Speech: Auckland representation
koe, Mr Deputy Speaker. Kia ora ttou katoa anM e te Whare i tnei pM.
On initial appearances the first item on the Order Paper—to consider Government Notice of Motion No. 2—could seem to be just a matter of procedure, and the routine business of the House. Indeed, issues of representation, of democratic participation, and of inclusion, should be, at the very least, the core business of this Parliament. Democracy is best realised when there is an opportunity for all members to have equal access to decision making and when all members are enabled to participate. To get a real insight into political participation, I say that there would be few amongst the members of this Parliament today who would not appreciate the historic impact of the United States elections this year and the symbolic crumbling of the walls of discrimination, division, and segregation to be replaced by the call for unity, for change, and for hope.
TE URUROA FLAVELL245 So as we of Aotearoa have faced our own newly erected barriers against the ideals of democracy and equality, I was inspired to read a comment by an Obama supporter, the civil rights activist and former politician, the reverend Jesse Jackson. He said this: “Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of democracy.” I will say again that deliberation and debate is the way we stir the soul of our democracy. It is a concept that fits pretty well with Te Ao Mori as well. We have a saying that goes:
‘He aha te kai o te Rangatira? He kMrero, he kMrero, he kMrero’.
In other words, what is the food of the leader? It is knowledge, it is communication, it is discussion, and it is talk. It is deliberation; it is debate. It is because we understand the importance of kMrero in Te Ao Mori that the Mori Party will support this motion.
Let me make it quite clear from the outset that our vote of support for urgency to occur and for this new committee to be established is not and should not in any way be misinterpreted as a vote of support for the super-city bills coming before the House soon.
Our vote to allow this motion to be heard is purely and simply about the mechanism for deliberation and debate to occur, as has been referred to by the Hon Rodney Hide. In case there is any doubt, we do have an agenda: it is to stir the soul of democracy through our participation on this important committee.
We ask the House to consider the wider issue of representation, not for ourselves but for tangata whenua throughout the land. Decisions that we make today and tomorrow in this House will have major ramifications and major implications for future relationships between the Treaty partners. I note with some distress that in the explanatory notes of the Auckland bills we are told that “Auckland is home to some of the most important commercial, educational and business organisations in the country”. Yet the explanatory note appears to either wilfully or erroneously overlook the fact that Auckland is also the largest Polynesian city in the world. One in four Mori live in the region of Tmaki, and one in three Mori is under the age of 15 years. The question is: where is the guarantee that their voice, as the indigenous peoples of this land, will be heard?
The soul of democracy is about having a say. In the bills to come before Parliament under urgency this sort of wisdom seems to have been rejected, but it is very positive to see that the value of inclusion rather than exclusion is promoted in this motion. There is much that we will have to contribute to the debate around the governance of Auckland, as, hopefully, this Parliament will expect—in particular about how tangata whenua can expect to be involved when there is no attention given to representation issues.
We were greatly pleased that the royal commission has been established for such an important inquiry, knowing that royal commissions are established under royal prerogative, and they bring with them a very clear set of expectations. Royal commissions are the product of legislation. The powers they have are delegated by the Crown, and, therefore, the Treaty obligations should reside there as well. We have held great faith in the stature of the recommendations that would evolve out of the royal commission into the arrangements in Tmaki. They did not disappoint us.
There was a specific Mori consultation process implemented from the outset of the review, not as a desperate afterthought later. The commissioners were also supported ably by Professor Wharehuia Milroy, a Mori academic, a Tkhoe kaumtua, a Waitangi Tribunal member, an assessor for the Maori Land Court, and a consultant across a wide range of agencies and sectors.
So when the recommendations from the royal commission included this specific advice to provide for three Mori councillors—two elected from the Mori roll, and one appointed by local iwi—we felt confident that the commission was basing its recommendations on good authority. We believe that such recommendations were based on solid foundations of justice. They were explicit signs of a commitment to improve Mori representation in Auckland.
All of us in this House know that the existing mechanisms in the Local Government Act have proven to be rather ineffectual in providing for Mori representation across the motu. Yet I am sure that all in this House would also say that Mori need to participate in decision making across the full breadth of local and central government—specifically in this case in Tmaki-makau-rau.
As the local member for Waiariki I can say, hand on heart, that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council tried to do things differently, but this was done through special legislation, not the existing Local Electoral Act processes. The enactment of special legislation in the Bay of Plenty came after longstanding concerns expressed by iwi at the lack of Mori representation on its 11-member council. The council and iwi engaged in robust consultation across the community, and, eventually, three seats were established—Mauao, or Mt Maunganui, Lkkrei, the point at Maketk, and Kohi - the point at Whakatne.
Councillor Raewyn Bennett, for the Mauao constituency, was a keen supporter of the concept. She believed that having established seats meant that there was certainty over representation for Mori. This is a crucial aspect underpinning the movement for participation in democracy. If we understand the connection between political power and well being, we will understand that having specific provision in place creates the certainty that there will be at least a discussion to advance the well-being of the community.
The challenge, of course, is how well councillors can work together across their communities, how they can facilitate relationships between iwi and councils, and how, together, the people can work for the betterment of their communities. This is about the relationship between kwanatanga and rangatiratanga. We need mechanisms that honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, not just through effective consultation but also in taking opportunities to improve Mori involvement in governance.
This is a very important time to be considering any moves we can, at a central level, to encourage greater civic participation and, particularly, to ensure adequate Mori representation in the rohe of Tmaki-makau-rau. In fact, the decisions of Tmaki-makau-rau will no doubt have a rippling effect across the whole of the country.
The Mori Party has pleasure in announcing that Mr Hone Harawira, whose Te Tai Tokerau electorate constituency encompasses Mori living in the broader Auckland region, will be representing us on the special select committee. As such, we have every confidence in his ability to live up to the aspirations of fellow activist Jesse Jackson when he talked about how to stir the soul of democracy. Kia ora ttou.