New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

General Debate [4430]

there is just a trail of half-truths, negativity, and poorly conceived and boringly delivered ideas.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER( H V Ross Robertson)

: I call the honourable member Pita Paraone.

Gerry Brownlee

: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. You cannot call two Government members one after the other.

The ASSISTANT SPEAKER( H V Ross Robertson)

: I have a list in front of me, which has obviously been agreed to, and I have already called the member. Under Speakers' rulings, once a member has been called, I cannot take the call away.

PITA PARAONE( NZ First):

Tena koe, Mr Assistant Speaker, and I say I have no intention of giving up this call. Engari te mea tuatahi e tika ana kia tukuna atu nga mihi o te Whare nei, na te mea ko tenei te wiki mo te reo Maori. Ahakoa ki a au, ko ia wiki o te tau he wa mo te reo Maori ehara mo te tahi wiki anahe. Koia na te mea nui e hiahia ana te iwi whanui i hakarongo mai i wenei korero, kia kawe. Tena tatou.

An interpretation in English was given to the House. But firstly it is apt that acknowledgments by this House should be made in Maori, as this is the week for it. For me personally, every week is time for the Maori language, and not just 1 week. That is really the most important thing that Maoridom listening in to these debates would like to happen. Greetings to us all.

I want to bring our debate to more serious issues. I signal to this House-to those who are here-and to those who are listening to this debate that I am prefacing a contribution that will lead off a very important discussion on a matter that will come before the House later in the day. I refer to the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Deletion Bill. I do so because I know that the National Party will not allow New Zealand First to have an extra say in the debate, so I am taking this opportunity to do so now.

This bill is not about doing away with the Treaty of Waitangi, as some people in this House would have the people of New Zealand believe. It is about the deletion of the words the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi from legislation-words that are a later addition to many of our laws; in fact, 33 laws at the moment. There is no reference to the word principles in the Treaty itself. In fact, the Treaty is made up of four articles. If the legislation that contains the references to the principles of the Treaty at the moment actually referred to the articles, then my colleague would not be sponsoring such a bill.

Support for the bill will give an opportunity for the people of New Zealand to have a say in the debate on the Treaty. I hope that reason will prevail today when the bill comes before the House, and that support will be given to have it referred to a select committee. To deny that opportunity would be to deny the people of New Zealand, both Maori and Pakeha, the opportunity to debate the pros and cons of a very important bill.

I know that a party in this House will probably seek leave to present its own version of this bill, and I signal to the members of that party that they should make their own luck, put a bill in the ballot box, and hope that it is drawn.

I say to those people who want to deny the New Zealand public the opportunity to have a say in this matter that they should reconsider, and also take on board the point that the principles of the Treaty were never asked for by the people of New Zealand. They were imposed by a particular Government and a particular member of that Government, in order for him to say that it was his contribution to legislation.

I say to this House that it is the responsibility of Parliament and of those of us who are members of this House to make the law. It is not the responsibility of the courts or the lawyers of this land to make the law; it is their job to understand it. In order that