[0:07]As indigenous people, um there's no place for us in any system. So being indigenous, female and young at the same time, with me just being unapologetically myself and embracing my culture, I can see how how impactful that could be to the world.
[0:46]Ah ah Ahwe Ha ra ha ha ra ha ra Ahwe Ahwe Ha ra ha ha ra ha ra At the age of 18, 19, I went to the councils within my electorate of Waikato and said, you know, we must have a seat at the table. Maori, indigenous people must have a seat at the table, um for many reasons. Not because just of our ethnicity, but purely because we hold a lot of knowledge such as how to look after the land, the different stories, uh sacred places within the area. We've got an extreme, probably the most right-wing government we've ever had in our lifetime. And the current issues, one of those is Maori wards. Now, Maori wards is a representative of Maori heritage on our local government entities such as rural councils, city councils, etc. Now this government wants to remove that. So I asked for evidence and data from the ministers with about eight questions, and they didn't answer one. And then they attacked the stickers on my laptop. Point of order, James Meager.
[2:14]have logos, political party logos on the back of your laptop and it's not allowed uh on the surface of the table in the house. It just says Maori! Um within the time that we were debating, it was one of the most crucial legislations to us as indigenous people, as Maori. And I guess the power of distraction was to the attack the stickers on my laptop.
[2:46]There's a lot to protect. There's a there's a lot at stake. We're the only indigenous party in the country. There's like, at least, I counted, 14 major, big legislations that directly affect Indigenous people of Maori descent. To describe it, we're like trying to hold all of our eggs and chickens in a row and make sure that they don't go, and sometimes when a legislation gets passed, all you can do is be Maori.
