"If the boss said yes, I would have gone, but we had the discussion and we looked at the pros and cons, and there were a whole heap of issues. I could see it myself, it's not really a good time to go.
"It is just too much to do here in Wellington before the end of the year. And I understand that. It is true, I don't have enough time in my electorate as it is, let alone going overseas for five or six days."
On Saturday about 60 people performed a haka on Gisborne's Waikanae Beach to show solidarity with the Sioux people.
Hollywood stars Samuel L. Jackson, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth have recently used social media to ask fans to sign a petition against the pipeline construction.
Hemsworth, who has been working with Kiwi Taika Waititi on Thor: Ragnarok, has shared photos of people at Standing Rock, and of himself and Waititi holding a "We Stand With Standing Rock" sign.
Davis told media at Parliament that he empathised with all indigenous groups.
"And this is very relevant to us as indigenous people. We also have our own Standing Rock at Ihumatao up in Mangere, as well."
Fletcher Residential has won the right to build a huge new housing project next to the Otuataua Stonefields Reserve near Auckland Airport.
The 32ha site in Oruarangi Rd was gazetted in May 2014 as a Special Housing Area, allowing development to be fast-tracked under the Auckland Housing Accord.
But protesters at the nearby Makaurau Marae say the project would destroy one of the country's earliest sites of continuous Maori occupation.
The site contains at least two lava caves used as ancient burial grounds, although Fletcher says the caves would be put in reserves alongside the Otuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve.
Fletcher was granted zoning changes in May to allow the project to proceed.
