Maori Party calls for Dunne to remove his endorsement to Code of Conduct
Hone Harawira, Member for Te Tai Tokerau;
Thursday 8 November 2007

"If Winston Peters wants to support state forces terrorising Maori communities, then that’s his call, but the man must be a bloody fool if he thinks I’m going to shut up and accept it,” said Hone Harawira, Maori Party MP for Tai Tokerau.

“I mean, Winston also thinks that it’s a good idea to delete the ‘Treaty of Waitangi and its principles’,” said Harawira. “Why on earth would I listen to anyone who wants to remove the very basis of our constitutional framework?”

“Using armed and masked gunmen to blockade communities, smash into people’s homes, arrest and hold people without bail, and suppress all information is unacceptable behaviour,” said Harawira, “and all freedom-loving New Zealanders should be horrified by the call for us to simply sit back and say nothing about the denial of basic human rights to our fellow citizens.”

“As for Peter Dunne’s comments about me idling around parliament and bludging off the taxpayer, I suggest he check his own record,” says Harawira. “I bet I’ve done more speeches in the House than he has these last couple of years, and I bet I’ve done more clinics in my electorate, and travelled more miles than he has as well.”

“And as to my flouting the rule of law,” said Harawira, ““I suggest that Mr Dunne checks the Hansard before he makes any more wild accusations”.

“It’s a crack up really that these two are fighting to get some media time for themselves by throwing stones at Hone Harawira” said Harawira. “And it’s all a bit ironic that it’s just a couple of months ago, MPs were bragging about being lawbreakers, and how it’s a proud part of our history as a nation – like the nuclear-free legislation, the anti-apartheid campaign, or in repealing the archaic laws of sedition”.

“I have to ask myself – how it is that Mr Dunne can sign up to a Code of Conduct which states that: "We will debate the issues raised and refrain from personal attacks" and then twice in as many weeks, he has issued releases about me which are ridden with terms of abuse including: “disgusting, embittered, divisive; downright irrelevant; outburst, shameful, nonsense, idling around Parliament, bludging off the taxpayer, and doing nothing but opening his mouth and letting his tongue flap around”.

“Can Mr Dunne please explain what part of these vicious personal attacks have anything to do with the very serious nature of the issue at hand around terrorism, and the impact of police actions at Ruatoki?” ended Mr Harawira.

"This issue is about questioning the State and its use of power - it is not about the personalities of the various members of the Maori Party and the Green Party" said Harawira. "We urge all parties to focus on the issues and to debate these in a free and frank way in our Parliament".

Record of Hansard, Hone Harawira, Tuesday 6 November 2007

“I will not sit quietly by, while State forces terrorise my people. If this requires of me that I speak out against the rule of law that would impose terror on Māori communities in this country, then I will speak out. I will speak out against it in this Chamber, on television, in newspapers, and anywhere else I possibly can.

“In terms of terrorism the Māori Party does support the rule of law. The Māori Party does oppose terrorism. The Māori Party will oppose terrorism in all of its forms, whether it is international terrorism or State terrorism”.

ENDS

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