Mana | Movement of the People

MANA in Parliament, 6-8 August 2013

GCSB Bill

· Most of the government’s schedule this week was taken up with the committee stage of the Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill (GCSB Bill). Tuesday’s debate started with a call for the Bill to be sent back to select committee for further consideration and scrutiny, but the government and all its support parties refused to support the call. Following that, a large number of amendments to the Bill were tabled from across the political spectrum, 21 in total, most of which were tabled by opposition parties to try to introduce changes to the Bill that would limit the ability of the GCSB to spy on New Zealand citizens and would require the GCSB to be transparent in its operations.

· Interestingly, the Māori Party and NZ First have so far voted to oppose most of these positive changes to the Bill despite saying they’re totally against it. If they’re that against it, why not support amendments that will help curtail its effects?

· Hone has made a number of public statements opposing the GCSB Bill – including in his weekly Ae Marika article. See the MANA website, www.mana.org.nz , for a copy.

· The committee stage of the Bill continued on Thursday and will finish up on Tuesday 20 August. It’s very likely the third and final reading debate will be held that day too.

· A public meeting in opposition to the Bill is being held in the Auckland Town Hall on Monday 19 August, 7pm. It’s a last ditch effort to stop the Bill and will no doubt be a powerful gathering with a great line up of speakers including journalists Nicky Hager and John Stephenson, Orcon founder Seeby Woodhouse, Kim Dotcom, Rodney Harrison QC from the NZ Law Society, Prof Jane Kelsey, and Hone – all are welcome. Contact John Minto for further details, [email protected].

Iwi in the House anō

· A small contingent of Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Kahungunu were in the House on Tuesday evening for the maiden speech of Meka Whaitiri as the newly elected MP for Ikaroa Rāwhiti. It may be a very short stay for Meka though as the MANA Ikaroa Rāwhiti team and Te Hamua Nikora have the seat firmly in sight come election night 2014, aue!

· And again this week, Parliament held extended hours – this time on Wednesday morning – to progress yet more Treaty settlement legislation. This week Ngāti Raukawa was in the House for the first reading of their Raukawa Claims Settlement Bill which MANA supported. The Bill has been referred to the Māori Affairs select committee for further consideration and the closing date for public submissions is 19 September.

· The Te Urewera-Tuhoe Bill was tabled in Parliament on Thursday, so this will be the next settlement bill up for first reading in the coming weeks .

Members Bills

Wednesday was Members Day and the following Members Bills were heard:

· Sullivan Birth Certificate Bill: MANA supported this private Bill to enable Rowen Sullivan to have both her parents’ names, birth mother and adopted mother, on her birth certificate which would otherwise not be possible given the current law on registering births.

· Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Bill: MANA continued to oppose this pointless and unenforceable Bill which had its third and final reading this week. Evidence shows that the prohibition of gang patches does little if nothing to address issues of gang offending and public safety, and that working with gangs and their whānau rather than marginalising them is what works best.

· Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill: MANA had initially supported this Bill but is now opposed given that the Bill has been gutted following the deal that the Bill’s promoter, Te Ururoa Flavell, has made with the government for their support. The Bill’s original intention to give local councils and communities the power to reduce the number of pokies in their area or eliminate them altogether has gone, and so has the requirement for grants from pokie funds to be re-distributed back into the communities where the gambling took place – and for horse racing to be struck from the list of what gambling funds can be used for. And so too has the requirement for harm minimisation measures like player tracking and pre-commit cards to be included. Instead of the big win that the Māori Party was expecting with this Bill, other MPs have put up 18 separate amendments in an attempt to get the Bill back to where it was before Te Ururoa let the government and their pokie trust friends take their red pen to it.

MANA supported all the amendments to strengthen the Bill, but unfortunately none of them had the support to pass.