Kura Waller, the Youth MP for Maori Party co-leader, Te Ururoa Flavell delivered a speech during the Youth Parliament earlier this month.
Some of the youth MP’s were so intolerant and bigoted towards diversity of thought, they walked out.
Below is the excellent speech given by Kura Waller:
“Ngā mihi ki a koe, e Te Matua. Papaki tū ana ngā tai ki Mauao. I whakanukunukuhia, i whakanekenekehia, i whiua e Hotu a Wahinerua ki te wai, ki tai wiwī, ki tai wawā, arā, tihei mauri ora.
[Greetings to you, Mr Speaker. The tides crashes ceaselessly upon Mauao where Hoturoa cast Wahinerua into the sea to appease the surging tides from here, there and everywhere and to manoeuvre and dislodge the vessel held fast. Behold the breath of life.]
Māori are the natives of this country. We work just as hard as any other nationality here. If we are good enough to entertain your manuhiri, and if we are good enough to make New Zealand look good and make New Zealand unique, then we are good enough to sit in this Parliament. Perhaps my member of Parliament would believe that our Māori seats would much rather go to the Labour Party so it might become the Government, which is most unlikely.
But to get to my point today, ladies and gentlemen, on 17 April 2013 Parliament took a vote to approve gay marriage in New Zealand. With 77 votes to 44, the verdict was clear. The New Zealand Parliament had gone mad. Receiving its Royal assent on 19 April, gay marriage will on 19 August be legalised. New Zealand will be the first country in the Pacific to legalise same-sex marriages, and the 13th overall in the world.
During the time of the passing of this Marriage (Definition of Marriage) Amendment Bill, New Zealand received a lot of attention worldwide—from Ellen DeGeneres, Macklemore, and a few others. My questions are these, though. Did Parliament pass the law for attention, or did it pass the law to take attention away from the sly papers it was doing underneath?
Bob McCroskie, the founder of lobby group Family First, said the bill undermined the traditional concept of marriage. Historically and culturally, marriage is about a man and a woman, and it should not be touched. After all this media attention has gone, will it still be worth it?
Growing up Māori, never before have my kuia and my koroua ever told me that gay marriage was OK, or that being gay was OK. But I do not mean to offend anyone here; it is just my belief. Man was created for woman, and woman was created for man. Let us not get that confused. To quote The Lion King, gay people cannot reproduce, so they are not a part of the circle of life.
After the exploitation of marriage, the next thing you know, people might be going to ask for three-way marriages, four-way, and so forth.
This fight is not one for equality and not one for rights, but we are human, we live in a free country, and we have the right to marry a woman or marry a man. If Australia has the sense not to pass such a bill, then why can we not? Which is more memorable, the country that gives in first or the one that is last?”
