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This is a grubby little bill, born of a grubby little deal.
It has had a colossal impact on the fabric of our nation, and this bill will forever be a stain on our country. What I do take pride in is the way New Zealanders have come together over the last six months to say, loud and clear, “This is not us; this is not Aotearoa New Zealand.”
For 185 years, Māori and non-Māori have worked together to make progress. We honour those who have come before. We stand on their shoulders today.
When I say “we”, I mean those on this side of the House: Labour, Te Pāti Māori, the Green Party – united in our determination, throughout this debate, to defeat this bill, to end the division that it has created, and to bring this country together.
Today, National and New Zealand First join the opposition to this bill, but they can claim no victory, no virtue, and no principle.
They get no credit for finally starting to fight the fire they helped to ignite.
Today, their votes will fall on the right side of the ledger, but they will forever be on the wrong side of history when it comes to this bill. Not one National MP should walk out of this debating chamber today with their head held high, because when it comes to this debate, they led nothing, they stopped nothing, and they stood for nothing.
Unlike the 300,000 New Zealanders who stood up to be counted when it comes to this bill. All those who marched in the streets together: Māori, non-Māori, ethnic communities, young and old, saying, “This is not New Zealand, and this will not define who we are as a country.”
This is a bill based on a mythology. A mythology that is far too easily turned into outright lies – the myth of Māori special privilege.
- Life expectancy seven years lower than for other New Zealanders is not special privilege.
- Being twice as likely to die from cancer as others is not special privilege.
- A higher rate of childhood hospitalisation,
- And 40 percent of Māori living in the highest areas of deprivation compared to just 10 percent of Europeans – these are not signs of privilege.
But too often these statistics are twisted to suggest that Māori are wanting the Crown to save them. I’ve been up and down the country in recent years speaking to Māori all over New Zealand, and that could not be further from the truth.
How ignorant, how blind, and how wrong those statements are.
Māori have been very clear: what they’re asking for is partnership, for the Crown to walk alongside them and to embrace by-Māori, for-Māori solutions. Māori want to do the mahi themselves, and they want the Crown to stop acting as an impediment to that. I say it’s time we listened and it’s time we acted on that.
When it comes to Māori politics and politicians, I have found that there are two approaches in common, and I spoke about these before the last election: Playing the race card, spreading the myth of Māori special privilege, talking about one law for all, and playing on people’s fears; but on the other side is the middle ground, keeping quiet and, too often, watering down policy so as not to be seen as too pro-Māori.
I said before the election, and I’ll say it again today: I reject both of those approaches, because when Māori thrive in New Zealand, all of us benefit, all of us will thrive, and non-Māori have nothing to fear from Māori getting ahead here in New Zealand.
Once again, I say to the members opposite in the National Party, where are the voices like Christopher Finlayson, Doug Graham, Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley, John Key, Bill English, who were proud of the Treaty partnership, who embraced concepts like co-governance, and they didn’t call it divisive.
Our work in Government, which has been the subject of much debate on that side of the House, actually built on the foundations that were set by successive Governments – both Labour and National.
It is that history of progress that today’s National Party have turned their backs against.
In my lifetime, we have changed as a nation for the better—from one that punished kids for speaking te reo Māori to one that embraces te reo Māori in all of our classrooms.
From one that ignored our history, to one that teaches all of our kids in all of our schools Aotearoa New Zealand’s history.
From one that turned a blind eye to the wrongs of the past to one that makes amends and commits not to repeating the same mistakes again. Until today, that is.
Christopher Luxon called Te Tiriti o Waitangi “a little experiment”. Winston Peters claims that Māori are not indigenous to Aotearoa. In fact, as I was re-reading my notes from before the election, I was reminded of a quote by a New Zealand First candidate in this most recent election campaign, which I’m going to quote directly from: “Cry if you want to, we don’t care. You pushed it too far. We are the party with the cultural mandate and the courage to cut out your disease and bury you permanently.” That was a New Zealand First candidate speaking about Māori in New Zealand.
It made me sick to my stomach then, and it still does now, because te Tiriti is not “a little experiment”; it is a bold promise and a bold vision.
It is not a source of division, it is what binds us together.
Yes, it is a partnership, a structure, something to work towards, a promise to uphold, because when Māori thrive, all of Aotearoa New Zealand thrives.
Over 185 years, we’ve worked together to fulfil the promise of te Tiriti—the good and the bad—and there has been far too much bad in that work. We have discussed, debated, and argued about the meaning of te Tiriti. We’ve argued about what the visionary rangatira who signed it had intended. That 185 years of history, of debate, of discussion, of argument, of progress, informs how we interpret te Tiriti today, and no member of this House simply gets to wipe all of that 185 years of history away to suit their own purposes.
The Treaty of Waitangi is not just history, it’s not just ink on paper, it’s a living promise.
Today, on this side of the House, we honour that promise. We commit to continuing to strive to do better, to bring people together, to move our nation forward.
We must work together for the wellbeing of all, work together in partnership.
Coming together does not mean being the same. It does not mean thinking the same. It does not mean acting the same. It means embracing our differences but working together to find common ground so that we can all move forward together.
So let’s finally consign this grubby little bill to the scrapheap of history, where it can take its place alongside the other darker acts of this House that have also been consigned to our history.
Let’s instead move forward together. Let’s find a positive, lighter path, where we can bring the country together, where we cannot play on prejudice but seek to reconcile our differences, where we can celebrate our history—the positives of it—and recognise the ugly parts for what they were and commit to doing better.
This debate has not been helpful for the fabric of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is well and truly time for it to be over.
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