Speech: Sharples - Tamaki Makaurau launch
Speech from Dr Pita Sharples at the Maori Party
Tamaki
Makaurau launch
Saturday 1 October 2011;
2pm
Manurewa Netball Courts, Manurewa
The Mâori
Party is the only true Mâori Party in
Parliament;
No
other Party, including Labour or Mana, is
100%
Mâori—let me say that again, no other Party,
including
Labour or Mana, is tûturu Mâori;
No other
Party has 100% Mâori leadership—the Mâori
Party
does.
No other Party has 100% Mâori caucus members—the
Mâori
Party does.
No other Party has 100% Mâori
kaupapa—the Mâori Party
does.
No other Party has
100% Mâori representation at
Cabinet—the Mâori Party
does;
A vote for the Mâori Party is a vote for Mâori;
The National Party are likely to lead the next
Government
with the ACT Party; neither Labour nor Mana
will be there;
they will be in opposition—a Vote for
the Mâori Party is
a vote to challenge National and ACT
at the Cabinet table;
I invite you to continue the
struggle – and not to walk
away;
A vote for Mana; a
vote for Labour is a cry in the
wilderness; it is a vote
to protest from outside Government,
to complain from
outside Cabinet. A vote for Mana; a vote
for Labour is to
be excluded from decision-making and be
only spectators.
A vote for the Mâori Party is a vote to
challenge, a
vote to be heard, a vote to continue the
struggle within
the halls of Kawanatanga;
To say that an independent
Mâori voice has to be in
opposition is cheap; it
cheapens the Mâori activism in our
communities, it
cheapens the Mâori activism of our
history; it cheapens
the activism demonstrated by all
Mâori who stick to the
kaupapa day-to-day. All Mâori are
activists in their own
way;
The Mâori Party has been proud to advance Mâori
activism
within Government and at the Cabinet table; for
example, we
have revolutionised the social policy with
Whânau Ora; we
have revolutionised our rights with
adopting the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples; and
we have began the process of
revolutionising our nation with
the Constitutional
Review—this is the difference we
are
making;
Individual battles or policies may be won
or lost, but
revolutionaries focus on the overall
struggle—no person or
policy is bigger than the
kaupapa. The Mâori Party belongs
to the people, and we,
your current members of parliament
are the kaitiaki of
the kaupapa that belongs to us all,
it’s our taonga so
we need to look after it, through the
good times and the
bad;
I invite you to continue the revolution;
We are the
mighty Mâori Party and I want to be your
candidate for
Tâmaki Makaurau.
As MP for Tâmaki Makaurau I am
proud to serve this
electorate;
In the last three
budgets, we secured $620 million for Iwi,
Hâpu &
Whânau;
The Auckland Mâori Statutory Board establishes
Mâori
Representation on the Auckland Supercity – and
throughout
the region;
Kaitoko Whânau, Oranga
Whânau, Mâra Kai and Whânau
Ora programmes are
assisting and supporting Whânau;
Mâori have been front
and centre on the Rugby World Cup
Stage, Free-to-Air
coverage on Mâori Television and soon
to be launched
Waka Mâori;
Kaupapa Mâori reintegration of whânau
coming out of
prison: Whare Oranga Ake;
Enhancing
educational achievement for our mokopuna,
Establishing
Reading Together Literacy Programme, Tâtaiako
Cultural
Competency and Te Aho Matua Curriculum;
These are just a
few of the ways Tâmaki Mâkaurau has
been supported and
advanced.
I would now like to turn to today’s Mâori
Party policy
announcements; we will be announcing a
series of polices in
the lead up to our AGM in the
weekend of 29-30 October.
Cultural Competency
Earlier
this week, my colleague Rahui Katene announced at
her
campaign launch for Te Tai Tonga, one of our
first
policies—to extend cultural competency. Earlier
this year
we implemented a policy called
Tataiako—cultural
competency for teachers to improve
educational achievement
for our tamariki. Now we will
extend that policy to cover
every ministry and department
across the whole of
government—cultural competency for
our public servants;
Today I would like to announce a
policy around strengthening
communities and whânau;
First, let me recap on our some of
our baselines:
We
will continue to push for GST Off Food;
We will continue
to push for a Minimum Wage of $15 as a
starting
point;
We will continue to push for no tax on the first
$25,000;
These polices are longstanding Mâori Party
policies—and
I welcome the Labour Party’s recent
adoption of
these—better late than never;
In an
environment of economic recession we established a
Mâra
Kai programme; over 500 Mâra Kai were developed
across
Aotearoa and provided whânau with access to kai as
an
immediate measure of support.
With commentators talking of
second recession, the Mâori
Party wants to ensure that
every whânau has access to aka
kai. Food security should
be the basis of any economic
policy that allows
communities to be nourished, healthy,
resilient and
self-sustainable;
Mâra Kai provides also provides the
ability to lessen the
impacts from natural disasters that
wipe out crops and the
current unstable global
economy;
The Mâori Party will expand Mâra Kai and
provide support
for gardens for co-op communities,
schools, marae and
whânau collectives right across
Aotearoa;
Justice
The second policy I would like to
announce today is our
Justice policy;
For most Mâori,
justice in New Zealand is not positive; it
is a system
that is unfair, biased and prejudiced. The
justice
system, including the police, courts and
corrections,
systematically discriminates against Mâori;
Maori
offenders are more likely to have police contact; to
be
charged; to lack legal representation; not to be
granted
bail; to plead guilty; to be convicted; to be
sentenced to
non-monetary penalties; to be denied release
to home
detention;
For the same crimes, Mâori are
arrested at three-times the
rate of non-Mâori;
Mâori
are four to five times more likely to be
apprehended,
prosecuted and convicted than their
non-Mâori
counterparts—and in the case of Mâori aged
10-13 this is
six times more likely;
Mâori are seven
times more likely to be given a custodial
sentence and
eleven times more likely to be remanded in
custody
awaiting trail;
Of course, I only need to mention the
so-called unjust and
invasive terrorism raids against our
beautiful whânaunga
of Tûhoe;
And the statistics of
bias throughout the whole justice
system go on and
on—until we arrive at the final one. At
the end of
2010, Mâori made up 51% of the prison
population;
despite only accounting for 15% of the
population;
This
systematic discrimination is totally
unacceptable—the
Mâori Party will push for a review
into the entire Justice
system;
In being guided by He
Whaipaanga Hou written by Moana
Jackson; we must begin
with restructuring the Justice system
upon the basis of
the Treaty of Waitangi and the foundation
of
partnership;
A justice system that encompases te ao
Mâori, tikanga
Mâori, mâtauranga Mâori—principles
and practices of
Mâori justice. A justice system that
breathes Mâori
lore; a systematic shift to produce
institutions and
programmes designed, developed and
delivered—by Mâori,
for Mâori, with Mâori;
No-one
can ignore that there are real issues that need to
be
addressed when we look at Maori
over-representation
particularly in our prisons. 90% of
prisoners have
significant literacy issues; 90% have drug
and alcohol
issues.
It costs over $90,0000 a year to
keep a prisoner; it costs a
billion dollars a year to run
the Department of Corrections
– our policy responds to
these issues.
We have been impressed by the work led by
Rethinking Crime
and Punishment, to make restorative
justice more available;
to work with iwi and whanau to
reduce Maori imprisonment; to
find a better way:
We
understand that this systematic transformation will
take
time, so in the meantime the Mâori Party will
advance the
following policies:
We will throw out the three-strikes legislation;
We will extend Whare Ora Ake to every prison site;
We will initiate Computers in Cells to
foster literacy and
numeracy;
We will support whanau
focused alcohol and drug, addiction,
recovery and
restoration services; including within prisons
We will reintroduce preferred lawyer status—legal aid;
We will
review the protocols around police use of guns
and
tasers;
We will shut down the Independent Police
Conduct Authority;
and establish an Anti-Corruption
Commission; it is essential
that the public has trust and
confidence in the NZ Police
and wider justice system; and
We will advocate for fair, appropriate compensation for
all
the women who appeared before the Commission of
Inquiry into
Police
Misconduct.
Wellington