General Debate Wednesday 22 August 2007

Te Ururoa Flavell; Member of Parliament for Waiariki

Tena koe Madam Speaker

I have some awesome questions for the mighty Maori Party but there may well be others who are likely to know the answers.

Hands up those who have heard of the United Nations?

Very good, well done!

Hands up those that believe New Zealand places high value on our relationship with the UN?

Excellent. Well done Last year New Zealand gave $7.7m to the 2007 United Nations Budget.

On top of that we contributed $15.3m to fourteen UN peace-keeping operations and near to one million to the International criminal tribunal for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

And its not just about money – we have contributed largely in terms of personnel and services to many UN missions over the years.

Has this high value relationship just happened over night Maori Party?

No, no, hell no.

Some sixty-two years ago, New Zealand took the plunge and put up our hands to be a foundation member. Indeed former Prime Minister of that time Sir Peter Fraser chaired the committee that wrote the Trusteeship chapter of the UN charter.

Mr Speaker we have been a member, from time to time, on all of the UN principle committees since 1945 including the General Assembly and the Security Council.

Indeed New Zealanders have held some of the key jobs; including:

- The UNESCO World Heritage Committee is currently chaired by Ngati Tuwharetoa Paramount Chief Tumu te Heuheu;

- Sir Leslie Munro was President of the UN General Assembly in 1957;

- We have been elected on to the Security Council three times;

- Sir Kenneth Keith is a judge of the International Court of Justice and

- Mr Paul Hunt is the Special Rapporteur on the right to health

How seriously do we take UN calls to action?

- Well let’s just take one area - NZ has been a staunch supporter of the international campaign against terrorism; responding rapidly and substantively to the UN Security Council resolution 1373 through contributions to political, diplomatic, legal, intelligence and military initiatives.

- We have also signed up to “Operation Enduring Freedom” through deployment of ground, naval and air troops and are now party to all twelve UN anti-terrorism conventions.

So Mr Speaker, the Big Question is, what are we going to do with the latest UN report on New Zealand from the Committee on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (known as CERD)?

What are we talking about here? It is racial discrimination, Mr Speaker.

Perhaps a definition to start us off - Racism, you will recall, is when one group of people is perceived of as inferior and deviant and the other group Superior and normal.

- The CERD Committee identified that the New Zealand’s Government actions “tend to diminish the importance and relevance of the Treaty and to create a context unfavourable to the rights of Maori”

- The Committee was concerned that only a small percentage of the Waitangi Tribunal recommendations are followed by the Government; depriving claimants of a right to an effective remedy.

- The Committee was concerned by the discrepancy between the assessment made by the Crown and that made by non-governmental organizations on the foreshore and seabed.

Six pages of straight to the point discussion and recommendations.

And so it came up with sixteen ideas for action such as renewed dialogue and consultation which was basically what our Repeal Bill in our name would do. Giving status to the implementation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, granting the Tribunal legally binding powers.

Finally, Class, how do you think the Government responded?

Well the honourable Minister Peters in addressing the UN General Assembly last year said “New Zealand remains unwavering in its support for the United Nations”; but responded to this report saying the report was meddlesome, and its authors were not experts on the issues they were dealing with.

And Mr Cullen had a thoughtful statement thankfully, admitting it put the Government on notice that it must listen to people and must consult, so we will see.

We have been here before. Two years ago, when CERD released their findings on the Foreshore and Seabed Act, our Prime Minister derided their work as that of a “committee that sits on the outer edge of the UN”.

That sort of response is pretty disappointing Mr Speaker, considering that Mr Mark Solomon, the Treaty Tribes Coalition, Joris de Bres and a number of others put up statements in front of the committee; and these were people who have been appointed by Government, so there you go.

Mr Speaker, the long term effects of racism short change everyone. Racism sets groups of people against each other and makes it difficult for us to perceive our common interests.

We hope that this report will be taken very seriously.

ENDS

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