big money offered to us and the nasty underhand tactics used against us the Maori Party stands by its kaupapa of opposing corruption opposing illegality and opposing the abuse of power in all its forms. 
And yes the Exclusive Brethren’s million-dollar anti-Labour - anti-Greens campaign was beyond the pale but I cannot help but smell the filthy stench of hypocrisy from the Labour Party in its attack on the Brethren— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: No the member must withdraw that comment. He cannot accuse a person or a party of hypocrisy. Please withdraw. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I withdraw— 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Thank you. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: And apologise? 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Yes thank you. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: I am happy to apologise. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: Thank you. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: It was not the Exclusive Brethren on whom the police had prima facie evidence of electoral finance mismanagement was it? Heck no—it was the Labour Party. Does everybody remember that? The cops said that they had a prima facie case of electoral mismanagement against the Prime Minister’s very own private secretary but they did not want to press charges against an individual for what was clearly the work of a group of people. And it was that very same Labour Party that then set up a special deal with its mates to rewrite the law to let the party keep doing what it did last time while gagging the voices of the Opposition. 
Members should make no mistake: the Maori Party stands firmly against the kind of overwhelming financial firepower that only parties like National can boast of. But as we sit here and listen to all the doomsayers from Labour prattle on about the destructive power of overseas influence let me just point out to anyone who does not think that our Governments are not already controlled by overseas interests that they need only look at the Waihopai spy base to realise that our nation’s security—indeed our nation’s very sovereignty—is already compromised by the existence of a super-secret operation to spy on the people of the Pacific right here on New Zealand soil and controlled not from Wellington but from Washington. 
To those people who think that money wins elections I say to take a look at the good old US of A where 3 years ago billionaire Democrat Norman Lear and his mates spent more than $15 million to try to push George Bush out of office and buy the election for John Kerry. Well that did not work too well did it? George Bush is now President Bush and John Kerry is “John Who?”. What about the senior Republican senator who spent $42 million on his election race and still came second? 
Yes folks—money talks. But nothing talks quite like the truth and the truth about this bill is that it is nothing but an arrogant dismissal by this Labour-led Government to deny the citizens of Aotearoa - New Zealand the right to participate in one of the fundamental rights of any so-called democratic society: how we elect our Government. And no we will not be fobbed off by any talk that this legislation is only about election finances because it ain’t. If this were only about election finances then why did this Labour Government push through special legislation to validate its $800000 overspend at the last election rather than let the legal process take its natural course? If this were only about election finances then why did this Labour Government not ask the Auditor-General and the Electoral Commission to present a range of options for public consideration and for presentation to this House? If this were only about election finances then why does the Human Rights Commission say that this bill is a dramatic assault on fundamental human rights freedom of expression and the right to participate in the electoral process? 
R Doug Woolerton 
: Not in the second letter they didn’t. 
HONE HARAWIRA 
: That is right; they did not. If this were only about election finances then why did the Human Rights Commission say that even this rewritten flea-bitten revised patched-up and unrecognised version should still have been given back to the public for full discussion and debate? I will tell the House why. Because this legislation is not just about election finances; it is about the sweet scent of power and the lust for control. It is about the decadence of corruption the stench of deceit and the refusal to accept the reality of impending defeat. 
Yes there have been amendments—hell we even voted for one of them. But given the constitutional importance of legislation that will play a critical role in determining how the next election will be fought stitching up this deal behind closed doors and then adding a veneer of democracy through a select committee process is nothing but a sick joke. Mind you this Government’s denying the people of Aotearoa the right to open a public debate on the process by which we manage the next election is right up there with its changing the law to bypass any serious questioning of its expenditure at the last election. 
The Maori Party will not be party to legislation that is clearly aimed at restricting freedom of speech. We will not be party to this desperate attempt by Labour to stay in power at the expense of the fundamental human rights of the citizens of this country. We will not be party to legislation designed to put fear into those who would speak their mind by forcing them to run the gauntlet of registration audit notification financial agency monitoring reporting scrutiny and penalty. And we will not be party to a bill that slams the door on Opposition spending while it allows the Government to continue to spend millions on promoting its own policies and programmes. 
The Maori Party was born out of Maoridom’s absolute rejection of this Labour Government’s arrogant denial of our basic human rights to the foreshore and seabed and with the same vigour and determination we will reject this legislation that rewrites the law to allow this Government to stay in power. Money is not what drives people to vote; it is truth. I sincerely hope and pray that those who have sacrificed truth for the delusion of power that overwhelms this decadent and depraved legislation will come to see the folly of their ways when the people reject this sham come election 2008. Kia ora tatou.