Hone Harawira: Treaty Amendment Bill
Treaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of Interest) Amendment Bill
Wed 18 June 2008
Hone Harawira, MP for Te Tai Tokerau
Mr Speaker, thisNew Zealand First bill, promoted by Pita Paraone, and denounced as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the country, plans to end the careers of some of our best Maori judges of theMaori Land Court, theHigh Court, and theWaitangi Tribunal, and to stop them from serving their own people.
This bill Mr Speaker,
is exactly the same as that other anti-Maori bill, put
forward byNew Zealand First, represented at Select Committee
by Pita Paraone, voted for by all of Labour’s Maori MPs,
including Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa,
Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones,
and denounced as being anti-Maori, by Maori from throughout
the country.
That bill was called thePrinciples of the
Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill, and proposed taking the
Treaty of Waitangi out of all New Zealand
legislation.
Thankfully, the rest of the House voted with
the Maori Party at second reading and threw it out, but not
before Mr Speaker, not before all of Labour’s Maori MPs
actuallyvoted to delete the Treaty of Waitangi from all New
Zealand legislation.
And vote for it they did Mr Speaker,
and not just a couple of them either, but the whole lot of
them -Parekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita
Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora,and Shane
Jones!!!!
In fact, so horrified wasAngeline Greensill,
Maori Party Member of the House of Hauraki-Waikato, that she
actually rang me to say,
“Hone, are you sure? Are you
telling me that every one of Labour’s Maori MPs,
includingParekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa,
Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora, and Shane Jones,
actually did something as dumb as tovote to delete the
Treaty of Waitangi from all New Zealand legislation?
And
being a fully paid up member of the Maori Party Mr Speaker,
I had no option but to tell her the truth, that in fact, yes
they had – all of Labour’s Maori MPsvoted- to delete
the Treaty of Waitangi from all legislation.
Mr Speaker,
this bill, thisTreaty of Waitangi (Removal of Conflict of
Interest) Amendment Bill, is the same in many
ways.
• This bill has also been put forward byNew
Zealand First,
• This bill was also represented at
Select Committee by Pita Paraone,
• This bill was also
supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including
ParekuraHoromia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui,
Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and
• This
bill has also been denounced as anti-Maori, by Maori from
throughout the country.
and I am happy to say that for
all of those reasons and more, the Maori Party will not be
supporting this bill.
Mr Speaker, the Maori Party will not
be supporting this anti-Maori bill put forward byNew Zealand
First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone,
supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including
ParekuraHoromia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui,
Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced
as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the
country…
because we know, as does the Select Committee,
that sitting on both the Maori Land Court and the Waitangi
Tribunal, requires people to have an understanding of tribal
structures, Maori land history, custom and tradition
–
and given that 80% of those people are likely to be
Maori, we know that:
this bill… will effectively dump
all of those Maori who had dedicated their lives to law
school, court work, and tribunal work before taking up an
appointment to either the Maori Land Court or the Waitangi
Tribunal, and dismiss 95% of the greatest legal minds within
Maoridom,
and Mr Speaker, how dumb is that …, how
mind-numbingly, nonsensically, foolishly, downright dumb is
that?
Mr Speaker, another reason the Maori Party will not
be supporting this anti-Maori bill put forward byNew Zealand
First, represented at Select Committee by Pita Paraone,
supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs, including
ParekuraHoromia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui,
Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced
as being anti-Maori by Maori from throughout the
country…
is because it continues the assault against
some of our top jurists like Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias,
Maori Land Court Judge Caren Wickliffe, and Chief Maori Land
Court Judge Joe Williams,
who have all been dragged into
the political spotlight and attacked, by over-zealous and
intellectually-challenged Ministers of the Crown, wanting to
impose their prejudices on the judiciary.
Mr Speaker,
there is probably no other party that wants to change the
appointment process for judges in Aotearoa as much as the
Maori Party, but even we recognise the importance of keeping
the judiciary separate from politicians who come and go at
the whim of the electorate.
Mr Speaker, another reason the
Maori Party will not be supporting this anti-Maori bill put
forward byNew Zealand First, represented at Select Committee
by Pita Paraone, supported by all of Labour’s Maori MPs,
includingParekura Horomia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa,
Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereora and Shane Jones,
and denounced as being anti-Maori, by Maori from throughout
the country…
is because it plans to muzzle the voices
of judges who demonstrate every day, high levels of judicial
competence and knowledge of Maori land matters, and replace
them with retired judges who have already got heaps on their
plate.
Mr Speaker, I was happy to be the Maori Party
representative on the Select Committee which considered this
anti-Maori bill put forward byNew Zealand First, represented
at Select Committee by Pita Paraone, supported by all of
Labour’s Maori MPs, including ParekuraHoromia, Nanaia
Mahuta, Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave
Hereora and Shane Jones, and denounced as being anti-Maori
by Maori from throughout the country…
and I was equally
as happy to hear their recommendation, that there was no
inherent conflict of interest, and that therefore this bill
could be thrown out, on the same scrapheap as the last
one.
And finally Mr Speaker, let me ask this most obvious
of questions, the question on the lips of Maori people all
round the country –
if it’s conflict of interest
thatPita Paraone, ParekuraHoromia, Nanaia Mahuta, Mahara
Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereoraand Shane
Jones, are really concerned with,
then what about the
conflict of interest that arises from the thieving buggers
who actually stole our land, being the same bloody critters,
who then set up the tribunal to decide the courtcase, pick
who the judges will be, decide what can be returned and
whatwon’t be returned, pick who can speak for the poor
bloody victims, and then say how much the victims will have
to pay to get their own land back.
Conflict of Interest,
Mr Paraone? You want to talk aboutconflict of interest? Well
that’s what you callConflict of Interest Mr Paraone,
that’s the real deal that no-one wants to talk
about.
Mr Horomia – how come the thieves who stole your
tupuna’s land, also get to pick the judges for the
courtase? How’s that for conflict of interest?
Ms
Mahuta - how come the thieves who stole your tupuna’s
land, also get to say what lands you can have back? How’s
that for conflict of interest?
Mr Okeroa - how come the
thieves who stole your tupuna’s land, get to say who your
negotiators can be? How’s that for conflict of
interest?
And for all the rest of you Maori MPs in Labour
- how dare you support legislation that would delete the
Treaty, and deny Maori the right to sit on their own Land
Courts.
Mr Speaker, this bill …
• this bill
supported byPita Paraone, ParekuraHoromia, Nanaia Mahuta,
Mahara Okeroa, Mita Ririnui, Dover Samuels, Dave Hereoraand
Shane Jones,in spite of overwhelming opposition from Maori
right around the country …
• this bill … to stripthe Waitangi Tribunal and the Maori Land Court of some of the best legal minds in Maoridom …
• this bill Mr Speaker,
is nothing but a pathetic attempt to deny Maori equal access
to all levels of the judiciary,
Mr Speaker, the Maori
Party stands proudly alongside the rest of Maoridom in
denouncing this anti-Maori bill …
And we call on this
House to consign it to the same trash-bin, as the last piece
of legislative prejudice, put forward by New Zealand
First.
Ends