Sharples: Te Taumata Runanga Awards Programme
te-pati-maori
Fri Jun 29 2007 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Sharples: Te Taumata Runanga Awards Programme
Friday, 29 June 2007, 10:13 am
Speech: The Maori Party
Te Taumata Runanga Awards Programme
Thursday 28 June 2007; 9pm
Dr Pita Sharples;
Member of Parliament for Tamaki Makaurau; Co-leader of the Maori Party
It is so exhilarating to flee the Beehive for the wonder of Waitakere.
If you opened yesterday’s local newspaper you’d think the Press Gallery really believe that whether politicians sneeze or sleep or read the newspaper in the House is cutting edge news.
Because that was the Front Page Lead; and Page two; and the Editorial!
Whereas here in Waitakere, we know that the real front page stuff is Te Taumata Runanga Maori Community Awards.
The leading edge, breaking news stories of Waitakere are the members of this community who have dazzled us all with their brilliant achievements, leadership and service.
The latest newsflash should have been the fact that just one month ago, Waitakere City Council became the first council in Aotearoa to give official recognition to the city’s youth voice.
What a wonderful tribute to the leaders of tomorrow – leaders who already form such a significant proportion of the Waitakere community.
For what we know now from the 2006 Census is that some 38% of this community are under 25 years old.
And for us as Maori, we are doubly blessed – for in Waitakere City, our rangatahi comprise 55% of our whole population – that’s some twelve and a half thousand Waitakere Maori under 25 years of age and ready to rock and roll.
And I’m not just thinking about the latest dance event in town – the Waitakere Dance Halls - although I hear the winter series has started off with a real blast from the past, helped by the Queen City Big Band.
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Getting back to the groove of this fine city, I really do want to congratulate you all for supporting young people as a key component of Waitakere Wellbeing; of whanau well-being.
I looked back at some of the hui you’ve held as Te Taumata Runanga – and saw some of the issues that confront you – youth drinking alcohol in Henderson Park; young people trespassing; violence; crime, youth offending.
Some politicians; some councils; some communities would respond to such challenges by getting tough, getting even.
Some communities would call for banning gangs, banning graffiti; and they’re probably wishing they could ban young people.
This community is different. You are saying your youth matter.
Tonight is about celebrating and honouring members of the community working amongst the young.
But it doesn’t just stop there. We know the Whanau Day Out was a huge success; next month the Wellbeing summit will be too.
And I understand you’re bidding to hold the World Indigenous Touch Championships. All events in which the place of our young people is absolutely fundamental.
It’s really exciting to see our young people respected, recognised and valued in the way that this community does.
We need to see young people as more than pawns in a punishment path that begins with ‘youth justice’.
The Maori Party has always believed that the inter-relationship of youth justice brings together two vital concepts.
Youth – the wellspring of energy and vitality; the hope for our future. Justice – to represent with fairness.
Youth justice is about supporting Sue Bradford's age discrimination bill where 16 and 17 year olds will receive the adult minimum wage.
Youth Justice is also about promoting democratic participation amongst young people; encouraging them to make a contribution, to have their say.
And there’s no better time than now, to be thinking about such things are you start cranking up the engines for the local body elections this October.
It’s less than a month until nominations open, and what we know is young people have a notoriously low turnout compared for the national overall turnout.
So as you start shoulder tapping and combing through the networks for the right candidates (I don’t mean politically right either – the Maori Party neither turns right nor left – our own focus is about moving on ahead) – why not think about some candidates who are closer to eighteen than eighty.
Not that I’m saying anything about being eighty either!
In fact, here’s another incredible fact for Waitakere: there are 69 Maori people in this rohe, over the age of eighty – 27 over the age of 85. Amazing!!! That is surely another great reason to celebrate.
The key driver for us all must be the urge to represent.
If you hang with the hip hop crowd, you’ll know that Represent means to stand up for, to be role model, to give respect to. “I don’t care where you started out from, now that you’re here you’ve got to represent.”
So if we are to Represent in Waitakere, a pretty good place to start would be with tangata whenua.
You know someone was asking me about the early days of Te Taumata Runanga – a history I am proud to be part of.
Our aspiration was to think about how :
1. kaupapa Maori could be integrated across the Council’s decision making processes;
2. how Council could meet its obligations to tangata whenua;
3. how Council could ensure regular communication with Maori.
So we decided to set up a Standing Committee to report to the Council - and here we are today.
The strength of Te Taumata Runanga of course lies in the representation of the twelve disciples – the twelve member organisations from:
- Te Kawerau a Maki;
- Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua;
- Te Atatu;
- The marae of Hoani Waititi; Kakariki; Te Piringatahi o te Maungarongo;
- Te Roopu Kaumatua o Waipareira;
- Te Roopu Puawai o Waitakere;
- Te Roopu Wahine Maori Toko i te ora; and
- Te Whanau o Waipareira Trust.
I always have a bit of a laugh when people say, ‘what is the Maori view?’ - like there is one homogenous group.
What Waitakere knows is that diversity is not just between Maori and non-Maori, but diversity is also within and between iwi; within and between hapu; within and between whanau.
And increasingly we understand that the variety of experiences we are acquiring as time goes on, means we must be prepared to grow in our diversity.
The late Dr Irihapeti Ramsden described it as
“The future of our people cannot be stereotyped by our current versions of Maoriness. Major cultural markers such as the language of our ancestors, the marae and tangihanga must be retained at all costs, but under pressure of changing times, many more adjustments are likely. These choices are for Maori to make….they are a matter of mana…
Our work as today’s version of Maori is the same as that of our tipuna: to continue our story, to strengthen it according to our times and to add the next chapter. That will be done”.
Te Taumata Runanga is acknowledging that growth in the award ceremony we are all celebrating tonight.
The nominees represent the diversity of our world in 2007.
And our challenge must be, that that same diversity is represented in the local body elections, so that we have people on the Council that can stand up for, be role model for, give respect to the widest world of Waitakere.
They must be people who can walk the talk – say the things that are hard to say – name the injustices. Dr Martin Luther King once said, “nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
We must attract and recruit people from right across this community; people of all backgrounds, experiences, qualifications.
People who can talk about the ongoing crisis of mass incarceration, the urgency of creating jobs and living wages; the acute shortage of low and moderate income housing; the implications of unequal education and health care outcomes.
They must talk out against the growth of a racially selective Courts and Corrections industry, which risks criminalising an entire generation of our young Maori and Pasifika people.
They must talk out against the economic and social consequences of persistent poverty.
And they must be people who have the political imagination, the courage, and the creative energy to assume responsibility; and in doing so, to alter the course of history.
I wish us all well in adding to the next chapter of our collective journey.
ENDS
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