Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill

Tēnei au te tāpae nei ki te aroaro o te Whare te tauākī ā-ture o Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill.

[I present a legislative statement on Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill.]

💬 SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

E mōtini, Au kia pānui tuatahitia Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki, Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill i tēnei wā. E tautapa ana au i Te Kōmiti Take Māori kia whakaaroaro i te pire ka whakahoki kōrero mai i mua i te 10 o Poutūterangi i te tau 2022.

Nōku te hōnore nui ki te whakatakoto i tētahi pire ki te Whare ka whakatū i tētahi hararei tūmatanui hei whakanui i a Matariki, Te Pire mō Te Hararei Tūmatanui o Te Kāhui o Matariki.

Kei te taonga ahau i whakairohia e te mātanga, nau mai. E haramai koe i te ao o Pūanga. E te huihui o Matariki i a Pareārau i a Poutūterangi, ka mutu, e hine, e tama, ngā whetū homai kai ki Aotearoa.

E ngākau whakahī ana tātou o Aotearoa i tō tātou mōhio ko wai tātou e tā tātou tū mō tā tātou e whakapono ai me te āhua o tā tātou rārangatahi ētahi ao ētahi ahurea kē ki te waihanga i tō tātou tuakiri ā-motu motuhake.

Kei te mārama te pire me ngā tikanga whakatū hararei tūmatanui hou. E kī ana te pire ka tū tētahi hararei tūmatanui mō Matariki. E kī ana āhea tū ai ka whakahou anō i te tikanga o te rā mahi me te rā pakihi rere noa i ētahi ture maha tonu. Heoi, ko te mea hiranga katoa ko te poua hōhonutia o ngā kōrero o te pire ki te mātauranga Māori. Nō reira, nō mātou te waimārie nui e arahina mātou e te Rōpū Arataki o Matariki, tētahi kāhui mātanga rongonui o Aotearoa mō ngā mātauranga e pā ana ki a Matariki me te maramataka Māori.

E reo rua ana te katoa o te pire. Kua tuhia ki te reo Māori me te reo Ingarihi. He mea nui tēnei ki te whakamihi i te takea mai o Matariki e te tūāpapa o te reo Māori. Ko te tuarima noa tēnei o ngā ture reo rua o tō tātou whenua me taku ngākau whakahī ki te tāpae ki te aroaro o te Whare i te wā ki a Mahuru Māori.

E kore e takoto te pire nei ki te kore Te Rōpū Arataki o Matariki. Ka nui tō mātou waimārie i ngā kupu ārahi a ngā tōhunga Māori rangatira o te kaupapa nei. Ko Rereata Makiha tēnā nō Muriwhenua me Te Arawa. He mahi nui e kitea ai e tētahi nui atu o ngā mātauranga mō te pūnaha maramataka, tēnā i a Rereata. Tokorua ngā kaiwhakatere moana e noho kaihautū ana i roto i ēnei mahi, ko Jack Thatcher tēnā nō Tauranga Moana rāua ko Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr o Tainui. Inā te nui o ā rāua wheako whakatere i te aumoana. Ka nui tō rāua mōhio ki te rangi i te pō. Ko Victoria Campbell ō kaitau anō tēnā. He kairangahau, he mātanga ki te tātai arorangi me ngā maramataka whetū. Ko Tākuta Ruakere Hond o Parihaka hoki tēnā e mārama pū ana ki te mātauranga Māori o nehe. Ko ia hoki tētahi ka kōrero mō te aranga o Pūanga. Ko Tākuta Pauline Harris o Kahungunu tēnā, ko ia anake te kaimātai ahupūngao arorangi Māori o te ao. Ka huri ki a Ahorangi Rangi Mātāmua, te toihau o te rōpū, te tohunga kōkōrangi o te ao Māori. Ka hia tau nei e takahi ana i te motu o Aotearoa ki te kauhau me te tuku i āna mātauranga mō Matariki me te maramataka. Kei aku rangatira, ka rere aku mihi nui ki a koutou.

He kāhui whetū a Matariki ka noho matua mai i ētahi iwi maha hei tohu i te taka o te wā. He tohu nui hoki a Matariki ki ō tātou tuākana rere i Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa mō te taka o te wā. Ko ētahi o ā rātou kupu mō te kāhui ko Mataliki, ko Matali’i, ko Matari’i, ko Makali’i.

Ahakoa ko Matariki te whetū taiaroha katoa o te kāhui, arā tū ana anō ētahi e hiranga tonu ana. Ahakoa hoki te rerekē o ngā whakaaro ki te rahi tūturu o ngā whetū kei te kāhui e whakarongona ana a Tākuta Mātāmua i te rangi nei, nō reira, me kī au, e iwa.

Waitī, ko ia te whetū o te wai māori me ōna tini katoa. Waitā, ko ia te whetū mō ngā kai ka kohia i te wai tai. Waipunarangi e hono ana ki te ua. Tupuānuku e hono ana ki ngā kai mai i te whenua. Tupuārangi e hono ai ki te kai kei te kauuru o te rākau. Ururangi e hono ana ki te ao urutapu me ngā hau. Pōhutukawa ko ia ka hono i a Matariki ki te hunga kua whakawhetūrangitia. Ko te whetū e tata ana ki te ngākau o taku whānau ko Hiwa-i-te-rangi, te whetū e tukuna atu ai ō tātou wawata, te whetū e tapaina nei taku tamāhine.

Kāore e māmā te tohu i tētahi rā kotahi hei whakanui i te hararei tūmatanui o Matariki. I ngā rā he wā kē a Matariki ehara i te rā kotahi. E kī mai tā mātou rōpū arotake kia arohia aketia hararei tūmatanui o Matariki i te Rāmere tata katoa ki te wā ki a Tangaroa i te marama o Pipiri. I te kore e hāngai pū o te maramataka Māori ki te maramataka Gregorian ka paku neke te rā haere he tau haere he tau, he rite ki te Aranga.

Ko te hararei tūmatanui o Matariki te wā e aro ai tātou ā-motu nei ki te whakanui i te Mātahi o te tau. Ehara tērā i te kī ake koia tūturu te rā e arohia ai e te iwi te huringa o te tau. Ki tēnā iwi, ki tēnā rohe, ki tēnā hapū me tēna whānau te tikanga mō te wā e whakanui ai rātou i te tīmatanga o tō rātou tau. Ko te mea nui o te pire nei ko te āta tohu i te rā kotahi o te tau e noho ai ko Te Mātahi o te tau te kaupapa hei whakanui mā te katoa o Aotearoa.

Ko te tūmanako ka mahara tātou ki ētahi tikanga e toru a Matariki. Tuatahi, te mahara ake me te whakanui i te hunga kua riro mai i te aranga ake o Matariki i te tau o mua atu. Tuarua, te whakanui i ēnei rā me te huihui tahi ki te whakamoemiti mō ngā painga kei a tātou. Tuatoru, te titiro whakamua ki ngā painga ka kawea mai ki tō tau hou.

E mōhio ana mātou kāore e tuku anōtia a Matariki me ngā mātauranga mōna. Kia mārama taku kupu kei te iho o te pire nei ko te ngākau pūmau ki te hononga o ngāi Māori me te Karauna mō te āhua ki te whakamahi, te tuku, te whakatairangi me te āta tiaki i te mātauranga Māori. He mea nui hoki te āta whakatinana i te hararei tūmatanui o Matariki i runga i te kauanuanu.

E ngākau pūmau ana tō mātou Kāwanatanga ki te tautoko i te rerekētanga o te whakanui i a Matariki me te Mātahi o te tau i tēnā me tēnā rohe. Ka mahi tahi mātou ki te iwi Māori e taea ai tēnei ingoa o te hararei tūmatanui o Matariki tuatahi ka tū ā te 24 o Pipiri o tērā tau.

He taka hanga whakamua hiranga te pire nei mō Aotearoa ki te whakatū i ngā āhuatanga o mua, e hīkoi whakamua ai tātou ki tō tātou anamata hei iwi o te ao hou o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa.

Kī pai ana taku ngākau i te tūmanako mō tō tātou tuākiri ā-motu i te tipu tonu nei me te rikarika anō kia kite i ngā iwi o Aotearoa e pārekareka ana i tetahi mutunga wiki roa ki ngā hoa me te whānau i raro i te karu o te tū o Matariki.

Matariki hunga nui, Matariki whakakotahi i a tātou. Mā te pire nei e pērā ai, ka tāpaea i konei te pire ki te Whare.

[I move that, Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Māori Affairs Committee to consider the bill and report back before 10 March 2022.

It is my great honour to table a bill in front of the House to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki, Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill.

I am in possession of the treasure, which has been fashioned by specialists in the field; I welcome you. You come from the world of Pūanga. To the cluster of Matariki, to Pareārau, to Poutūterangi, and the male and female stars that provide sustenance for Aotearoa.

We in Aotearoa are proud that we know who we are and stand up for what we believe in, and for the way we are weaving together different worlds and cultures to create our own unique national identity.

The bill and its rules about establishing a new public holiday are easy to understand. The bill seeks to establish a new public holiday to celebrate Matariki. It states when it will be and it also seeks to update rules about work and business days that run through many other laws. However, the most important thing is that the bill dives deeply into Māori knowledge. For that, we have been fortunate to have the guidance of the Matariki Advisory Group, a group of well-known specialists in the fields related to Matariki and the Māori lunar calendar.

The whole of the bill is in two languages. It is written in te reo Māori and English. It is important that the origins of Matariki are acknowledged from the foundation of the Māori language. This will be only the fifth law in both languages in this country, and I am proud to table it at this time, during Mahuru Māori.

This bill would not be being tabled if it had not been for the Matariki Advisory Group. It has been our good fortune to have the guidance of these esteemed Māori experts. Rereata Makiha is one, from Muriwhenua and Te Arawa. It would be very hard to find someone with more knowledge of the lunar calendar systems than Rereata. There are two ocean navigators who also steered the group, Jack Thatcher from Tauranga Moana and Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr from Tainui. They have immense experience sailing the open sea, and knowledge of the night sky. Victoria Campbell is another. She is a researcher, a specialist in astronomy and the star calendars. Dr Ruakere Hond of Parihaka is another, and he deeply understands the traditional Māori knowledge systems. Then there is Dr Pauline Harris of Kahungunu, who is the only Māori physicist and astronomer in the world. I turn now to Professor Rangi Mātāmua, the leader of the group, the expert in Māori astronomy. For a great many years he has travelled the country, lecturing and sharing his knowledge about Matariki and the Māori lunar calendar. I overflow with tributes to these great leaders.

For many tribes the cluster of stars that is Matariki is, first and foremost, a sign of the changing seasons, and this is the same for our Pacific relatives. Some of their names for the cluster are Mataliki, Matali’i, Matari’i, and Makali’i.

Although Matariki is the star most loved in the cluster, there are others as well that are very important. And, although there are some differences of opinion about the true number of stars in the cluster, I listened to Dr Mātāmua today and I can say there are nine.

Waitī is the star associated with all forms of fresh water. Waitā is associated with the collection of food from the sea. Waipunarangi is connected to rain. Tupuānuku is associated with food from the land. Tupuārangi is connected to food from the trees. Ururangi is connected to the natural world and the winds. Pōhutukawa is connected to the dead. The star close to the heart of my family is Hiwa-i-te-rangi, the star to whom we send our deepest desires, and after whom my daughter is named.

It is not easy to specify a particular day to celebrate the public holiday of Matariki. Matariki falls at a time, not on a day. Our advisory group told us that the Matariki public holiday should fall on the Friday closest to Tangaroa in the month of June. Because the Gregorian Calendar and the Māori Lunar Calendar do not exactly coincide, that day will move slightly from year to year, just like Easter.

The Matariki public holiday will be a time where we can focus as a nation on celebrating the beginning of the first month of the Māori year. That is not to say that it will be the exact day that all tribes will focus on the turning of the year. Each tribe, each subtribe, and each family have their own protocols about how to celebrate the beginning of the new year. The important thing about the bill is to clearly signal a single day of the year where the beginning of the Māori year can be celebrated by everyone in Aotearoa.

Hopefully, we will be reminded of three customs regarding Matariki: firstly, to remember those who have passed since the last rising of Matariki in the previous year; secondly, to celebrate the day with gatherings and giving thanks for our blessings; and, thirdly, to look forward to the blessings you can carry forward into the new year.

We know that we will not relinquish Matariki and the associated knowledge. So that my words are clear, in the heart of the bill we are steadfast about the connection between Māori and the Crown concerning the use, the release, the promotion, and the careful protection of Māori knowledge. It is also important the Matariki public holiday be realised with the utmost respect.

Our Government is also steadfast in its support of the regional variations in the celebration of Matariki and the Māori new year. We have collaborated with Māori to name the day of the first Matariki Public Holiday as 24 June next year.

This bill is an important, forward-looking proposal to instigate a new way, so that we can move together into our future as a people of the new world in the Pacific.

My heart is full of hope for further growth of our national identity, and with excitement to see the people of Aotearoa happily enjoying a long weekend with friends and family beneath the gaze of the risen Matariki.

Matariki of many people, Matariki who gathers us all. This bill will make it so, and I hereby submit the bill to the House.]

Ko te pātai kia whakaaetia te mōtini.

[The question is that the motion be agreed to.]

Kia ora. Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I want to commence my contribution on behalf of the National Party Opposition by acknowledging the very articulate contribution just made by the Minister Kiritapu Allan. I don’t have her skills in te reo, but I was listening intently to the translation of her speech. She gave a very fulsome, a very adequate, and a very good background to the reason why Matariki is an appropriate subject for the creation of New Zealand’s 12th statutory paid annual holiday each year. She went into some detail about the difficulties in terms of identifying a day each year that could be the appropriate day to mark this event on our calendar. I’m not going to reiterate that at all, other than to say that this piece of legislation establishes that 12th statutory paid holiday, and it will be a Friday each year, and the statute that we are considering today here at first reading prescribes what will be the date for the next 30 years, and that’s actually quite good because it gives some certainty and some focus on planning, if nothing else. So that’s all quite good.

Here on the National Party side of the House, we actually acknowledge and celebrate Matariki, and we do so because we underpin the values that go with it, and the Minister actually mentioned these in her address—that they are foundations upon remembrance, honouring those that we have lost since the last rising of the constellation, celebrating the present, gathering together and giving thanks for what we have, and looking towards the future and what the next 12 months may bring. Those are all worthy attributes and things that we, on this side of the House, subscribe to, as well as on the Government side of the House.

Can we acknowledge the importance of the seasonal calendar, because it’s a reality of our position as a cluster of islands on the globe and our relationship with the celestial constellations that make up so much of what positions us as people, as a society, as a nation, and as individuals. So it is entirely appropriate and it will be a uniquely New Zealand Aotearoa holiday.

We on this side of the House, however, acknowledge that to be uplifting and to shine a light on the celebration that this piece of legislation seeks to establish, there actually needs to be something more. It is the something more that the Minister didn’t speak about in her speech. The something more was that everybody likes a public holiday—everybody likes a public holiday. Who wouldn’t? Who wouldn’t like a public holiday? I think that public holidays are not a bad thing, but there is an old saying that is probably very apt in this discussion, and that is that just as with lunches, there being no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as a free public holiday.

We will be, if this piece of legislation passes, establishing the 12th paid public holiday, and we think, on this side of the House, that the kai of our nation is actually sustained by more than just creating another public holiday. The kai of our nation is actually built on productivity; on enterprise; on hard work; on effort; and on contributions of individuals, of teams, of groups, and of businesses and their endeavours all around the country. Those are things that we should equally celebrate, acknowledge, and be grateful for because they are the enterprises and the businesses that provide us with the revenue and tax and funding that gives us everything else that is the kai that we collectively consume as a nation, and it is not just all about public holidays. So we need to be exemplars of the practical realities that go along with the responsibility that we have in this place of decreeing such things as public holidays.

Now, it’s all very easy to declare a public holiday; that’s the easy part. It is very easy to spend other people’s money; there is no real skill in doing that. So, on this side of the House, we do want to raise the issue that wasn’t raised by the Minister of who pays. In this case, sadly, it’s going to be New Zealand businesses. It’s going to be lost production and productivity that will occur from yet another day lost. Now, some would say that, actually, “Oh well, you know, people will be about and they’ll be spending money and they’ll be, you know, creating a bit of revenue, and it will all be going”—

💬 Hon Member: Going to the Coromandel market.

Yeah, my colleague says that they’ll be coming to the Coromandel. Well, of course, they’ll be coming to the beautiful Coromandel, and that will be fine. But for each of those people that comes to the Coromandel and spends time and money in my patch, there will be people who are not being productive, not earning their way in the world, and actually not paying for it.

If the answer to growing New Zealand’s wealth and prosperity as a nation was simply to create public holidays, well, heck, why wouldn’t we have 365 of them? Why wouldn’t we do that? No, I think that that is the problem.

So the Minister didn’t address at all the issues that, really, a responsible Government should address, particularly at this time of COVID. Here we are, 18 months into an international pandemic, and our businesses and our commercial world and the economy have suffered more than many. So the question that, really, a responsible Government should be asking when they introduce legislation to create another public holiday should be: does this help or does it hinder business? Does this help or does it hinder the economy? Does it make the economy grow? Is it going to make the economy stronger? Is it going to make for a more productive, profitable, and a bigger pie from which we can all take a slice? The answer has to be a categorical no. That is the question that every responsible Government should ask of this: is this action, this legislation, going to provide more rules and regulations? Is it going to stymie, is it going to slow down, the economy? The answer is almost certainly yes.

In fact, the Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive, Brett O’Riley, when this was first announced, said simply that it will be seen as another cost to business and it is unlikely to support the increased tourism, which was the original argument for an extra public holiday during COVID-19 alert levels 1 and 2. Certainly that seems to be the evidence that has been created as a result of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) advice to the Government on this piece of legislation.

It looks like the cost will be something in the order of $400 million per annum, and that is cost that has to be picked up somewhere along the line. Businesses across New Zealand are already in a fragile state. They have had to bear the burden of massive price increases on a whole range of things: cost increases, extra minimum wage commitments, extended parental leave commitments, the creation of an extra 10 days a year domestic violence leave, and a billion dollars of extra costs for an extra week’s sick leave. Those are all costs that businesses have to absorb. Businesses will do what is required to remain competitive and profitable, and if that means that they just have to be constantly on the receiving end of increased Government costs via proclamation, then they will inevitably do what all businesses will do: they will eventually pass those costs on to their customers. And who are their customers? We are their customers. We all pay. Sooner or later there is no such thing as a free lunch, there is no such thing as a free public holiday; we all pay sooner or later.

We are concerned, on this side of the House, that notwithstanding the relative merits of creating a public holiday here, actually what a responsible Government should be doing, particularly given this time in our economic history and our history as a nation, is considering actually dropping a public holiday along the line. Maybe that is something that the Government should have considered. It was in the MBIE advice. We on this side of the House would suggest that, actually, the prudent and proper thing would be, yeah, sure, create the Matariki public holiday, that’s good and appropriate, but let’s consider getting rid of one, as well. I’ve got a good suggestion for being rid of one: let’s get rid of Labour Day.

E te Māngai o te Whare, tēnā koe. Otirā, e ngā mema katoa e te Whare nei, tēnā tātou katoa. I’m very much pleased to take a call in support of Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill, and can I commend my colleague the Hon Kiritapu Allan for presenting this bill in its first reading in such an eloquent way, particularly in our reo rangatira, so ngā mihi kia koe te tuahine.

This is a short bill in the sense that it’s got two parts and four schedules. The unique part of it is that it’s written in Te Reo and English, and that should be acknowledged. But in my quick research in preparation for supporting this bill, I looked at New Zealand’s very last public holiday, and it may be of interest to members that the last public holiday came from the Waitangi Act 1960, which declared 6 February as Waitangi Day, but unfortunately there was no public holiday. That was put through under a Labour Government, under the then Prime Minister, Walter Nash. It wasn’t until 1973 that we saw the first implementation of the public holiday associated with Waitangi Day, then under the Labour-led Government of the Rt Hon Norman Kirk in 1974. Unfortunately, some will say, it was called New Zealand Day, not Waitangi Day. But it wasn’t until—and here’s the interesting thing for my Opposition members—1976, under the Rt Hon Robert Muldoon Government, that New Zealand Day was changed to Waitangi Day. So my message to our Opposition is that you have played an incredible part in building the relationship between Crown and Māori in this nation, in so far as public holidays are concerned.

What I wanted to do is address some of the issues that the previous speaker, Scott Simpson, spoke on. I was listening right up to about five minutes into the speech, because I thought we might have had the Opposition across the line. I really did. He had us all going on this side, that the National Party might be supporting this significant piece of legislation, but alas it was not to be. It was not to be. No surprise there. When I did listen intently to that member to see what the issue was, the only issue I got was cost—cost. Now, for the future speakers on this bill, but particularly my message to those that may be at home and looking to submit on this bill—and I encourage them to do that—is that we have two public documents that are available when we debate this bill. One is called the departmental disclosure statement and the other one is the regulatory impact statement, and they’re both on the Table in front of us. There was some allusion to the cost to businesses by that member—around $400 million. He’s right, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) advice in the departmental disclosure statement talks about that, but what he forgot to mention was the benefits. He forgot to mention the benefits, so let me mention the benefits as per the MBIE report.

It’s about recognition and celebration of Te Ao Māori. It’s about strengthening the Māori/Crown relationship. It’s about whanaungatanga, close connection between people and whānau. It’s about revitalisation of Te Reo Māori. It’s about reaffirmation of our connection to the natural environment. It’s about increased wages for employees working on the public holiday. It’s about increased tourism and spending, and additional leisure time for employees and their families. If we’re going to tell the story, let’s tell the entire story. So I encourage members on that side to have a read of the departmental disclosure statement. Where it talks about the impact on businesses, I want to draw the House’s attention to the regulatory impact statement—again, on the Table in front of us. I want to acknowledge the extensive external consultation that has gone about with this bill, particularly with Business New Zealand and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions. It’s interesting to note the comment from the tourism industry, where they say—and I want to use their quote—that they noted that visitor spending “over a long weekend is two to three times a standard weekend because it gives people the incentive to take a trip to other parts of New Zealand”. So I’m really disappointed that the member from the Coromandel doesn’t actually value tourism in the Coromandel. Because, on this side of the House, we actually welcome tourism to our neck of the woods, whether it’s the mighty Tai Rāwhiti or whether it’s from Te Matau-a-Māui because they come, and not only do they come but they spend—they spend. So I want it really clear, in standing in support of this bill, that we recognise the financial benefits from this public holiday bill, as well as some of the challenges and costs that’s prevailed in some of our business sector.

This is the first reading. It is going off to select committee, and we are assured that a full six months will be given to this bill so all New Zealanders—all New Zealanders—can have their say on this particular bill. I want to just encourage people who may be watching this to absolutely submit, because I’d like to hear what people’s views are, whether it’s the business people or whoever feels strongly about what we are debating in the house at the moment.

For the time I’ve got remaining, I want to acknowledge those who have consistently celebrated Matariki around the country. I particularly want to acknowledge by own iwi of Ngāti Kahungunu, who has been for approximately 15 years celebrating Matariki each and every year across the six taiwhenua. They’ve done it and embraced local communities, Māori, non-Māori, Pacific people, to their celebrations of Matariki. I want to acknowledge not only the iwi but councils throughout Kahungunu, through the six taiwhenua. I think the fireworks has always been the appeal to the Matariki celebrations across the rohe of Kahungunu, and it got so inspired by people’s participation that I do know Wainuiōmata invited them to come over and run their fireworks celebrations down there, and also Auckland City Council. So I want to acknowledge all iwi throughout the country who have celebrated—and continue to celebrate—the importance of Matariki and what it means for our people. Each iwi, as we know, has their own interpretation of Matariki, sees Matariki at different times, and I just want to acknowledge the cradling, the nurturing, of the meaning of Matariki for our hapū and our iwi across the country.

This is an exciting piece of legislation we’re debating here at first reading. It goes towards the merging, strengthening of our relationship between the Crown and Māori. It does allow us to share with the rest of this nation, as we have done on numerous times, something that is significantly important to us as Māori. It is part of our DNA, it is part of our mātauranga Māori, and I’m pleased to be on this side of the House, standing in support of acknowledging a piece of our identity, our Māori identity, our Aotearoa New Zealand identity, and sharing it with the world. Because I can see that this will be another attractor for a lot of our people, domestically and international, to come and celebrate the joys of Māori mātauranga here in Aotearoa New Zealand. I commend the bill to the House.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker. Can I just say, before I talk to the bill, how appropriately and strikingly attired Meka Whaitiri is today. I really very much admire the top she is wearing, and appropriate for the bill that we are debating.

I must confess that before I came to this place, I had very little knowledge and nearly no understanding of Matariki, and I don’t particularly think I was any more out of touch than the average Pākehā New Zealander. I have to acknowledge my former colleagues Georgina te Heuheu, Nuk Korako, and especially Hekia Parata, my good friend and fellow 2008 intake, for their promotion of Matariki as an important cultural event, not just for Māori but for New Zealand. Particularly in Hekia Parata’s case, as Minister of Education—one holding that role doesn’t directly influence the curriculum in that way, but she was very encouraging of schools, early childhood education schools, and our institutions like museums and Te Papa actually creating a resource that would enable our young to be able to understand the cultural significance of Matariki, the celebration that goes with it, and then to actually use that knowledge as a learning tool, whether it was astronomy or mathematics or our history. On history, I was interested in Ms Whaitiri’s comment about that being significant in her iwi for only 15 years. So I wonder, actually, if it’s a case of this being a cultural tradition that perhaps had become a little bit lost in our modernisation through the 20th century, and it’s really nice to see it come back as a strong and growing event for New Zealand.

It is true that with any public holiday, for whatever reason, there will be a benefit: a cultural benefit, a social benefit—a financial benefit to the good people of the Coromandel, probably—and indeed there is a financial benefit. But the net effect—and I don’t want to sound like the Grinch, but I am the shadow finance spokesperson—there are no benefits on public holidays without there first being a cost, and in and of itself the cost may not seem overly significant at $400 million - odd, but I do think this is sort of a case of stacks on the mill.

In the last four years or so, we’ve had a number of these $400 million costs, actually, and some much, much higher, and all of which, I have to say—all of these individually—have merit, certainly were felt meritorious by this Government: the increases in paid parental leave; David Clark’s good fortune in Monday-ising public holidays, which I think had a lesser cost because they don’t happen so often, but indeed there is a benefit to those who hadn’t previously benefited from public holidays when they fell over the weekend; and sick leave has gone up from five to 10 days, and while the regulatory impact statements on that said, well, it wouldn’t affect those people who were already on 10 days, I know that those employees who were then asked for 15, and so that cost ripples through, and that’s also the effect of the substantial increases in the minimum wage, which now stands at $20 per hour. Again, the previous Minister for workplace relations tried to convince the House that that was raising the floor, not having any impact through pay scales—wrong again. The relativities of somebody who wasn’t on the minimum wage but then ended up there because of these statutory increases was certainly—the reaction was to then go and seek a higher hourly rate.

Then we’ve got some more ubiquitous costs on small business, with things like increasing the regulatory environment, and, again, these are individual cases where they may well have merit: the healthy homes standards, the increase in the top tax rate. Ultimately, small businesses’ profits are paid by the individuals that own those companies. I could go on about a number of others.

I think I’ve made the point that this is a case of trees in a forest—that the cumulative effect of all of these added costs on small business against the backdrop of a very, very difficult and challenging environment because of COVID makes it, I think, difficult to support something which has such merit. Matariki could well be, and should potentially have already been, a recognised holiday in this country, but what National says is that if that is the case, that should not add to our holiday environment. We rank around the middle, I think, of the OECD in terms of the number of paid public holidays that we have, and with 20 paid annual leave days, we rank not in the upper quartile; probably in the upper half of the OECD for paid leave. So it’s not as if we’re already at the maximum and this is even more generous; it’s more about the whole impact of all of these individual costs on business.

Now, the Government is a reasonable proportion of our economy, and growing. It’s gone up from about 28 percent to around 34 percent of our economy that is now State or local government, and Government doesn’t have any money. It doesn’t have any money except the money it takes out of the pockets of those small businesses and their employees, and so—

💬 Maureen Pugh: Oh, is that where it comes from?

Yes, it is. It’s a revelation to some in the House, Ms Pugh, but that is where it comes from. There is no golden tree at the end of the lane, and so, effectively, small businesses are paying 1½ times. They’re paying for their own costs that have been imposed and for their employees—all good—but they’re also having to pay for the State employees, because that’s where the salaries come from. They come from the pockets of hard-working New Zealanders earning through their small businesses.

So we would have supported this had there been some kind of trade-off, and there’s still an opportunity at select committee to hear from the submitters who are going to be paying for it, and whether or not that sways the Government—I doubt it—we’ll probably be back here in six months’ time debating the merits of it, having heard from those submitters.

I hope we hear more about why Matariki is so important, because, as Minister Allan laid out so eloquently in her first reading speech, there is a lot we can learn from this celebration of our whakapapa, our history, and our future. But, in essence, our position is that we, regretfully, cannot support it, even though we strongly support the principle of the celebration.

Tēna koe e te Māngai o te Whare. E ngā mātāwaka o te motu tēnā koutou. Tēnā koutou aku rangatira tēnā koutou i tēnei rā nui whakahirahira, ā, ko tēnei te rā e whakamana i te ture hou mō te rā o Matariki ā-motumotu i tēnei pānuitanga tuatahi.

Ka rere a Puaka ki runga o Aoraki, ka rere a Matariki, ka rere whānui.

E ngā mate huhua o te wā, haere, haere atu rā, kua whetūrangitia koutou, āpiti hono, tātai hono. Ko te hunga mate ki te hunga mate, āpiti hono, tātai hono. Ko tātou te hunga ora ki a tātou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[Greetings, Mr Speaker, to the tribes of this land, greetings. Greetings to the esteemed members, greetings on this important day where we will validate the new law concerning a national day for Matariki in this first reading.

Puaka rises above Aoraki / Mount Cook, Matariki rises elsewhere.

To the many who have passed, may you rest in peace. You have become stars, the lines are unbroken. The dead to the dead, the lines are unbroken. To the living, greetings, greetings, greetings to us all.]

I’m delighted to speak to and to wholeheartedly tautoko this significant bill for Aotearoa, Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki, or the Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill. This is a really historic bill, and I want to acknowledge my tuahine and our Minister Kiritapu Allan for shepherding this bill and leading this bill through the House, as well as our colleague the Hon Michael Wood, the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety. But I also want to acknowledge the work of our Government, because we took it to the motu that we would be creating a new public holiday in celebration of Matariki, and here we are today, fulfilling our commitment to the motu through the first reading of the passage of this significant bill.

So I’m very proud, because this bill is going to make a difference in the lives of all New Zealanders for all the years, moving forward. I want to acknowledge the mātauranga that sits behind this bill and that has been enacted by this bill, and the work of the Matariki Advisory Group especially, who are the experts that came together to provide that mātauranga Māori—that traditional knowledge—which underpins the authenticity that we are putting into this legislation in the enactment of this holiday. So I want to acknowledge that mātauranga Māori, because this isn’t just any old public holiday that we’re enacting. We are voting on a Māori public holiday—a Māori public holiday—and one that is for all New Zealanders to share in. That is wonderful.

This acknowledgment gets to the heart of this bill, because we can talk all day and night about the cost to businesses and what it might cost, and we can talk all day and all night about the benefits of a public holiday and what that might confer on working people and their families, but this bill is so much more than a cost-benefit analysis. This bill is about honouring who we are as a country. This bill is about acknowledging that we are a multicultural country but we are founded by cultural roots based on a Tiriti between the Crown and te Iwi Māori. That is what is captured by this bill, and that’s what we can celebrate through the celebration of this Matariki holiday.

We are honouring who we are as a country. We are a Pacific country, we are anchored in the Southern Hemisphere, and our calendar should reflect that fact. We aren’t a European country and we aren’t part of the Northern Hemisphere. Before anyone had heard of Pope Gregory and his Gregorian calendar, we had a calendar. We had a calendar based on mātauranga Māori. Māori signalled the new year through the rise of the stars in the southern skies, and that’s what we want to celebrate and capture through this public holiday.

As my time is brief, I want to acknowledge the work of the Matariki Advisory Group and all of the esteemed members who were part of that: Professor Rangiānehu Matamua, Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr, Rereata Makiha, Victoria Campbell—my whanaunga from Ngāi Tahu—Dr Pauline Harris, Dr Ruakere Hond, and Jack Thatcher. As the Minister has outlined in her speech, I want to acknowledge their work and their contribution, because Matariki is a celebration for all, particularly across Māoridom, and we have our variations.

We have variations which we do have, and that’s another thing that we can celebrate through this holiday period. In the South, in Te Wai Pounamu, we celebrate kōanga or paunga. That ushers in our seasons around mahinga kai, around our tītī, and around the heke of the tuna, and it also marks, with Matariki, the changing of the seasons and the rising of the frosts. So we all have our unique stories and our unique celebrations that we have all had, and this public holiday is an opportunity for us to share and to share, and to wānanga on this mātauranga that we have.

So this is a special, special holiday, and it’s so much better than the public holiday that is the day after the New Year’s Day, which doesn’t even have a name. This is so much better than that. This is a Matariki public holiday, and we should all be proud of that.

So I wholeheartedly support this bill, and I acknowledge my colleague Tāmati Coffey and the Māori Affairs Committee, who will be doing their wonderful examination of this bill. There is much to celebrate in this bill. I wholeheartedly support it, and I’m looking forward to 24 June 2022, when we will all be coming together to celebrate it.

Nō reira, e aku rangatira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora tātou katoa.

[Therefore, to the esteemed members, greetings, greetings, greetings to us all.]

Hurō, kotahi tonu te kupu, hurō, hariruia, ngā āmene katoa, ngā whakawhetai o Te Runga Rawa ki tenā ki tēnā o tātou ki runga i tēnei o ngā ture.

Kua hahae ngā hihi o Matariki ki runga i tēnei Whare Pāremata i tēnei wā. He wā anō mō te kaikarere o te taiao. Ko Matariki he wā anō mō te kōrero, mō ngā pūrakau me te hokinga mahara o rātou mā kua hinga atu.

Heoi anō e hurō ana tēnei pāpā i te mea, me kī nei, e hurō ana ngā mātua katoa, e tiaki ana i ō rātou nei tamariki e haere ana ki ngā kura kaupapa Māori i te mea kei te whai wāhi tātou ki te hararei. I a au e whakaaro ake ana ki ngā pō Matariki ki ngā kura me whiri ngā mātua ko wai kei te whiwhi i te annual leave kia tiakina tamariki. I kutikuti toka pepa mātou. I ētahi o ngā tau i hinga rawa atu ai, ko au anō e noho ki te kāinga ki te tiaki tamariki. Nō reira, nā runga i tēnei kaupapa i kitea tēnā āhuatanga he hararei anō tēnei mō tō tātou nei ao Māori.

Heoi anō, i rongo kōrero au kāore ētahi e hiahia ki tēnei hararei, kāore ētahi e tino hiahia ki tēnei hararei. Nō reira, ka āwhina ki a rātou tēnā pea, ko ngā mema kāore e hiahia ki tēnei hararei, tēnā pea, me whakarite koe tētahi rārangi mahi kia hoki mai ērā mema ki tēnei Whare Pāremata ki te mahi i ngā mahi. Tēnā pea me taea e rātou te peita te pātū ki tō tari, tēnā pea ko ētahi o rātou ka puta atu ki te kutikuti i te pātītī kei waho i te forecourt. Tēnā pea me kaha rātou ki te rongo i te ao o te marae. Tukuna ki a rātou ki te horoi i ngā rīhi, ki te whakapaipai i ngā wharepaku i te wā e whakatā ana te motu ki raro i ngā hihi o Matariki.

Ehara tēnei i te hararei noa, ehara tēnei i te hararei noa. Me kaha tātou ki te whakaako ki ngā tamariki i te katoa o te horopaki o Matariki, ōna piringa ki te taiao, ōna piringa ki ngā kōrero tuku iho a ngā mātua tīpuna i te mea kei pōhēhē rātou he hararei pērā i te Kirihimete, ki te pōhēhē anō rātou tēnā pea ka tāria e rātou mō tētahi momo Hana kōkō, te Easter Bunny rānei pērā mō Te Aranga. Heoi anō, ko te mea nui me whakaako anō hoki rātou ki roto i ngā kōrero tuku iho a ngā mātua tīpuna.

Kia waiho ake ngā perehana mō te Kirimete, ngā tiakarete mō Te Aranga, otirā ka waiho ake ngā mātauranga Māori mō te wā o Matariki.

I tērā tau i karangahia e tō mātou rangatira wahine, a Marama Davidson mō tēnei o ngā whakaaro, kia utaina tētahi hararei e hāpai ana i te mātauranga Māori ki roto i ngā āhuatanga o Aotearoa whānui. Nō reira, me mihi au ki a ia mō tēnei o ngā kaupapa.

Tautoko katoa ngā mihi ki ngā mātanga mātauranga Māori rātou anō i taea te pānui i ngā āhuatanga o runga, ā, tae atu ki te whakamahere i ngā āhuatanga o raro.

Nō reira e hoki ngā mahara ki te wā i whakarite te Hau Tapu ki Te Papa. I reira a Tākuta Rangi Mātāmua e kōkiri ana i ngā kaupapa. E rua ngā kaupapa i maumahara ki taku pīnati i te wā kia tae atu ki tēnā o ngā hui. Te tuatahi, te reka o te kai, tino pai te reka o te kōhua kai. Te tuarua, i noho tahi rātou me te whakaaro ake he aha te rerekē o te tikanga o tērā kokona o te motu o tērā kokona o te motu he aha ngā mea ōrite. I mea mai ia, e toru ngā mea e ōrite, te whetū, te marama, te wāhanga anō o te tau. Mēnā kei te whakaae anō ki tērā ka taea ko te wairua, ko te mauri o ngā āhuatanga o Matariki, he ōrite.

Me te mea kotahi tonu tō tātou nei ao. Ahakoa ngā tini piringa, he piringa anō tēnei o te taiao, te maunga ki te wao, te wao ki te awa, te awa kei waho ki te moana, ko tēnei wā o Matariki he wā mō te hokinga mahara ko tātou anō kei raro i ngā tirohanga o Pōhutukawa tērā. Heoi anō he wā anō tēnei mea mō te whakamahere, tēnei mea mō te whakamahere rautaki mō tō whānau, whakamahere rautaki mō tō hapū, whakamahere rautaki mō tō hapori. Nā runga i tērā he nui ngā akoranga ka taea ki tēnā, tēnā, tēnā o tātou.

Heoi anō ka paku kōrero au ki ngā rerekētanga hoki, i te mea kei te wera aku nei taringa i te mea i te wā i tae mai tēnā kōrero mō Matariki i kōrero au ki ētahi o aku nei whanaunga nō te Nōta me te mea atu, ahakoa i pēnā ai te Matariki he rerekē tō mātou nei taiao, he rerekē tō mātou nei āhua, nō reira kua rerekē tō mātou nei tikanga katoa mō Matariki. Nō reira ahakoa i pērā me rite anō ngā mātāpono me rite anō te mauri o te hāpai i tēnei kaupapa nei mō Matariki.

Me pēnei ana te kōrero e tautoko ana ngā kōrero a te mema nō Te Wai Pounamu me te kī atu i te mea he rerekē tō rātou nei kīanga mō Matariki. Ko aku nei whanauka mai i tētahi atu mauka ko tō rātou nei ingoa e whai ana rātou ko te whetū ko Puaka. Kei te whakaaro ake o tātou nei whanaunga e whai ana ki raro i te maunga Tītōhea e kīia nei ko Puanga. I te mea mēnā ka noho koe ki te maunga he rerekē tō takiwā, mēnā ka noho koe te whārua he rerekē tō takiwā, mēnā ka noho koe ki tātahi he rerekē anō tō takiwā, i te mea nā tō taiao anō i kōrerohia ki te ngākau o te tangata ki te ngākau o te hapori.

Nā runga i tēnā, i a mātou Ngā Kākāriki e whakaaro ana ki tēnei kaupapa ka hoki ngā mahara ki te wā e haere ana au ki ngā hau tapu ki ngā hui nui mō Matariki ki ngā ahurea o Matariki o mua. I whakarite mātou, me whakarite ētahi rauemi kia pakari ai tēnei mātauranga ki roto i o tātou nei kura. Kia pakari ai tēnei kaupapa ki roto i ngā kura kaupapa, ki roto hoki i ngā kura kaupapa Māori. Mā runga i te marau, tērā te mahi i te mea he wāhanga anō tēnei mea te Matariki ki te pūtaiao, te tikanga ā-iwi, ki roto i te reo, ki roto i ngā mahi ā-rēhia. Heoi anō e roa ana mātou e noho ana ki roto i tēnei momo hapori e hāpaitia ana ngā āhuatanga o Matariki.

Me aro anō tērā wairua ki roto i ō tātou nei kura auraki i te mea ko te nuinga o ō tātou nei tamariki Māori e noho ana i ngā kura auraki.

Nō reira ko tāku nei ki ngā mema ki tērā kokona kei a tātou ki roto i ngā āhuatanga o te huringa āhuarangi kei te matemate haere ngā ika ki roto i te moana. Nā runga i te ako i te piringa o te tangata ki te taiao me ōna ngākaunui ki ōna kaupapa katoa kei reira te oranga mō tātou katoa, kei reira te oranga.

Nō reira me kaha tātou ki te kuhu i tērā āhuatanga ki roto i ngā marau ki roto i ngā rauemi kia hāpai kia āwhina i ngā pouako.

Ko ētahi tāngata kāore i te, tēna pea āhua toru tekau ngā tau i haere au ki ngā kaupapa o Matariki. Ko tētahi o ngā wā tuatahi i tau ki tōku nei pīnati i tēnei wā, i tae au ki Tāneatua. I karangahia e Ngāi Tūhoe ki a mātou ki te haramai i te mea i taua wā ko te Matariki he hui hou. I whai, i kaha a mātou nei e haere ana ki ngā tāone ki roto i a Tāmaki pērā te āhua, ki ngā āhuatanga o te Kirihimete ki ngā āhuatanga o Te Aranga. Heoi anō i tae atu au me te mīharo me te whakarongo ki ngā kōrero, ngā kōrero tuku iho mai i ō rātou nei kaumātua ki a tātou e haere ana ki tērā o ngā hui.

Nō reira me pēnei ana ngā kōrero. Me aro anō ki ngā whakataukī o koro mā o kui mā “Matariki ahunga nui.”, “Matariki hunga nui.”, “Matariki te Mātahi o Te Tau.” Kei te whakaae mātou ki tēnei o ngā pire.

[Joy, there is only one thing to say, joy, hallelujah, all the amens. May each of us be grateful to Almighty God for this bill.

Matariki rises and shines its light on this House of Parliament at this time. It conveys messages about the environment. Matariki is also a time for conversation, for story-telling and reflecting about those who have passed away.

However, this father is joyful because, well, let’s say that all parents who care for children going to Māori immersion schools are joyful because they get the chance to have a holiday. When I thought about the school activities around Matariki, parents had to choose who would take annual leave to look after the children. We played rock, paper, scissors. Some years I lost and it was I who stayed at home to look after the children. That was recognised in this proposal, and this will also be a holiday for us in the Māori world.

However, I have heard that some do not want this holiday; some really don’t want this holiday. Therefore, to offer them some help for the members who are against this bill, perhaps you should prepare a job list so those members can return to this House and work through the list. Perhaps they should be able to paint the walls of your office, maybe some of them could go outside and cut the grass on the forecourt. Perhaps they should get a good feel of what life is like on the marae. Let them wash the dishes and clean the toilets at the time the country is relaxing under the lights of Matariki.

This is not just a holiday; it is not simply a holiday. We should be keen to teach our children about the whole context of Matariki, her connections to the environment, her connections to the traditions passed down by our ancestors so that they are clear this is not a holiday like Christmas, so that they are clear they are not waiting for some kind of Santa Claus or Easter Bunny as with Easter. However, the main thing is to teach them about the traditions passed down from our ancestors.

Leave the presents for Christmas, leave the chocolate for Easter and, at the same time, leave the teaching of Māori knowledge systems for the time of Matariki.

Last year, our female co-leader, Marama Davidson, put forward the idea that a public holiday should be devoted to elevating Māori knowledge systems in the wider Aotearoa context. I want to acknowledge her for that idea.

I completely support the tributes made to the Māori specialists, who are able to read the skies above in relation to planning what happens below.

So I think back to the time a Hau Tapu ceremony was organised at Te Papa. Dr Rangi Mātāmua was there directing the proceedings. There are two things that come to mind at the time of that gathering. The first is the food was good, the food was very good. The second was that we gathered together and thought about the regional variations in customs and what the similarities were. He said there were three things the same: the stars, the moon, and the time of the year. If you agree with that, then you are able to see that the spirit and the essence of the customs around Matariki are similar.

It would seem we have only one world. In spite of the many relationships, the relationship between the mountains and the forest, the forest and the rivers, and the rivers out to the sea, the time of Matariki is a time for reflection under the gaze of Pōhutukawa. However, it is also a time to plan, to make a plan for your family, your subtribe, your community. By doing so there can be much learning for each and every one of us.

However, I will also talk about the differences, because my ears are burning because at the time I heard that story about Matariki, I spoke to some relatives of mine from the North who said even though Matariki is like that, our environments vary, we are different, and so all of our customs around Matariki are different. And so, in spite of that, we must align the principles; we must align the essence to support the purpose of Matariki.

I must support the member from the South Island because our sayings about Matariki also vary. To my relatives from another mountain, their name for Matariki is Puaka. I think our relatives who live below Tītōhea say Puanga. When you live in the mountains your territory is different, if you live in a valley your territory is different, if you live by the coast your territory is different and so, your environment speaks to the heart of the individual and to the heart of the community.

On the basis of that, while we Greens were thinking about this proposal, we thought about the times I went to Hau Tapu ceremonies, to large gatherings for Matariki, and about the traditional culture around Matariki. We decided we must create resources to strengthen the learning in our schools, to strengthen this subject in the kura kaupapa, and also in the kura kaupapa Māori. Within the curriculum, that was the idea, because Matariki is a part of science, of varying tribal custom, a part of the language and of recreational activities. And so we spent a long time in this community supporting aspects of Matariki.

We should also focus on that spirit in our mainstream school, because the majority of our Māori children go to mainstream schools.

So I say to the members in that corner: here we are experiencing the effects of climate change, with decreasing fish stocks in the sea. By learning about our relationship with the environment and being enthusiastic about all its associated issues, there we will find health for all of us; there we will find health.

Therefore we must push to get these ideas into the curriculum and into the resources to support the teachers.

Some people don’t—it is probably for about 30 years that I have been attending Matariki events. One that comes to mind right now, I went to Tāneatua. We were called by Ngāi Tūhoe because at that time, Matariki gatherings were a new thing. We sought out and were keen to go into towns like Auckland to celebrate as though it were Christmas or Easter. However, I was blown away to hear the stories passed down by their elders to those of us who had gone to that gathering.

Therefore, I should say this. We should pay attention to the proverbs of our elders: “The great mounds of Matariki.”, “Matariki of many people.”, “Matariki, the new year.” We support this bill.]

Thank you, Mr Speaker. It’s my pleasure to rise on behalf of ACT to speak to the Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill. The purpose of this bill is to establish an annual public holiday to acknowledge Matariki. ACT opposes this bill, but certainly not because Matariki doesn’t deserve its own special day, but now that the true cost of creating a 12th public holiday is clear, $450 million, ACT believes the Government needs to identify a holiday to be removed from the calendar in its place.

It was interesting to hear before, the Labour member Rino Tirikatene speaking of the day after New Year’s Day which he doesn’t even know what it’s called—let’s get rid of that one and we’d all be happy. And listening to the Green member Teanau Tuiono just before talking about making a list of people who don’t agree with it and they can come and cut grass and paint the walls is, I think, quite divisive and certainly won’t be helpful in this debate through this process. It’s a shame that as a nation we simply just can’t afford to add more holidays. Businesses across the country are already fragile from the effects of COVID-19, not to mention the many impositions this Government has inflicted on business in the last few years—impositions that have had very little thought on the effect they will have on the success of a business, success that is necessary to employ and look after employees.

Employees are currently entitled to four weeks’ annual leave, 11 statutory holidays—that’s over six weeks. There is a bill going through select committee at the moment that will require business owners to pay their employees to attend parent-teacher meetings. I find it bizarre that someone’s child isn’t important enough to use annual leave, but that’s for another day. Where will it end?

Sick leave has just doubled at a cost of almost $2 billion to businesses. There’s family violence leave and parental leave. I was just discussing parental leave with an experienced accountant last week, and she laughingly reminded me that a large number of women who don’t return after their 52 weeks’ leave, resigning from their position, are leaving the business owner liable for four weeks’ annual leave. I don’t think that’s fair and I don’t think anyone with a business background would think that’s fair. The vast majority of business owners, male and female, get no leave at all. They’re too busy working on and in the businesses so it can survive and keep their employees in a job.

The minimum wage is something that vexes this Government, and that’s because they just don’t understand. With any pay rise, leave entitlement, or other changes in employee conditions, we must look at productivity to make sure we can pay for it, and, unfortunately, New Zealand doesn’t cut it. We constantly compare ourselves with other countries when it comes to the minimum wage, work conditions, leave provisions, but we constantly ignore productivity, the most important factor that enables this country to provide different conditions to employees. Paying people more while expecting no extra productivity is just naive. People who work hard should be paid more.

I’m sure we’ll hear that an extra public holiday will actually be beneficial, and we already have, to businesses—again, from those who never owned a business; the same people who tried to convince us that having more sick days increases productivity. But the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment reported quite clearly, and it states: “While the costs can be relatively easily identified and quantified, some of the benefits are more qualitative and subjective, particularly the estimates of and assumptions made around the value of people’s leisure time, which is a significant proportion of the benefit input into the net impact calculations.”

We have a Government that doesn’t like business, and that can’t be disputed. They believe business owners are nasty, self-serving people, and anyone who actually manages to be successful got there by treating their employees poorly, and they’re only after that terrible word “profit”. The daily spin around the COVID business support has been masterful, convincing many members of the population that the Government actually cares about business. I highly recommend a Bachelor of Communications degree! The wage subsidy is for employees, topped up by the employers, while more annual leave accumulates. The resurgence payment is totally inadequate for most businesses; four or five days’ rent in many cases. Businesses are struggling, going under, their stress is huge, and through no fault of their own.

Yesterday, Minister Faafoi read a letter espousing the virtues of the Government. He left out the last line, which read “Love from Grant”. Here’s a letter from a real hospitality owner in Auckland: “It is chilling thinking how little this Government thinks or cares about the 133,000 taxpaying hospitality workers in New Zealand. It has been said that they don’t want to provide financial assistance to the hospitality industry as they feel many businesses will fail. These small businesses and the jobs of many of their staff could be saved but this Government is deliberately choosing not to. That in my mind is not protecting its people, it is callous, grossly unfair, and certainly not kind.”

These are the businesses that these bills affect—good hard-working people who employ New Zealanders and keep so many industries going, and they deserve much more respect. ACT has employers’ backs, and by doing that we have all New Zealand’s employees’ backs. We know they need tax and regulatory relief and we will fight on their behalf for more sensible, sustainable, economic policy so that they can grow their businesses and employ more New Zealanders.

ACT appreciates the significance of Matariki not just for Māori but for all tamariki of New Zealand who have studied and observed it at schools throughout the country for a number of years. It is part of the curriculum. We appreciate the importance of everyone learning about and acknowledging the New Year and the various reasons for the celebration, and especially its use as a navigational tool in the migration of Māori to this beautiful country. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Kia ora, Mr Speaker, thank you. I am very, very pleased to stand and talk in support of this bill that’s come before the House. I just love saying it, so I’m going to say it again: Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki. That’s right, this is a very significant bill. And coming off the back of that last speaker then, Chris Baillie, well, thank God we don’t need their 10 votes. History won’t look well on that speech, because you see, what we know about New Zealanders and their affinity to public holidays is they don’t like them touched.

You look at it—actually, if we do a little bit of a review of some of our public holidays that we currently have, there’s a few in there that are of questionable kind of reason. Here’s a pop quiz: ask yourself, how many public holidays have we got? Eleven. It may be surprising for some New Zealanders to know that, but let’s look a little bit deeper into that. Six of those are around Easter, Christmas, and New Year’s. Christmas, well, we’ve got a public holiday for Boxing Day. What’s Boxing Day all about? Who knows, but actually we celebrate it and we don’t want it taken away from us either. New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and then the day after New Year’s Day—and the previous speaker spoke about it; New Year’s Day, we get it, and then the day after is also another public holiday, otherwise known as just the day after New Year’s day public holiday. Then we’ve got Easter as well, which, of course, the number of migrants that we have to the country means that actually there’s a diversity of cultures out there at the moment, so what do the Hindus do, what do the Jewish people do over Easter, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, what do they do? Dunno, but they definitely spend the time with their whānau, and that’s what we know.

What we also know is that for the other public holidays—holidays like Waitangi Day, it’s been a day of tension, actually. As we look back on the chequered history between the relationship between the Crown and Māori, some people have wanted us to just move on from all of that hurt and pain, but actually for a lot of people it’s real and they use that day to actually mark that point in history. Anzac Day to our soldiers; Queen’s birthday, not even on her birthday—not even on her birthday, but we celebrate it anyway, and again, New Zealanders love it; don’t touch it. We also have Labour Day, and I heard the National Party member Scott Simpson talk about Labour Day. I’m a big fan of Labour Day. It’s a good day and we should never touch that holiday—that’s right. And also we’ve got regional holidays too, spread out all across the country. I’ve got my beef because we live in Rotorua and we hitch our wagon to the Auckland public holiday for some reason, so we just freeload off their one.

But anyway, we’ve got a history when it comes to public holidays here in New Zealand, and adding one meaningful—meaningful—public holiday that is ours, that celebrates the uniqueness that is Aotearoa, the position that we are in the world, our geographic location under this cluster of stars up in the stars which guided our indigenous population to these lands, that’s something to be celebrated. That’s something to think about and to remember. And I feel, actually, at a bit of a loss, because when I was going through school, we didn’t talk about Matariki—this wasn’t a thing. This is a new thing, but it’s an old thing, but it’s a new thing.

Actually, I think that we need to make sure that as we go through this process of turning this Matariki into a public holiday for New Zealanders, we must never cheapen the occasion. We’ve got a couple of public holidays that everybody will be thinking about already where things go on sale on Easter—for example, Easter sales; Christmas Day, Boxing Day sales. Let’s make sure that as we progress this bill through the House and as we embark on a new public holiday for this country, actually we hold true to the mātauranga Māori that’s encapsulated in it, the bringing together of people that was always intended through this. And it will be our Māori Affairs Committee that will hear this, so let’s make sure that we do hear a diversity of opinions. We’ve already heard a few of them in the House here tonight, but I hope that in some of those submissions, there are people that understand that this is an auspicious occasion.

This is something that should be celebrated. This is mātauranga Māori that was lost and is being regained. This is something that’s got a lot of potential for us and for nation-building in this land of Aotearoa that we call home. I support this bill and I commend it to the House.

Madam Speaker, thank you. It is a privilege to speak on this bill at the first reading, and the reason for that is the question of the importance of Matariki is not up for debate today. On our side of the House, as with Labour and, I think, all parties in Parliament, the celebration of something that is uniquely New Zealand is important, and I’m very pleased the House can set time aside today to be able to discuss that and do so in a respectful manner.

National supports the idea of Matariki to be celebrated by New Zealanders, and for very many more New Zealanders, young and old, to learn about it. The last speaker in the debate, Tāmati Coffey, said that when he was at school, it wasn’t something because he didn’t know about it. And I know he doesn’t mean it has been made up; it’s just not something that was talked about widely, and it’s a good thing it is today. My children, when they were younger in school, and the kids that are joining school today, and our kindergartens, and our kōhanga reo—they talk about these things, they celebrate it, they paint the stars, and it has meaning for them. So there is no suggestion on this side of the House that it’s not important, it’s not something that should be celebrated, it’s not something that New Zealanders should be proud of, and I say to anybody that is unsure of this to go in and learn, to discuss, to listen.

But the one thing we also need to do is be mindful of all the decisions that we take in this House, and their implication. There is always a time for something, there is always a time for debate, but it is the decisions and the impact and effect that they have that we need to have an open mind to. And I must say that when we heard my colleague from ACT Chris Baillie, there was dissent from the Labour benches. This is a respectful debate, and it should remain so. This is a House where people can have different views and different opinions. We can agree on things but disagree on the way that they should happen, the way they need to take effect.

When we hear members opposite actually decide to interject on such an important issue I think it is disappointing, and it does a disservice, because there will be people at home that are looking for leadership from this House to understand why this is important, why Parliament is setting aside time to discuss it and debate it, and whether or not it should be important to them, because as with Mr Coffey, they won’t have known about it when they were at school.

National is not supporting this legislation, not because of the intent—that is accepted—but we do believe that at a time when so many New Zealanders are doing it so very, very hard, if the Government wants to celebrate this as we want to celebrate it, it should be in place of an existing public holiday, not an additional public holiday. I’m all for people actually having choice, and I’m all for people, you know, taking time off, choosing to spend time with their families if they want. But every single member of this House that takes the time to check their inbox will be hearing from businesses who are run by mums and dads, hard-working Kiwis who are doing it tough, and they are saying to us, “We need more support. We need more help. If our businesses are to survive in Auckland or any other part of the country because of the great, great impact that COVID has had upon us, we need your help to be able to go to work and to trade more and to be able to earn money to pay our bills. We want to support our families, we want to be able to spend time with them, but we want to go back to work.”

So when we talk about, on this side of the House, the need to support business, and we say another public holiday is an additional burden upon them, we say cost—it is a burden upon them. We are talking about hard-working Kiwis or every single ethnicity and walk of life that are doing everything that this Parliament and this country are asking of them, and it is just too hard for them. And I do feel that this sends the wrong signal to those New Zealanders about how we support them to do better for themselves.

I would love us to be able to double or triple the number of public holidays we have in New Zealand so people could take more time with their families to do whatever it is that they choose to do. But we are not a wealthy country—we are not a rich country—and we need to back Kiwis to be able to back themselves to work hard. This will impose costs on businesses large and small. The large ones will bear the costs—they’ll pass it on to the consumers, who already are finding it hard to pay their bills. The small ones who are struggling as a result of the cost burden the Government has placed upon them, and the small ones that are struggling because of the significant cost and impact that COVID has had upon them, are not being done a service today; they are being done an injustice—not because they don’t deserve to celebrate Matariki; they do, just as National does, but there is a consequence to every decision we make, and the consequence of this is that, actually, for many New Zealanders, they no longer get to think about the importance of Matariki; they have to think about how it is they will survive.

Kōkōmako, kōkōmako.

Ko te hau tapu e rite ki te kāinga ngā Matariki.

Tapa reireia koia tapa tapa koruru, a koia ngā tuku, hī auē hī.

Ko ia ka here nei te pito o te whenua ki te pito o te rangi. Ki te wāhi ngaro mō ngā manaakitanga ki runga i a tātou i tēnei rā. Tēnā koe te tuahine e Kiritapu nāu anō hoki tēnei huarahi mā tātou i tēnei rā i runga i te pire kua karangahia e whakanui nei i te kāhui o Matariki. Tēnā anō hoki koe. Nāu anō hoki tō tātou reo e karawhiua nei kia rongo nei ngā pakitara o tēnei Whare, ā, i te reo o te iwi taketake o tēnei whenua, arā ko te Iwi Māori.

Ko ia anō hoki e kīia nei ko Matariki hūpē nui, ko Matariki hao tangata. Nā runga i tērā ka tangi ki ō tātou tini mate, ngā mate huhua o te wā, ngā mate putuputu kei tēnā marae kei tēnā marae kei tēnā kāinga kei tēnā kāinga o tātou. Arā ka tiki ake i ngā kōrero a ngā mātua tīpuna, Matariki hūpē nui, Matariki hao tangata.

Te paki o Matariki tarapepe mai rā tarapepe mai rā. Ko te Kīngi Māori Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero te Tuawhitu e noho mai rā i runga i te ahurea tapu o ōna mātua tīpuna. Ko ia tērā e here nei i a ngāi tātou te Iwi Māori, arā te whakatinanatanga i te kotahitanga o ngā iwi i raro i te maru o Ihoa o ngā mano. No reira, te paki o Matariki tarapepe mai rā tarapepe mai rā ki runga o Waikato, Waikato taniwha rau he piko he taniwha. Ā, ka tiki ake anō hoki inā i te waiata a Tuini Ngāwai e kīia nei:

“Horahia e Matariki

Ki te whenua,

He māramatanga mō te motu e,

Kia tipu he puāwai hōnore mō te pani mō te rawakore e.”

Taua waiata rā e tangi ana ki ō tātou mate, ā, e mea ana anō hoki ki te hunga e noho pani ana ki te hunga e noho rawakore ana. Nō reira kei reira katoa ngā korero ā ngā mātua tīpuna e kīia nei me whakanui i a Matariki ka tika.

Anā anō ki tētahi o ngā waiata e here nei ana i a tātou te Iwi Māori:

“Ko Matariki te whetū e arataki e

Ka tutuki noa ki te mutunga

Puritia ngā tohutohu o te wā

Kia manawanui kia rangimārie.”

Ko taua waiata rā, arā, e kīia nei e here nei anō hoki ki te kotahitanga. Me kotahi tēnei Whare i runga i ngā hiahiatanga o te Iwi Māori. Ka roa nei tātou e takahia nei e tāmi nei i tēnei Whare, ā, ka heipū nei i tenei kaupapa ki runga i a tātou, ā, ko ētahi kei te mataku. Kei te mataku i ngā āhuatanga Māori katoa kua horapa nei ki mua i te aroaro. Ko Matariki tētahi, ko Aotearoa tētahi. Ko te Iwi Māori tēnei e ngunguru nei.

Ā, ka mihi atu anō hoki au, ā, kia kaha ki a Rāhui Kātene, arā ki te whanaunga, a Rino, i tōia mai tēnei pire ki roto i te Whare i te tau 2009. Ko ia, arā, ko tātou. Ahakoa ko tēnei taha i tērā taima ko te mea nui ko te Iwi Māori e ngunguru nei. Ā, i tēnei rā ko koe tērā e Kiritapu te Iwi Māori e ngunguru nei tēnei ka tautoko.

Inā ngā kōrero, ā, tika tonu a Hone Harawira i taua whaikōrero rā i te ngarohanga o Rāhui i tēnei Whare, “Nā Matariki tātou o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa e here ai.” Arā, ki roto i te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa ki Hāmoa ko Matali’i, ki Tahiti ko Matari’i, ki Hawaii ko Makali’i, ki Rarotanga ki Aotearoa nei ko Matariki. Nō reira ehara tēnei i te aukati i ngā iwi e whakanui ana i wērā atu o ngā kāhui whetū. Pai noa, whakanuia.

Inā ngā kōrero a te waiata a Rikirangi Gage:

“Āio ki runga he āio ukiuki”

Te whiti te marama. Tīramarama ana he ika i te rangi a Matariki, tū mai rā. Kia ora tātou.

[Matariki connects the earthly realm to the celestial realm. I give thanks for the protections of the heavens today. To my sister Kiritapu, greetings to you for opening the way for us today under the bill that calls us to celebrate the star cluster Matariki. Thank you again for also letting our language rain down, to be heard by the walls of this House, the language of the indigenous people of this land—that is, the Māori people.

Matariki is also known as Matariki of those in mourning, Matariki of the taken. Because of this we mourn the many deaths, the innumerable deaths, and the frequent deaths on each and every marae and in each and every home of ours. I bring up the words of the ancestors, Matariki of those in mourning, Matariki of the taken.

Let the story of Matariki continue to reverberate. The Māori King Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII lives under the sacred culture of his ancestors. It is he who binds the Māori tribes together, there is the embodiment of the unity of the Māori tribes under the protection of the Lord God. Therefore, let the story of Matariki continue to reverberate upon Waikato, Waikato of a hundred chiefs. At every bend a leader can be found. And I also bring up the song by Tuini Ngāwai, which says:

“Spread your light oh Matariki

On to Mother Earth

As a guiding light for this land

May an honourable bloom grow for the poor, for the needy.”

That song mourns our dead, and it also speaks to the poor and needy. Therefore it completely embodies the words of our ancestors that tell us that it is only right that we should celebrate Matariki.

Here is another song that binds us together as Māori:

“Matariki is the star that guides us

To pursue our aspirations to fruition

Take heed of the signs before us

So that we may be resolute and at peace.”

That song also tells of the bonds of unity. This House should unite under the desires of Māori. For so long we have been trampled on and oppressed in this House, and, when we look at this issue directly some people are frightened. They are frightened of everything Māori that is placed before them. Matariki is one, Aotearoa is another. This is Māori continuing to make themselves heard.

I also acknowledge the courage of Rāhui Kātene, through her relative Rino over there, who brought this bill to the House in 2009. Although it came from this side at that time, the main thing is that this is Māori continuing to make themselves heard. And, today, you, Kiritapu, were the voice of Māori continuing to make themselves heard and I support you.

Then there was the speech made by Hone Harawira when Rāhui left this House, where he accurately stated, “Matariki binds all the peoples of the Pacific.” In the Pacific, in Samoa, it is Matali’i, in Tahiti it is Matari’i, in Hawaii it is Makali’i, in Rarotanga and here in Aotearoa it is Matariki. This is not to prevent other peoples who wish to celebrate other star clusters. That’s fine, celebrate them.

Here are the words of the song by Rikirangi Gage:

“There is peace above, an ancient peace.”

The moon shines, a cluster glimmers in the sky—it is Matariki rising there. Greetings, everyone.]

Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Can I just acknowledge everyone who has spoken on this bill so far, and to my colleague Minister Allan for shepherding this through. Congratulations, and finally we are here.

So I’m delighted to take this call on Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki, the Matariki bill. I wanted to just reflect on how we got here and I wanted to acknowledge those who have helped get here. Fortunately, I saw the Minister in the building one evening and she asked me politely, “Could you please go and accept two petitions from a person from ActionStation?” I knew who ActionStation were. They are a brilliant community organising—well, campaigning—and activist group for all sorts of social justice responses. I didn’t quite know then that it was going to be to accept a petition from Laura O’Connell Rapira, the manager, who had, with Lewis Holden, collected 30,000 signatures. It was a cold Wellington night. We were at Te Papa, because in Wellington here we take action, and they were outside enjoying the light show that was very much activating Matariki for Wellingtonians, visitors at the time, and those who had come down, really, to learn more.

But in meeting Laura, she profusely explained the need for Matariki to me. I’m used to working with both hostile and gentle constituents, so I let her go and listened. She didn’t know that she did not need to preach to me at all because it reminded me of two years prior when we had already been talking as a Labour Māori caucus about this. For me, personally, when I was on the Wellington City Council, former Mayor Justin Lester had come to me saying, “Hey, what do you reckon we look at activating Matariki in a way that’s never been done?”, and I thought, “Explain?” He said, “How about we pull the fireworks from Guy Fawkes night to Matariki?”, and I thought, he’s a Pākehā mid-30s male who’s come to me in a vulnerable manner, I would say, but also courageous and bold, in terms of saying, “What do you think? Should we do it? Should we send the first signal up to say, ‘If we do it, maybe this would be the start for Government to consider making Matariki a public holiday.’?”

We had a wee chinwag, a few laughs, about which holiday we should replace, and we decided amongst us that Queen’s Birthday was the worst. Why? Because it’s not her birthday, anyway. Two, we thought the Monday in early June is pretty miserable, and we thought, “Why did she allocate her southern subjects this miserable day? Does she not like us?” We were not sure. And, worst of all, there are no presents on this day. No one exchanges anything. There’s no cakes. People aren’t really open. And we thought, “Hold on a minute. We need a new day. We need to do this properly.” So we thought while some will take an economic view, and that has been explained, while some have an environmental awareness—and I can say ActionStation certainly does—here it was about culture, identity, and nationhood.

On that side of the House, they talked flags; on this side we were looking for something far more authentic, indigenous, and something that celebrated Te Ao Māori. This, I believe, is it. Fireworks mid-year on Matariki did not have the consequences that those who are against it, or are against anything different, had warned us about—those who had said this will not look good, this will not reflect well, this does not come with rationale, purpose, and a whole range of other things. But what it did come with was, as I said, courage. It came with the notion that we were underpinning Aotearoa New Zealand with a celebration of our unique identity, and as a bicultural nation.

So this was the start. So I will be for ever proud of being part of this petition that the Minister allowed me to do, but it also fulfilled for me personally a journey first started by Justin Lester and his understanding of saying, “We must do things different. It’s time for change.”, and for him to take that bold step and do something that activated the capital city to run the risks and do the things that were a bit different—a bit different—that led to today and helped in terms of engagement. Sometimes it’s about trialling things and doing things to see how they roll, and this should just be expected. For those in Opposition, it is surprising but then it really isn’t.

So can I say as a member of the Māori Affairs Committee, it is a good select committee. We will consider this. I’m hoping for lots of submissions, but in many ways I’m not expecting them, because the journey of Kiwis understanding about Matariki, how it fits into our identity as a nation, I believe is well understood, much better understood. The timing is right. I’m here to fully tautoko Minister Allan. Her work will be part of its journey. I commend this bill to the House.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I do rise to speak in what has been mostly a respectful debate about Matariki. It’s always great when you have an occasion on a Thursday afternoon when the House is unanimous around intent. The unfortunate reality, though, is that we will be opposing this bill, and I want to get to that in a moment.

I think it is important when we think about identity and where we are now as a nation, our appreciation, our understanding, our recognition, and value of Te Ao Māori, that to have a Matariki Day, I think, is a really important step and one that National fully embraces. If I think about when I first came into this House compared to now, and about each Matariki day, the way and the volume of activity around Matariki has definitely grown. I think back to one of my colleagues, the Hon Hekia Parata, sending Matariki cards, and that was part of the sort of growing recognition that for a significant part of New Zealand, this is part of our evolution. And as my colleague the Hon Todd McClay talked about, there wouldn’t be a school in New Zealand now that doesn’t celebrate it, doesn’t acknowledge it, and doesn’t recognise it and build it into part of their learnings. So the National Party does agree that we should have Matariki as a national annual public holiday, so we applaud ActionStation for showing how a petition can lead to a law change.

The unfortunate thing, though—and this is where we do deviate in terms of our support—is the fact that it is an additional public holiday. What National would like to see is that it replaces an existing public holiday, and members before me have explored the options of which possible day that could be, and I’m sure as the submission process is undertaken there will be a lot of people who express differing views on which public holiday should be replaced. In the National Party we think that Labour Day is a good occasion that could be an easy replacement, but given that this is the first reading, my invitation would be for members of the public to have their say and engage on which public holiday they would like to see this replace, because we see there isn’t a need for an additional day, and so instead, from our perspective, it would be a replacement as opposed to an additional day.

The other thing that I think is important is that early on in my time as the MP for Taupō, as an electorate we sort of kicked off across the wider Waikato this inquiry in terms of why it is that the Waikato celebrates Auckland Anniversary Day, a bit similar to my colleague who spoke before about Rotorua—why do they celebrate Auckland Anniversary Day? So we dug into the history of it and there was a move and there was a mood to look at how we could actually separate ourselves from Auckland Anniversary Day and have our own anniversary day and what that would take. It was a really interesting process in terms of which laws we would need to change and how that would work.

The point, though, is there wasn’t a uniform agreement as to what date we would move it to. But what did come up was that there were some in the community who actually thought that Matariki would be a good option. Another one was more local in terms of commemoration of local land wars and that that might be a more appropriate anniversary for the Waikato. We didn’t get it over the line. I think if there was sufficient agreement about what that date would be it would’ve been easier. So I think this process will also be interesting in terms of the range of views there will be around what possible day it would replace.

The other thing that I want to look at, though, is the issue of timing. I think that’s where it’s particularly challenging right now. I looked back at some of the comments that have been made around the announcement of this public holiday by Labour. Stuart Nash in particular last year, in the lead-up to the election, talked about the fact that it wouldn’t be introduced—it was a Labour pledge—in 2021 because businesses were still recovering from COVID-19. So it could’ve been in place for July 2021, so we could have been celebrating it this year but the decision was to delay it until July 2022 so that businesses had time to adapt and to recover from COVID-19, and this is what Stuart Nash has said in an interview last year.

So one question, one comment: I do think is appropriate to put in this House today is: is 2022 still a priority when the Government wants it to be an additional day as opposed to a replacement given the carnage that businesses up and down New Zealand are experiencing today with the latest COVID lockdowns? Each and every day the examples of businesses hanging on for dear life are devastating. I do think that it is a bit rich of the Government in terms of timing to be introducing this bill now at a time when businesses definitely aren’t thriving out there. They’re not looking forward to extra public holidays; they’re just worried about how to keep the doors open. And, unfortunately, there’s too many that I’ve spoken to who won’t keep the doors open.

I had a meeting on Monday with one of the regional economic development agencies, and the increase in requests of the local economic development agencies for information about how to wind up a business have massively grown compared to the first lockdown for COVID last year, and that’s my final point—the cumulative effect. So there are two cumulative effects I want to talk about. The first is—as my colleague the Hon Scott Simpson has been leading the charge on—the number of changes to employment relations, the number of additional costs that will come on to businesses in the employment relations space alone, is really significant. With any one of those, people think: “Oh, one extra public holiday, big deal.” It is the cumulative effect—extra sick leave, changes to parental leave, changes to potentially giving leave for teacher interviews. It’s the cumulative effect that makes it incredibly challenging for businesses to cope.

And now, with the latest Delta outbreak, we have a cumulative effect of businesses who are literally hanging on for dear life, day to day. And there doesn’t seem to have been a recognition by the Government that there is a cumulative impact of lockdowns for Auckland. We’re up to number five. This one, is think, is cutting the deepest. Businesses had reserves last year. They chewed through those pretty quickly. The wage subsidy is great but that only covers some of the costs of keeping people in jobs. The reality is that if you don’t have businesses, you don’t have jobs. So while Matariki itself is fantastic to celebrate, and we think it would be a great addition, something incredibly unique to New Zealand—and I think we should be doing more of those things—but not when the cost is borne by some. That’s why we think a really sensible practical way to solve this issue would be to replace an existing public holiday. We propose the Labour Day holiday, but I’m sure the New Zealand public will want to have their say on this themselves.

So we agree with the intent. We don’t agree with it being an additional holiday, and we’re really concerned about the timing, given the amount of pressure businesses are already under, and we don’t think the Government has taken any consideration whatsoever of the cumulative effect of the changes they are making and the burdens they are putting on small businesses, who are our economy. They are our employers. They are the lifeblood of bringing incomes into each and every household, and the cumulative effect of this latest devastating Delta lockdown is causing carnage on business every day.

Thank you, Madam, Speaker. It’s with a sense of pride, actually, that I stand and take a call on this the Te Pire mō te Hararei Tūmatanui o te Kāhui o Matariki/Te Kāhui o Matariki Public Holiday Bill. Can I just take this moment also to acknowledge my friend and colleague the Hon Kiritapu Allan for bringing this piece of legislation to the House.

We’ve heard varying views and opinions across the House today, and one of those has been talking about the cost to business. And yes, there is a cost to business and that is without a doubt. But there are also, as my colleague Rino Tirikatene mentioned, benefits as well. If I think about businesses who have struggled through COVID, and particularly hospitality businesses, tourism businesses, they’ve done it really hard and they continue to do it hard. I think that a public holiday in the middle of winter when everyone’s a bit tired and a bit cranky will actually be a really good time for family, whānau to come together, to travel around the country, to visit those places, those hospitality places, to stay at motels and hotels, and spend money on our domestic tourism.

We’ve heard about different public holidays that we have where many of us have no idea, actually, what the purpose of them was or where they originated from and things like that. We’ve heard members opposite say that we should replace one with this if we bring this piece of legislation in. I think it’ll be interesting to hear from the public when they come and make their submissions, and I do encourage members of the public to come along and make their submissions known.

But this is a holiday that will be unique to us, unique to us as New Zealanders, and it will be held to recognise Te Ao Māori. This is something that we can all, as New Zealanders, celebrate in. I think that it will be really advantageous to us to have this as a public holiday. It will be a time for family and whānau to come together, to spend time together, and, actually, to get around the country to see how beautiful New Zealand is. I absolutely commend this bill to the House.