Turia: Marine and Coastal Area Bill: Third reading
te-pati-maori
Thu Mar 24 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)
Turia: Marine and Coastal Area Bill: Third reading
Thursday, 24 March 2011, 4:15 pm
Speech: The Maori Party
Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill: Third reading
Hon Tariana Turia, Co-leader of the Maori Party
Thursday 23 March 2011; 3pm
On behalf of the Attorney General I move, that the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill be now read a third time_._
From the opening sections of this bill an agenda for change is set.
The connection between Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the principle that customary rights attach to whanau, hapu and iwi with traditional interests in the coastal marine area is at the heart of this legislation.
There was more at stake in this Bill than simply repealing the 2004 Act – notwithstanding how fundamental that is. It is about honouring the Treaty in principle and in practice.
Earlier this week as the people gathered with their banners flying, their tears flowing and their flags held high; I reflected on our journey to achieve meaningful representation as representing the Treaty partner.
And I want to say there is very little difference between what we say as members of the Maori Party, and what those on the hikoi say when it comes to the crucial issue of foreshore and seabed and on Treaty relationships and Treaty issues.
The difference is not about the what – the difference is about the how.
There are those who are unable to accept the legitimacy of Parliament – and that is their right to do so.
But for the Maori Party, our path is a different one. We have chosen the vehicle of Parliament to advance our aspirations in a modern context. We have chosen to participate in kawanatanga and to also uphold the mana of our tupuna. We can do both.
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We came here to tackle issues head on, to fight on every front, and to prepare a place for others to come forward and to continue the work; knowing full well that if we don’t put forward the best case we can, who will?
While other political parties claim to represent Maori, they do so in the belief that tangata whenua can be treated as a homogenous group. And yet there are so many tribal differences and demographic variations that must be appreciated.
Worse yet, there is one party that wilfully seeks to denigrate tangata whenua and their values – and we deplore that behaviour.
It is the same party that deliberately lodged 700 questions today; attempting to roadblock the passage of this bill while cheerfully abusing the responsibilities that citizens expect of all political parties to be frugal with the taxpayer dollar. New Zealanders do not expect the critical business of the state to be delayed for questions which amount to little more than filibustering.
The people deserve better.
The Maori Party came to Parliament because we want the very best for our people. We want their aspirations heard, we want tangata whenua to be a strong voice, to be leading the future of Aotearoa. It is a mission that I know others have carried before us, but nevertheless it is the most critical reason for our existence as a political movement.
It is, afterall, about our struggle for survival; the reconciliation of kawanatanga with rangatiratanga; the long term plan 100 years from now.
I only have to walk the corridors alongside of Matangireia, to glance into the faces of our tupuna and to recall the political actions they each took to advance the calling of their whanau, hapu and iwi. Their spirits are all around us in this chamber – and in this debate – and we are all the richer for their legacy.
One of the saddest aspects of this time has been the way in which some have chosen to use the legislation as a tool to create division – both within Parliament and indeed within our own party. To act in such a way is an anathema to me –and it operates against all our kaupapa.
I have always been someone who has sought to foster unity – to celebrate diversity rather than to promote divisiveness.
As members of whanau, hapu and iwi we are already divided along so many lines – by religion, politics, income, by education. Those who have - are separated from those who have not.
What I genuinely hoped was that we could look – as a nation – at this issue with new eyes – to understand the differences, and to work together to make change, as small as it may be.
I want to share with us all, a message from my son, which epitomises the journey that we in the Maori Party have taken up. He shared with me words from the late Dr Martin Luther King –
Cowardice asks the question, “Is it safe?”
Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?”
And Vanity comes along and asks the question, “Is it popular?”
But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?”
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right.
The Maori Party supports this Bill - knowing it is right to want a better future for our mokopuna; it is right to repeal law which is unjust and discriminatory; it is right to restore the access that tangata whenua were always entitled to, to have their day in court.
Our greatest task ahead of us as a political movement is to make advances for our people, based on our kaupapa. We must move forward – and to do so, we must have meaningful recognition of tangata whenua political representation.
We have come to Parliament to make change happen - to work with Government - whoever the Government is.
We have chosen not to participate in the politics of attack but to invest in the politics of possibilities. When we were offered the opportunity of being in Government, we returned to our people and we were given the mandate – right across the motu – to take up the wero and do all that we could to make progress.
A very clear call came from our membership and that was to repeal the 2004 Act and to restore access to the Courts.
We have done that. We have honoured our word, we have removed the Foreshore and Seabed Act off the statute books of this House.
The challenge now is to test this new law.
The message we have been getting from some iwi leaders is that now that the right of access to the courts has been restored – case law in customary rights may be politically achievable.
Whanau, hapu and iwi must grasp the opportunity, on a case by case basis, to go to the courts and begin to establish customary rights and title in our legal system on a progressive basis.
But we are fooling no-one if we think that we have solved everything by restoring access to the Courts and repealing the 2004 Act – no matter how significant this is Our journey is a lifelong one – as it has been for our tupuna before us and will be for our mokopuna ahead of us.
This Bill is another step in our collective pursuit of Treaty justice – and like every single piece of legislation debated in this House we have absolutely no doubt that there will come a day when this Bill too is reviewed; improvements made and we move on together.
This Bill was never just about the Maori Party.
It started with the leadership of eight iwi at the top of the South Island who took an application to the Maori Land Court (Ngati Apa, Ngati Koata, Ngati Kuia, Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama, Ngati Toa, Rangitane and Te Atiawa).
It has been shaped by innovative jurisprudence created by some of our finest legal minds.
It has been critiqued by many many thousands of New Zealanders who have joined the hikoi; written petitions, submissions, emails; composed haka and waiata; they have walked the talk.
The Maori Party has directly benefited from the expertise and wisdom of many people and all of our devoted supporters who are with us today as they have been ever since the very first hui of the Maori Party on 23 May 2004. We mihi to them all.
We are indebted to the generosity of spirit; the selfless commitment and the bold and courageous vision of iwi leaders who have walked with us on this journey to a brighter future.
Finally we pay our utmost respect to the champion of this Takutai Moana Bill – the Attorney General, Chris Finlayson. From the onset, he has demonstrated remarkable resilience; insight and personal integrity to do what is right. I will never forget the depths to which he has gone to, to treat this take with the respect that it deserves.
I commend this Bill to the House.
Na reira, tena tatou katoa.
ENDS
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