Speech at United Future AGM: Te Ururoa Flavell, Maori Party
Saturday 9th November 2013
United Future AGM; Wellington
Saturday 9 November 2013
Te Ururoa Flavell, Co-leader of the
Māori Party
I want to thank Alan Simmons
for the invitation to speak at your annual general meeting.
Can I also extend my acknowledgments to your party
president, Robin Gunston, for the opportunity to share some
thoughts with you today.
The party that New Zealand
knows as United Future is intimately associated with one
person in particular – and I speak on behalf of the Māori
Party in recognising your party leader, Peter Dunne, who has
been a Member of Parliament since 1984.
In our
minds, the most salient feature of close to three decades of
service to this nation, is Peter’s determination to work
positively and constructively with allies who share mutual
concerns and aspirations for this wonderful land we call
home. I acknowledge his dedication commitment and
passion.
We have always appreciated the respectful
way in which Peter has worked with us, and I take this
opportunity today, to thank him for his commitment to
mana-enhancing relationships.
The Code of Conduct
that the Māori Party signed up to with United Future; the
Greens and Act in 2007 represented a common commitment to
politics of principle
rather than politics of personal
attack.
Signing up to that Declaration was
a recognition that it is in our individual and collective
interest to foster public confidence and trust in our
integrity as individuals and in Parliament as an
institution.
As we reflect on public
perceptions of politicians in 2013, I think there is room
for regret that there is still far too much behaviour in the
Chamber which diminishes the mana of the House – and it
might well be timely to revisit the Code we created six
years ago.
I think it was Winston Churchill that had some advice on this matter: By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. It might well be a recipe we could share with some of our colleagues on both Government and opposition benches.
The
collaboration demonstrated in the crafting of the Code, is
closely aligned with our founding principles in the Māori
Party, principles based on kaupapa me ona tikanga.
The Māori view of the world is represented
through kaupapa such as manaakitanga, rangatiratanga,
whanaungatanga, kotahitanga, wairuatanga, mana whenua,
kaitiakitanga, mana tupuna and te reo.
In the time
available to me today, I thought I might focus on just three
of these as a basis for a conversation with United Future.
They are kotahitanga; mana whenua; and
kaitiakitanga.
Kotahitanga is a
central driver in our approach to politics. Kotahi means
one, oneness.
We also define it as the principle of
unity of purpose and direction – revealed
in a society where diversity is celebrated and all citizens
are valued as having a common stake in New Zealand’s
prosperity.
And with that, I want to draw your
attention to a five letter word at the centre of our logo
– maori.
In our logo, the name of the indigenous
people of Aotearoa, Māori – in lower case letters -
means natural.
Our name then is both an
affirmation of tangata whenua as people – and
significantly, it is also about the philosophies, practices
and worldviews that shape our natural world, our
home.
If we look further into this word, maori in
our logo, we highlight the two letter word – ao –
meaning literally the world.
The a and the o in Ao;
are linked with a koru – emphasizing the importance of
working together and protecting our shared heritage, our
home. The koru – that spiral shape symbolic of a fern
– represents the unfolding of new life; a time of renewal
and hope for the future.
Kotahitanga is what we ask
all New Zealanders to aspire to.
The second
founding principle I want to talk about, is mana
whenua.
A couple of years ago, Prime
Minister John Key made a statement in the context of the
pending sale of the Crafar farms, that he didn’t want to
see New Zealanders being tenants in our own
land.
The Māori Party has always been an advocate
for retaining land in New Zealand ownership – and so we
have no argument with any approach which sets strict
criteria around overseas investment policies.
But
the irony is, that for tangata whenua, we have been in the
position of our land being alienated, confiscated,
legislated out of our hands for well over 170 years since
the first land acquisitions started taking
place.
Mana whenua is the
principle by which we are defined by the places where we
belong – tūrangawaewae and ukaipo – the land we have
occupied by right of ancestral claim.
In my case,
for instance, the tribal boundaries of Ngäti Rangiwewehi
extend from the Waimihia stream which feeds into te Rotorua
nui a Kahu with the Ngäti Ngararanui to the south of this
boundary to Puaruarewa a lake edge boundary point with
Ngäti Parua to the east .
These boundaries extend
from Tarimano Marae on the banks of the Te Awahou River to
Haraki Marae at Waioeka near Te Puke to Rangiwewehi ki
Tai.
These are not just axis points on a grid line;
markings of geographical or geological interest. These
places are where I find my strength; my energy; my
connections.
Moving on from that then, to
kaitiakitanga – this is commonly
understood as the spiritual and cultural guardianship of our
world.
In essence, our responsibilities
derived from kaitiakitanga, urge us towards the protection,
restoration and enhancement of our natural
environments.
It encourages us to think broadly
about sustainable management and growth; to work
collectively on putting in place the measures to provide a
stable and secure environment for future generations. I
believe you may know what I am talking about.
Now I
have shared some thoughts around these three concepts –
kotahitanga; mana whenua and kaitiakitanga – not as a
crash course in Maori Party Kaupapa 101; but more because I
think it signals three possible points of conversation with
your party, in a MMP environment.
I believe that
for far too long political commentary has neglected or
diminished the vital opportunity provided by proportional
representation as the basis for electing members of
parliament.
Every election season, New Zealanders
become spectators in the battle between red and blue. We
are consistently bombarded with the views of Helen vs Don;
or more recently, Phil, David or David vs John. Leader
debates are frequently reserved for just two players despite
the call for diversity evident in the mixed member
proportional representation electoral system.
Yet
the reality is, that when the results of the electoral
system referendum were released in November 2011, the great
majority - 56 of the seventy electorates – voted to keep
MMP.
For our constituency, the support was even
more pronounced. There was a staggering average vote of
83% in each of the seven Māori seats in favour of keeping
MMP.
Clearly then, New Zealanders are in support of
a more representative parliament – a parliament which
represents multiple interests – and a governing
arrangement which embraces and promotes
diversity.
This is where our shared conversations
are so critical.
The Māori Party has always
operated on the basis that we are open to working with any
party on a kaupapa by kaupapa basis – that is whatever
priorities and gains we can agree to, to advance gains for
our constituencies.
In the current term we have
shown this in a number of ways.
We have worked with
the Labour Party, Mana Party and the Greens in promoting the
vital need to support and invest in Māori electoral
participation.
We have worked with the Act Party in
supporting the call from many Māori and Pasifika
organisations for alternative schooling structures – the
Kura Hourua model.
We have negotiated a significant
pathway of policy priorities through our Relationship Accord
with National.
And of course our partnership with
United Future has been seen through our mutual opposition to
the proposed changes in the Resource Management
Act.
Looking at this last issue in a bit more
detail – I would say that our two parties have been clear
from the onset that we have a duty and an obligation to
ensure that our lands and waters remain for future
generations.
Our opposition to the merger and
dilution of key concepts in sections 6 and 7 of Part Two of
the Act, have the effect of adversely changing the whole
purpose of the legislation.
The meaning and effect
of the Act is based on precedents established in the
Court. By changing the fundamental principles all those
precedents are lost, creating uncertainty and needless,
endless legal conflict.
We have a shared concern
that the proposed change put at risk our ability to maintain
and sustain our resources for future generations. Our
parties are the key to this legislation, we have hung
together on principle despite some pressure, and bounced off
each other as we present the case to the Ministers.
Cooperation works when you make it happen.
So I
come back to the dominance of two key parties and the fate
and fortune of smaller parties such as
ours.
Painting the political map as red or blue
fails to recognise the rich configuration of opportunities
available through MMP and articulated in multi-tiered
coalition arrangements.
For the Māori Party, our
mantra has always been that regardless of which party is in
power, our responsibility to those who place their faith in
us, is that we will do what it takes to negotiate the best
future for our people, for this country.
We firmly
believe that a distinctive kaupapa driven approach to the
broader political conversation, is ultimately not just good
for Māori, but great for New Zealand as a
whole.
And I want to finish with returning to the
focus of our logo and our unique colours – the white, the
black and the red.
These colours are taken from a
proverb uttered by King Potataui Te Wherowhero at his
coronation in 1858 – “kotahi te kohao o te ngira, e
kuhuna ai te miro ma, te miro pango me te miro
whero”.
There is a single eye of the needle
through which the white, black and read threads all must
pass.
Using the richness of this proverb, our
colours represent the many paths and the many peoples that
come together to make New Zealand our home.
Each of
you here – like every member of the Māori Party -
appreciate the wisdom that we are only as strong as we are
united, as weak as we are divided.
One of the
greatest features of the Relationship Accord the Māori
Party negotiated with National is the Agree to disagree
provisions. Our provisions have a particular strength in
stating explicitly the circumstances by which we may
disagree with the Government.
In addition, we had
written into our agreement that we would not support partial
asset sales and as a result National agreed not to put it in
confidence and supply measures.
But equally
important, is the substantial detail of agreement that we
were able to achieve in areas right across the policy range
– including economic development, enviro-schools, jobs,
skills and trade training; healthy homes; alleviating
poverty and our flagship policy – Whānau
Ora.
Our respective memberships are acutely aware
that smaller parties in coalitions tend to bear,
disproportionately the electoral impact of a coalition
arrangement. Political commentators regularly issue
warnings that smaller parties are less likely to be noticed;
and far more likely to suffer at subsequent
elections.
Despite this – we in the Māori Party
are determined that we will not lose hope. We have been
written off so many times; our electoral death warrants
signed in too many elections to count – but we are also
extremely proud that next year marks a decade of the Māori
Party movement – and we are already planning to have one
almighty celebration.
I hope that the conversation
we are having today, is one of many that will continue to
characterise the debate over the next year.
The
political pundits have already started picking winners and
losers. Our approach, as a people, as a party, as a
movement – is to say, let us remember the rich opportunity
that MMP provides the nation – and let us paint a broader
outlook in which many points of views can come
together.
Whether we call that a Maori Future;
United Greens, or an Act of Mana is yet to be determined –
the challenge and the potential for diverse political
partnerships is too good to ignore – and the Māori Party
is open to every opportunity for dialogue and
debate.
Thank you again for the invitation. I wish
your conference well.
ENDS