Delahunty Catherine: General DebateText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDelahunty Catherine: General Debate[Sitting date: 16 September 2015. Volume:708;Page:6691. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green): Tēnā koe Mr Speaker. Kia ora e te Whare. Last week the Government participated in the Pacific Islands Forum and it was a dismal and unprincipled failure in terms of our country’s leadership in the Pacific. We are a small colonised nation of considerable wealth at the bottom of the world in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Not only did our Government fail to support the Pacific nations on climate targets which is incredibly serious at the front line of sea level rise but it also failed to support the fact-finding mission to West Papua. The fact-finding mission to West Papua was a call of the indigenous people of Papua. It was also a call of a number of Pacific Island nations and leaders because this is a growing issue right across the Pacific.So let us have a look at New Zealand’s response at the Government delegation level at the forum where many people were waiting for leadership. Mr McCully first of all kicked things off with his “I know my place.” quip. Is he either a doormat or a doorstop for the Indonesian Government? That is what we would like to know because in fact Mr McCully is not taking responsibility for the human rights abuses let alone the independence and freedom abuses that are documented—and there is a new report out today on this. There is torture documentation regularly there are human rights issues there are political prisoners and there are a number of calls for a high-level fact-finding mission which culminated at the Pacific Islands Forum this very year. So Murray McCully “knows his place”. That is not the statement of a statesman; it is the statement of a doormat.Then we have the Prime Minister’s comments. The Prime Minister followed up Mr McCully’s statements by saying that Indonesia did not think that we should be meddling in its political issues. Mr Key is now the spokesperson for Indonesia. Does he not recall the fact-finding missions to East Timor that we participated in with pride in the 1990s?East Timor and West Papua—there are severe parallels between these two countries but instead of supporting a fact-finding mission as we did in the 1990s several times to East Timor our Government is the doormat and will not meddle because the Indonesians do not like it. Instead of speaking proudly as a Pacific nation alongside other Pacific nations at the Pacific Islands Forum Mr McCully and Mr Key have let down the people of West Papua.It was very disturbing to also hear Mr Key say that this is a matter of a bilateral issue between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. So he has abandoned our responsibility to speak out although we are more powerful and less vulnerable than Papua New Guinea which faces the Indonesian army on its border and which has refugee camps for those from West Papua on its border. Oh no New Zealand will back away from its responsibilities and be a doormat for Indonesia. It is very disturbing as in fact the Melanesian Spearhead Group has welcomed West Papua this year to be an observer member. It is a big breakthrough for the campaign but not because of leadership from this part of the world. Instead this part of the world is abrogating its responsibilities.The Government of the Solomon Islands was particularly clear and brave in speaking up at the Pacific Islands Forum—as well as the Melanesian Spearhead Group—about the importance of addressing the abuses. There was fulsome support across the Pacific nations apart from New Zealand and Australia for a high-level fact-finding mission. In fact Peter O’Neill the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea will be going to Jakarta to discuss the importance of a fact-finding mission. However New Zealand and Australia will not support it.New Zealand is a doormat to Indonesian foreign policy because of trade—because of the advantages of trade. We will sacrifice people ethics human rights and our commitment to other Pacific nations in the name of solidarity with Indonesian trade and Indonesian colonial violence against West Papua. So for the people who protested and who rallied in support of West Papua right across the Pacific and outside the Pacific Islands Forum in Papua New Guinea it was a good day because they are going forward with a fact-finding mission but it is no thanks to our Minister of Foreign Affairs or our Prime Minister. With a heavy heart I have to say: “Well done Pacific nations—except for this one.” Shame on us. Kia ora tātou.The debate having concluded the motion lapsed.