Local Government (Auckland Council) Bill
In Committee – Wednesday 16th September 2009

Te Ururoa Flavell (Māori Party—Waiariki): Kia Ora Anō Tātou Katoa*.

We know, obviously, that the Māori seats, or mana whenua seats, are an issue for this Parliament, and I want to continue the theme around that and perhaps put some questions to the Minister in the chair, Rodney Hide, as I thought that his kōrero earlier this morning at least gave an overview as to where he is at.

In terms of the discussion and support for Māori seats in Auckland governance, there was overwhelming support. All the mana whenua groups in Auckland, the two major iwi groups in Auckland, 100 percent of the Māori submitters to the select committee, 80 percent of the non-Māori submitters to the select committee, the majority of the Auckland councils, most of the Auckland mayors, and three of the five major parties in Parliament were in support of mana whenua seats. Hone Harawira told us tonight that every intelligent political commentator in the country says it is OK to have mana whenua seats.

In response, the Minister has said that if the people of Auckland choose to have reserve seats—Māori seats, that is—that can do so under the Local Electoral Act. Indeed, the council itself can choose this if it wants to. Those are big “ifs”. The Minister suggested that if Māori really want separate seats, they should vote for mayoral candidate Len Brown as the first mayor of the united Auckland city. If we get organised as a people we might be able to put up candidates and vote accordingly, but the track record suggests that it does not all happen like that. Despite all the support the select committee elected not to recommend that the bill provide for Māori seats on the proposed Auckland Council.

I suppose that the good thing about all those entities I mentioned earlier is that they accepted the notion that it is OK to have mana whenua seats, Māori seats. The royal commission, for goodness’ sake, accepted the principle! That is what I was asking the Minister earlier this morning. I asked him to explain that he accepts the principle under the auspices of Te Tiriti o Waitangi that having mana whenua seats is appropriate in today’s world.

We in the Māori Party are obviously pretty disappointed that we have not been able to get our way, but we will continue to fight it through. But it does call into serious question the fundamental basis of the parliamentary democratic process, which should reflect the decision making of the people and for the people.

The Minister of Local Government, Mr Hide, talked this morning about the complications of providing a mechanism that would best reflect his principles of, I suppose, one law for all. But it seems to me that we have paid officials in this Parliament whose job it is to come up with an idea, a system, that best reflects practice. But we have to accept the principle first, and that is what I am asking the Minister to consider. I am asking him to accept the principle that it is OK according to Te Tiriti o Waitangi for Māori to have seats set aside as of right. So the Māori Party is not sitting back.

To support our cause we are putting forward five Supplementary Order Papers to move forward the Auckland kaupapa in an inclusive way. The amendments start with what is the preferred position of mana whenua—that is, two mana whenua seats, with candidates selected by mana whenua and voted on by Māori, and go right across the forum, if you like, to the most limited option, which is that of one Māori seat. In the end, we are still looking for the opening that allows the Government to accept that principle.

The five options that we will be presenting to the Committee are in the name of my colleague Hone Harawira, and they demonstrate that a number of options were presented to the Cabinet but that ultimately none was acceptable. I will quickly go through some of the Supplementary Order Papers. The first would insert a requirement to provide for mana whenua representation on Auckland Council as required under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

ENDS

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