Te Ururoa Flavell MP
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Waiariki
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 September 2005
Preceded by	Mita Ririnui
Majority	6,812 (65.80%)
Personal details
Born	7 December 1955 Tokoroa
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Māori

Te Ururoa James William Ben Flavell^[1] (born 7 December 1955) is a New Zealand politician and currently^[update] serves as a member of the Parliament of New Zealand.^[2]

Ancestry[link]

Flavell, born in Tokoroa, has affiliations to the Ngapuhi, Ngati Rangiwewehi, and Te Arawa iwi. He trained as a teacher, and taught at the secondary and tertiary level for many years. He later held a number of roles in the education sector, including school principal, and then worked as a consultant to various government agencies.

Member of Parliament[link]

In the 2005 general election, Flavell stood as a candidate for the Māori Party in the Waiariki electorate and as 10th on the party list. He won the election against the incumbent, Mita Ririnui, and entered Parliament.^[3]

The Waiariki electorate was contested by two contenders in the 2008 election: the incumbent and Ririnui. Flavell was once again confirmed.^[4]

The Waiariki electorate was contested by three contenders in the 2011 election: Flavell, Annette Sykes of the Mana Party and Louis Te Kani of the Labour Party. Flavell was returned to Parliament for the third successive time.^[5]

In the 48th New Zealand Parliament, his primary Māori Party portfolios were Education and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations. He also held a number of minor portfolios including Tourism, Local Government, Internal Affairs, Sport and Recreation, Land Information and Education Review Office. He was a member and Deputy Chairperson of the Education and Science Select Committee as well as being a current member on the Business Select Committee, Whips Select Committee and Standing Orders Committee.

In July 2007 Flavell's Public Works (Offer Back of and Compensation for Acquired Land) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.^[6] It passed its first reading and was sent to select committee in early 2009, but was defeated at its second reading in July 2010.^[7]

In May 2010 Flavell's Local Electoral (Māori Representation) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.^[8] It was defeated at its first reading in June.^[9]

In September 2010 his Gambling (Gambling Harm Reduction) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.^[8] It is currently waiting for its first reading.

References[link]

Political offices[link]

Hone Harawira MP
Hone Harawira in 2006
Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau
Incumbent
Assumed office 2005
Personal details
Born	(1955-01-06) 6 January 1955 (age 57) Whangarei
Nationality	New Zealand
Political party	Māori Party (2005–2011) Independent (2011) Mana Party (2011 – current)

Hone Pani Tamati Waka Nene Harawira^[1] is a New Zealand Māori activist and parliamentarian. He was elected to the Parliament of New Zealand for the Māori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau in the 2005 general election as the Māori Party candidate. His resignation caused the Te Tai Tokerau by-election, held on 25 June 2011, which he won with a majority of 1117. As Leader of the Mana Party and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau, he sits on the front bench in the New Zealand House of Representatives.

Early years[link]

Harawira was born to John Puriri Harawira^[2] and Titewhai Harawira^[3] in Whangarei in 1955. He was raised in West Auckland and attended St Stephen's School, a boarding school for Māori boys, and the University of Auckland. He credits people like Muhammad Ali, Syd Jackson, Nelson Mandela, Maori Marsden, his mother and his wife for teaching him "the need for strength, commitment, wisdom and vision".^[4] His mother descends from the Ngāti Hau, Ngāti Wai and Ngāti Hine tribes, his father from Te Aupōuri, Ngāpuhi and Ngāti Whātua, and he is part Pākehā.^[5][6] He married Hilda Halkyard from the Ngāti Haua hapū (subtribe) of Te Rarawa.^[4]

Activism[link]

His mother is a prominent Māori activist and Harawira himself played a role in Treaty of Waitangi issues, Māori language revitalisation, land occupations, and Māori broadcasting. In 1979 Harawira was part of He Taua, which confronted drunk University of Auckland engineering students who performed a parody of the "Ka Mate" haka with obscenities painted on their bodies. The group including Harawira assaulted them with baseball bats and hoses, resulting in several broken bones.^[7] In 2009 when he and his wife revisted the School of Engineering Harawira said "When people refuse to do what's right, at the end of the day you step in, do what you've got to do." He was a key participant in He Taua, the 1981 Springbok tour protests, and the 2004 foreshore and seabed hikoi, the last of which led to him entering Parliament.

Harawira's family continue to engage in activism, with his nephews Wikatana Popata and John Junior Popata protesting in 2009, 2010 and 2011 at Te Tii Marae during the Waitangi Day celebrations and Harawira has said he is proud of their actions.^[8] In 2009 they were convicted of assaulting Prime Minister John Key and sentenced to community service.^[9]

Member of Parliament[link]

In Parliament Harawira has continued in his tradition as a rebel, breaking protocol to open Parliament in Māori; saying the former Australian Prime Minister "John Howard is a racist bastard" for his intervention into aboriginal affairs; being fined for leaving a planned parliamentary overseas tour to make headlines over aboriginal rights; and for continually challenging the government’s Māori MPs for "not defending Māori rights". A student at Waikato University complained about Harawira in April 2009 after an incident where Harawira swore in response to a question referring to Māori as a "minority group". He explained that the political science student, Steve Baron, was a racist who "lumped Māori in with other minorities like homosexuals and Asians.....He tried it on and he got his comeuppance."^[10]

Harawira writes a regular column in the Kaitaia-based newspaper The Northland Age, entitled Ae Marika. In the edition dated 29 October 2009, during the time he was on a Parliamentary trip in Europe, he wrote:^[11] "...we've been scrapping and squabbling and brawling and bawling about this, that and the other thing for so long that all of the original Waitangi Tribunal claimants are now long dead." "...the European Union...27 distinct languages and hundreds of different dialects...political diversity...everyone doing their best to talk with one another, and work together!" "So hangin' with these folks has been a great learning experience." "...I for one learned heaps."

Following his return from Europe, in November 2009 Hawawira was asked to repay some travel costs after skipping a taxpayer-funded conference in Brussels to go sightseeing in Paris. "How many times in my lifetime am I going to get to Europe? So I thought, 'F*** it, I'm off. I'm off to Paris'," he said.^[12] In a subsequent email exchange with Buddy Mikaere (a former director of the Waitangi Tribunal), who had criticised Harawira's actions, Harawira lashed out at white people, stating "Gee Buddy, do you believe that white man bull**** too do you? White motherf***ers have been raping our lands and ripping us off for centuries and all of a sudden you want me to play along with their puritanical bullshit....And, quite frankly, I don't give a shit what you or anyone else thinks about it. OK?". Harawira's email was seen as racist and heavily criticised by the media, other members of Parliament, and members of the public.^[13][14]

After a lengthy discussion process, the Māori Party decided that he would not face punishment.^[15] On Radio Waatea he apologised for the wording of his email but not for the sentiment of it.^[16] He also said in an apology "My words were true."^[17] Harawira later said that Labour Party leader Phil Goff was a "bastard" and "should be lined up against a wall and shot" for passing the Foreshore and Seabed Act.^[18]

On 31 July 2010 Harawira told the New Zealand Herald he "wouldn't feel comfortable" if one of his children came home with a Pākehā partner, but he asked whether "all Pākehās would be happy with their daughters coming home with a Māori boy? The answer is they wouldn't." He was asked, since some of his whānau have dated Pacific Islanders and he didn't have an issue with it, "does that make him prejudiced?" He said "Probably, but how many people don't have prejudices?"^[19] He was criticised for his comments as being "racist and stupid" by National Party MP Tau Henare.

Ngāpuhi activist^[20] David Rankin said Harawira was "playing the race card every time he wants to 'create a smoke screen for other issues'".^[21][22] A political opponent of Harawira's (he polled 202 votes to Harawira's 12,019 votes in the Tai Tokerau seat at the 2008 election), Rankin is Harawira's cousin and claims seniority over the Harawira family in the Matarahurahu hapū.^[23] He noted that Harawira's grandfather was a Pākehā, saying "Harawira has a blind spot. His family even changed their name from Hatfield to Harawira because they are in denial about their racial identity."^[24][25]

In contrast, Māori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said Harawira's comments probably reflected the views of many people and were not racist.^[24] Also in his New Zealand Herald interview, Harawira said, when asked "why not be an independent MP?" that "I came here because the Maori Party provided me, and us, with the opportunity to change the world and I recognise the value of that."

Split with Māori Party[link]

On 16 January 2011 in an interview published in the Sunday Star-Times, Harawira was highly critical of the Māori Party's relationship with the National Party, in particular over the Foreshore and Seabed issue, saying "If we support this bill, we’re effectively saying that our coalition with National is more important than our commitment to Māori – surely not?"^[26]

On 19 January 2011 the Māori Party received a complaint from one of its MP's Te Ururoa Flavell which was supported by all the Party's other MP's, Rahui Katene, Pita Sharples, and Tariana Turia.^[27] A leak of the internal complaint document showed that all of the other Māori Party MP's had "lost trust and confidence" in Mr Harawira, that he "acted unethically and without integrity" and that he "deliberately undermined" the party and the leaders. A few days afterwards, Harawira called the procedure being followed to investigate the complaint a "joke" and "farcical", denying him natural justice. "I also think that it's very, very pākehā the way it's being run", he said.^[28] In a later response, Harawira described his Party colleagues as "dickheads."^[29]

On 7 February 2011 Harawira was suspended from the Māori Party caucus, with a statement by Turia and Sharples saying they had lost faith in him after five years of ill-discipline.^[30] He responded saying he wishes to stay with the party and stand for it in the 2011 election.^[31]

On 23 February 2011 Harawira left the Māori Party after the party's disciplinary committee recommended his expulsion.^[32] His resignation coming following the Māori Party's support for the National Party, in particular over the Foreshore and Seabed issue, on 8 March 2011 Harawira missed the vote in Parliament for the crucial second reading of the legislation which replaced the Foreshore and Seabed Act.^[33]

Mana Party[link]

On 30 April 2011 he announced the formation of the Mana Party,^[34] stating that he would resign from Parliament and would contest the resulting by-election. Harawira responded to criticisms that a by-election would be "a ridiculous publicity stunt mainly about the tens of thousands of dollars he stands to gain if he returns to Parliament as a party leader,"^[35] and that it would cost New Zealand taxpayers $500,000, by arguing for the need to receive a fresh mandate from the people of Te Tai Tokerau, saying that "It's hardly an expense in terms of democracy."^[36] On 3 May 2011 he delayed his planned resignation from Parliament, saying he wanted to take the decision back to the people of his Te Tai Tokerau electorate.^[37] Although he was the leader of the Mana Party, he would remain an independent MP until elected as such.^[38]

On 2 May 2011 in an interview on TVNZ's Māori-language programme 'Te Karere', Harawira said that the former leader of Al Qaeda Osama bin Laden's actions were those of "a man who fought for the rights, the land and the freedom of his people" and that people should not be damning him but mourn him.^[39][40][41] Harawira later explained that Māori do not speak ill of the dead "even if such a person has done bad things", and apologised for how he had expressed himself, saying his mihi to the Bin Laden family was not intended "as support for Bin Laden's actions."^[42] Harawira received threats following his remarks about bin Laden, which were dealt with by the police.^[43]

Harawira's formal resignation from Parliament as an Independent MP on 11 May 2011, effective 21 May, caused a by-election in his Te Tai Tokerau constituency.^[44] Harawira ran as the Mana Party's candidate and received 6065 votes, winning the seat with a majority of 1117.^[45] Harawira returned to Parliament on 14 July 2011 during the Start of Day ceremony but was removed from the chamber by Speaker of the House Lockwood Smith for not pledging the oath of allegiance for newly-elected Members of Parliament required by New Zealand law.^[46] He returned on 2 August, affirmed the oath in Māori and as leader of the Mana Party took a seat on the front bench.^[47]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website of Hone Harawira
• Website of the Mana party