Te Ururoa Flavell: Awards celebrate local businesses

St Chads Charitable Trust acknowledgement of excellence award winner at the Rotorua Business Awards. Photo / File

I hope you had an enjoyable long weekend. This is usually the time when it dawns on us that Christmas is just around the corner. I notice the shops have begun displaying their Christmas decorations and gifts, so it might be time to start putting away lay-bys and planning how to manage the Christmas lunch or dinner. A good idea is to start buying the stamps or Christmas club vouchers that many of the supermarkets offer.

Rotorua Business Excellence Awards

Congratulations to all the finalists and the winners of the recent business awards. I was disappointed I could not attend, however I understand that the evening was a wonderful celebration and recognition of the best across various industries. It is always great to be acknowledged by your own peers but also to be able to reflect on your business or workplace and see what the standards are of others. Ka nui te mihi ki a koutou katoa.

The Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement

I attended the recent hui at Tangatarua regarding the TPP. The event was well organised with about eight speakers and various questions prepared for each of us to answer. Although there was only a small crowd, there was a lot of interest around our respective positions on this trade agreement.

Like the rest of the country, the Maori Party are yet to see the exact details of the TPP. Until we do, it is hard to say whether the agreement in its entirety is worth supporting. To date, general information regarding the proposed terms of the agreement are starting to trickle out. You can download information related to the detail as it comes to hand from www.tpp.mfat.govt.nz/

We have signalled clearly over the past few years that Free Trade Agreements will be opposed where the details of them are contrary to our guiding kaupapa such as rangatiratanga and manaakitanga. In respect of rangatiratanga - we can't support an agreement where we have no assurances that our rangatiratanga guaranteed under the Treaty of Waitangi is protected now and into the future. That rangatiratanga includes the protection of our natural and cultural heritage as indigenous people. And with respect to manaakitanga - the Maori Party calls into question agreements that potentially jeopardise the wellbeing of tangata whenua or any other New Zealander.

We are particularly concerned about the protection of indigenous rights and the potential for international companies to sue the New Zealand Government for making laws that impact on the sale of their products, for example, cigarette companies suing the Government for introducing plain packaging laws. We are pleased to see from the detail released so far that this is not a feature of the proposed agreement. We are particularly keen to know what the Government's position on the WAI 262 report is and we will continue to raise this issue with the Government.

A reminder that my Eruera St office is now closed, and my team can be contacted on 0508924274 or email mpwaiariki@parliament.govt.nz while we transition to the new office which will be open late October.

-Te Ururoa Flavell is the Maori Party co-leader and the Waiariki MP.