Speech: To Protest against Monocultural Strangulation

Tena koe, tena tatou katoa.

Mr Speaker, nothing in this House is a matter of chance.

We in the Maori Party had to wonder then, why it was today, of all days, that the minority Government has deemed it so, that the Parliament must deal, in rapid succession, with Acts to do with:

Terrorism Suppression
Seditious Offences
Armed forces, court martials and defence.


As any keen historian would know, today, October 24, marks the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution; which overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and was followed by civil war.

That revolution was led by the Bolsheviks, the Left Socialist Revolutionaries and anarchists; with troops commencing their takeover of government buildings on October 24.

Mr Speaker, far be it for me to draw any comparison between the October Uprising of 1917 and the events of Aotearoa in the last few weeks, but I do have to wonder at the sudden cause for timing, in placing these Bills at the top of the order paper.

I want to say from the outset, that the unity and spirit of co-operation evident amongst the MMP parties has been a key feature of getting the Sedition Bill on to the agenda in the first place.

This time last year my esteemed colleague, Hone Harawira was drafting a private members Bill to amend the Crimes Act 1961 in such a way as to repeal all offences related to sedition.

As is the way with the MMP parties, a chance discussion with the Green Party revealed that they too, were seeking to repeal such offences, which cut across the concept of freedom of expression.

We joined forces, and on 24 April this year, we welcomed the ACT party and United Future in a joint call to the Government to push through legislation which would pick up on the recommendations of the Law Commission to scrap the charge of sedition.

And here we are today SIX months to the day after that historic press conference, with the charges of inciting rebellion or resistance finally being discarded by this Parliament but unfortunately putting in place more draconian laws, such as that which is in the House today.

It is reason for great jubilation that MMP can and has proven its effectiveness in the form of this significant legislation before the House.

I have other reasons to acknowledge the important precedent this Bill has set the Parliament.

For in reviewing the question of sedition, all political parties have invested in the very important task of looking critically at our history.

The parties in this chamber have become familiar with the pacifist prophets of Parihaka – Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi. They have recounted the legacy of passive resistance which has passed down to subsequent generations.

We have heard the stories of how the peoples of Taranaki refused to accept the brutal land confiscations, the extensive land loss, the military force and takeover by the terrorist actions of a rampant colonial force.

Taranaki stood firm, in their majestic maunga, ploughing up the fields, putting the fences back up again, resisting colonial imposition and theft with the simple statement, naku te whenua; mine is the land.

A statement which saw Te Whiti and Tohu charged with sedition and sent to jail. A statement which remains to this day, embedded in the hearts and on the lips of the people of the land, the tangata whenua.

Through the passage of this Bill our thoughts in this House have also turned eastwards, to the Urewera settlement of Maungapohutu, home of the Tuhoe Prophet, Rua Kenana.

We have heard how over one thousand supporters from Tuhoe, Ngati Awa and Whakatohea established a communal farm, a temple and a communal bank as their spiritual movement blossomed into a significant force. A movement based on the return of the whenua and mana to Maori, naku te whenua.

Members of the House reflected on this history, our history in Aotearoa, in which Rua Kenana spoke out against the war and was duly arrested on the charge of sedition - a charge he was eventually found not guilty of, but he had nevertheless already served nine months in Mt Eden Prison.

As the Bill has progressed through the House, other more contemporary episodes have been raised to illustrate the urgent need to reform the law of sedition.

We have heard about the case of Tim Selwyn and the Pakeha movement that he led, to express Pakeha disgust and fury at the Government’s attempts to steal by confiscation and without consultation, Maori land in the form of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill. Again, naku te whenua.

We have heard how my dear friend, the late Niko Tangaroa, along with Annette Sykes, Mike Smith and Tame Iti, were threatened with the charge of sedition over comments made during the Asian Development bank conference opposing overseas investment in our assets. Naku te whenua.

Mr Speaker, democracy must be about justice for all. We must have certainty in the law and its application, values which would be given life through the means of free speech.

During the process of hearing this Bill, we have received many, many responses from everyday New Zealanders, who are proud of their tradition of supporting and participating in civil actions against injustice.

One person wrote to us, telling how his late great uncle, Bramwell Robinson, was arrested and taken to prison in 1912; serving a sentence for sedition in protesting against the action of the police in breaking the Waihi strike.

In Mt Eden, this seditious character kept good company with Peter Fraser – before he became Prime Minister – and Bob Semple – who was Minister of Works in the First Labour Government. Both Peter Fraser and Bob Semple were leaders of the Miners Union who were also imprisoned for sedition.

Mr Speaker, I want to finally bring to this debate, an unfortunate exchange that occurred in the House yesterday, as my colleague Hone Harawira raised issues to do with Maori perceptions of the justice system.

As the proud and independent Maori voice, the Maori Party is here to raise issues as they are expressed to us, regardless of whether or not they are issues that everyone accepts or understands.

The relationship between Maori and the criminal justice system is probably best expressed in the work of Moana Jackson, and his publication, He Whaipaanga Hou: a new perspective. In that epic work, Moana said, and I quote:

"When the analysis of law is founded in the belief that 'one law for all' means 'one process for all' rather than 'one resultant justice for all', the debate becomes confined by monocultural strangulation. "

This comment came home to me last evening, when another member in this House described the speech delivered by Mr Harawira as “one of the most disgusting, embittered, divisive and downright irrelevant speeches I've heard in this House for a long time."

There is no place for political censorship in a healthy democracy.

We must have the courage in this House to listen to alternative points of view, to consider the context from which such views emerge, and to value independent thinking as the very basis of our democratic right to freedom of speech.

The Maori Party celebrates the third reading of this very significant Crimes (Repeal of Seditious Offences) Amendment Bill, as a benchmark for upholding and ensuring the rights of free speech, of the recognition of more than one cultural reference point, are valued across this Parliament.

We will most certainly be supporting this third reading of the Bill.