Hone Harawira, Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau
Wednesday 27 June 2007

BACKGROUND

I mua tata atu i te taenga mai o tenei pire ki te Whare, i te tau rua mano ma rima, ka tae mai tetahi emara mai i a Diva, he tohunga tuhi anuanu, e mahi ana i ona mahi mo nga tau e rima, ki Tamaki ki Raro.

E mea ana ia “E aroha ana matou ki nga rangatahi, nga tai tamatäne, tai tamawahine ano hoki, e noho kuare ana ki roto o Tamaki ki Raro.

He pai ke atu kia tautoko i nga mahi e hiahia ana, e te rangatahi. Ma nga mahi tuhi anuanu, ka uru ki roto i a ratou kia kai ngakau ratou ki enei tu momo mahi, i te mea ka taea e ratou te torotoro atu, na ratou hoki.

Hakoa nga korero ta tena ta tena, ka tuhi anuanu nga tamariki, engari mena ka piri atu ki a ratou, ka taea e matou te whakaatu i tetahi ao ahua whanui ake, kia whakatutukia i te kaupapa.

Engari, he aha te whakautu a te Kaunihera o Manukau? Kua tuku pire kia whakakahoretia i te tuhi anuanu noa iho.

E mara, he anga whakamua tena? Kore, kore rawa atu. No reira, ka tirohia whänuitia mätou, kia kitea mena he whakaaro pai atu, i te rakau nui.

PAPAIOEA
Pera i Te Papaioea, na rätou i toha putea mo te hotaka Highbury Hiphop, mo nga momo kanikani, rangi waiata, purongo, whakatangi ano hoki mo nga rangatahi, ko te nuinga ko matou, he Poronihia.

Ta te hiahia o nga kaitiaki toa, ka puta mai tenei hotaka, kia whakatika i nga mahi tuhi kökau. Kotahi rau nga tamariki i tae atu, ia wiki, ia wiki.

Mo nga tau e wha, i hïpoki nga rangatahi i nga tuhinga kökau, tuhinga anuanu hoki, a, na ratou hoki i tuhi i o ratou ake tuhinga anuanu pai.
Na te pai o enei mahi ka miharo te koro matua o Papaioea, he pai te kaupapa ki te tini o nga tamariki, pera i a ratou ko taka ki te he i te rohe o Highbury.

Ta Josh Wetere, tetahi o nga kaituhi anuanu ki te pepa, ara ko te Evening Standard, ko tana whakahïhï ki te kite i ana mahi i runga i nga paatu o te taone.

“Mena i konei enei tuhinga i te wa o oku tamariki he mea nui tera. Ina patai mai ratou, ‘Matua na wai era mahi?’ a, ko taku whakautu, “naku.”

WHANGAREI
A, tera pea, me waea atu a Barry Curtis ki te Kaunihera a Rohe o Whangarei, na ratou i tautoko i te whakangahau hip-hop i Maunu i tera tau, i tu ki te taha o te whakakitenga “Whakanuia a Hip Hop Aotearoa”. Kua kitea ano hoki i te kaha o te wairua Maori, me te wairua Pasifika, i roto i tenei whakataetae tuhi anuanu rongorau.
He patai ano taaku, kia tirohia ki te rereke o era ki nga whakaaro a Manukau:
kia whaina i nga toa e hoko këna peita ki nga tamariki

kia rahi ake nga whaina ki nga tohunga tuhi anuanu (me te ahua kei a ratou te putea kia utungia?)

kia whakamana i te Kaunihera kia uru atu ki to whenua, ükui ai i te tuhi anuanu.

kia whakanui ake te mana kia haere nga pirihimana me nga kaunihera te tirohia, te hopu, me te whaina tangata.

HERETAUNGA
Ko ta te pire nei, he whakauru mai ano i tetahi atu roopu, ara, ko nga pirihimana. E mara - he nui tonu a ratou mahi.

Na, i runga i to matou tautoko i te ture pai atu i nga ture rorirori nei, ka titiro matou ki nga ahua, ka taea e nga pirihimana, te whakapä atu ki nga kai tuhi anuanu.

Na, i Heretaunga ka kitea matou i tetahi kaupapa, ara, ko Te Ao Marama, i tïmatahia e te pirihimana Sue Guy, o te Roopu Awhi Rangatahi ki Heretaunga, na tona hoha, horekau he ara, hei whainga ma nga tohunga tuhi anuanu.

I whakaroopu ai nga Pirihimana o Heretaunga i etahi rangatahi mai i nga tiriti, a, ka tuku atu nga taputapu, papa, peita hoki, kia tu ai nga whakaaturanga e toru. Inaianei, ka whakairihia a ratou papa toi ki Poihakena, ki to matou ake Whare Paremata ano hoki.

Tino hari koa te katoa, nga rangatahi me nga Pirihimana a ka panuihia te Tari o Te Ture, he whakaaturanga tino rawe.

Engari, me waihotia au i te korero whakamutunga, ki te Pirihimana a Guy, me tana kii “I te wa ka ea o ratau wawata, ka manawanui, ka noho pai te hinengaro, e kore taea te aukati i a ratou. I whakawätea e matou i te waahi, kia taea ai ratou te wero i a ratou ano, kia taea e ratou te whai i tetahi ara, kahore ano kia kitea i to ratou ao”.

Ko enei nga mahi ka taea, mena ka whakarewahia i nga painga, ka waihotia nga wherutanga, a tera pea me titiro a Manukau ki a Heretaunga, ko Manukau hoki he täone kua whakawahia i nga pirihimana mo a ratau mahi ringa kaha, patu rangatahi ano hoki.

SOUTH AUCKLAND
E te kaihautu, kare i te pai a Tämaki ki Raro, piki ake nga takahi i te ture, a, kei te noho ngoi-kore, ngäkau-kore hoki, te rohe.

Kei Tamaki ki Raro taku rangatira a Taakuta Pita Sharples e mahi ana, a, kei te whakaatu mai e ia, i nga mahi kua mahia kia rewa ake te tu o a ratou whanau, a, he korero papai ona, mo nga mahi a nga Pirihimana, e ngakau nui ana, ki te tautoko i nga nohonga whanau.

A, koia ra ano to matou whakaaro – he pai ke atu te tautoko i nga tümanako, i te whiu.

CHRISTCHURCH
E te kaihautu, tini ana nga mahi pai e mahia ana, i nga topito katoa o te motu, pera i te Whakakitenga Tuhi Anuanu a nga tohunga Maori, Pasifika hoki, kei Otautahi. Na a ratou mahi ka ki tetahi “kua pakuu mai nga tikanga hip-hop ki tenei whenua. Me aro ake tatou i te mea koia nei nga hiahia o to tatou iwi, a, na ratou tonu i kimi. Kua tae ki te waa kia tuwherahia a tatou hinengaro, i te mea, he tangi tënei, kia aro ake ki a ratou.

CONCLUSION
E te kaihautu, kei roto i aku korero he karanga kia titiro whanui tatou, ki etahi tikanga hou, a koia ra hoki te karanga o era atu o nga tangata i Manukau, i tenei wa tonu. Kia titiro whanui, kia rapu i nga painga, kia titiro ki tua atu o nga otaota, kia kitea i nga tino taonga, kia kitea i nga tau otinga, kia waihotia nga raruraru.

E marama ana au ki nga hiahia o te Kaunihera ki te whakapai i nga tiriti, engari kahore au e whakaäe, ko te utu, ko a tatou tamariki me o ratou mahi pümanawa. E mea ana au, na tatou enei tamariki, i te mea e mohio ana au, tatou katoa hoki, ko nga tamariki ka ngaua e te pire nei, ko a tatou rangatahi o te Moana nui a Kiwa.

Tautoko ana te Paati Maori i te whakahau a te Komiti kia kaua te pire nei e whai mana, a, tautoko ano i nga whakahau, ma te wa kainga e hanga i nga tikanga whakatikatika, a, tautoko hoki i te whakaaro, kia tau tötika te mahi, he pai ake tera, i te mahi poka noa i te ture.

Kahore matou e kitea i te pai o te rakau nui, a ko ta matou inoi kia Manukau, kia tau ake te piri ki nga painga, kei nga tiriti o Tamaki ki Raro. Pai atu tenei i te hämene, i te whakaiti, i te whaina, i te mauhere.

Hei korero whakamutunga ki nga mema o te Whare nei, kia haere ki Manukau, kia kitea i te tuhi anuanu, he wha mita te teitei, wha tekau ma rima mita te roa. I tuwheratia i tera tau, i te Whare o Telstra Clear, a, na nga tohunga tuhi anuanu, na, Otis Frizzell raua ko Dan Tippett me nga kai tuhi e rima no Manukau i hanga. He 9 atu ki te 36 tau, te pakeke o nga kai awhina.

Ko nga tangata i whakamanangia, ko nga toa o Manukau pera i a Ta Edmund Hillary, David Lange, John Walker, Yvette Corlett, Barbara Kendall, Possum Bourne, Ta Woolf Fisher, me te toa, nana i para i te ara hip-hop, ara, ko Phil Fuemana, ratou ano, kua rere ki tua atu o te mata-hau-ariki.

He whakanui i te kaha me te wairua auaha o te iwi o Manukau, a he whakaatu i nga wawata o te tohunga tuhi anuanu a Diva, me ana korero mo nga rangatahi o Manukau “Mena ka taea e matou te whakapiri atu ki a ratou, te whakaatu i tetahi ao ahua whanui ake, ae ra, ka tutuki te kaupapa”

BACKGROUND
Just before this Bill last came before the House, back in 2005, we got an email from a professional graffiti artist known as Diva, who’d been doing her graffiti thing legally round South Auckland for the past five years.

She said: “Our hearts are for the rangatahi, for the young men and women of South Auckland who truly have no positive influence, no direction, and no vision in life.
Rather than putting down everything the youth are interested in, we want to use graffiti as a tool to impart life skills, responsibility and respect in a form they can relate to and be interested in.

Kids are going to tag no matter what anyone says but if we can get alongside them, into their lives and let them see beyond that horizon then we will achieve something”.

But what does the Manukau City Council do? Put in a Bill to ban graffiti.

Yeah, forward thinking. NOT. So we thought we’d look around ourselves to see whether there were better ideas than the ‘big stick’.

PALMERSTON NORTH
Like Palmerston North for instance, who funded the Highbury Hiphop programme which combined break-dancing, music, rapping and graffiti art for mainly Polynesian youth.

The programme grew out of a meeting with local shop owners to deal with tagging, and attracted nearly one hundred kids every week.
Over the next four years, a team of rangatahi painted over random tagging and graffiti, and created murals with their graffiti art.
The programme was so successful that even the Mayor was moved to say, that the programme had been extremely popular and helped heaps of at-risk kids in Highbury.

One of the budding graffiti artists, Josh Wetere told the Evening Standard of his pride in seeing his work on the wall.
“It’d be great if it was still here when my kids are around. They’d say, ‘Who did that Dad?’. And I’d say - I did”.

WHANGAREI
Or maybe Barry Curtis could call the Whangarei District Council who sponsored a hip hop festival last year in Maunu. The festival, combined with a traveling exhibition called, “Respect Aotearoa – hip hop” again had a really strong Maori and Pasifika influence, and a multi-media graffiti art competition.

And again, I’d ask you to contrast these with Manukau’s intentions:

fining shopkeepers for selling spray cans to kids;

massive fines for graffiti artists (like they got the money to pay);

giving Council power to enter private property and remove graffiti, and

increased police and council intrusion, surveillance, arrests and fines.

HASTINGS
This Bill also introduces another group to the mix – the police – as if they didn’t already have enough to do.

So, because our aim is to try to always promote positive alternatives to what is often seriously dumb legislation, we decided to look around for positive ways in which police can engage with graffiti artists.

And down Hastings way, we came across Te Ao Marama, an initiative pioneered by Constable Sue Guy of Hastings Police Youth Aid, who was frustrated that there was nothing for young, talented graffiti artists.

Hastings Police and some community youth workers got together a group of street kids, got the necessary gears, let them loose with paints and boards, did three big exhibitions, and now some of that artwork is hanging up across the ditch in Australia, and right here in Parliament as well.

The kids were stoked, the police were chuffed, and Justice promoted it as a successful youth aid initiative.

But I leave the final word to Constable Guy who said “Once the young people realise their potential, gain confidence and self-esteem, there is no stopping them. We provide a place for young people to challenge themselves, and give young people the chance to do things that they would never normally experience”.

This is what is possible if you “accentuate the positive” instead of always trying to “eliminate the negative”, and in a city like Manukau where over-zealous policing has led to an inquiry into the excessive use of force, and brought to light many other cases of police assault on young people, the Hastings experience is certainly worthy of consideration.

SOUTH AUCKLAND
Madam Speaker, things in South Auckland don’t look good, with rising crime, despair and despondency pervading the community.

My colleague, Dr Pita Sharples, has been working behind the scenes in South Auckland and keeps us updated about the incredible commitment that people are making to improve things for their families, and he speaks highly too, of those police officers dedicated to community support.

And again, that’s the angle we want to focus on - restoring hope rather than inflicting penalty.

CHRISTCHURCH
Madam Speaker, there’s heaps of good things going on all round the country, like the Urbanised Generation Graffiti Art Exhibition in Christchurch, featuring celebrated Maori and Pacific Islands artists and their work, about which one person said: ‘The hip-hop culture has exploded in this country. We must take notice. It’s where our people are at – by choice. It’s time for us to open our minds to it and accept that the exhibition is a cry for attention”

CONCLUSION
Madam Speaker, the various examples I’ve talked about highlight the motivation provided by fresh eyes, and that’s what the people of Manukau are calling out for right now: fresh eyes to look past the pain and search out the potential; to gaze past the litter and see the treasure; and to see the solutions rather than the problems.

I understand the impulse of the City Council to want to clean up the streets, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of our kids and their talent, and I say our kids because I know, we all know, that it will be Maori and Pasifika youth who will get banged by this bill.

The Maori Party supports the recommendation from the select committee not to pass this Bill, we support the recommendation for local solutions, and we urge a more positive approach rather than ad hoc legislation.

We see no value in using the ‘big stick’ and we urge Manukau City to engage positively with the terrific array of talent in the streets of South Auckland, rather than penalise them with labels, fines, and lock-ups.

Finally, I would encourage all Members of this House, to go and have a look at Manukau City’s awesome 4 metre high, 45 metre long graffiti mural launched last year in the TelstraClear Pacific Centre, designed by graffiti legends, Otis Frizzell and Dan Tippett, and painted in collaboration with five local artists – aged from 9 to 36.

It features the champions of Manukau – including Sir Edmund Hillary, David Lange, Jonah Lomu, John Walker, Yvette Corlett, Barbara Kendall, Possum Bourne, Sir Woolf Fisher, and hip hop pioneer Phil Fuemana – those who have soared beyond the horizon.

It’s a celebration of the talent and creativity of the people of Manukau, and represents the aspirations of Diva, the graffiti artist who says of the youth of Manukau City: “if we can get alongside them, into their lives and let them see beyond that horizon then we will achieve something”.

Hone Harawira
Tai Tokerau MP
0800 TOKERAU
www.tokerau.co.nz

ENDS

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