The Green Party opposes this bill and will be voting against it. In large part, the Greens and Mr Dunne probably agree that it is important to recognise diversity, and important for all sectors of our society to feel that they can contribute to our society and to our nation as a whole. The difference, of course, is that Mr Dunne wants to make a name change, whereas the Greens are very much committed to ensuring that New Zealanders as a whole have real access to information about our collective history, and that we engage with and are enabled to embrace that history — warts and all — and use it as a means to eliminate racism, deepen our understanding, and, most importantly, foster peace in our communities. That will take much more commitment from our politicians than just changing the name of a holiday.

The Greens believe that we should be proud of Waitangi Day, the day that commemorates the signing of the treaty. It is the only day that commemorates that signing and that treaty. It is the only day that recognises and celebrates the Māori contribution to our nation. It is the only day that puts Māori at the forefront as the hosts of celebrations, discussions, and debates. It is the only day when Māori are recognised as the tangata whenua of this country. The tangata whenua have a special place — a particular status — in our nation, and changing the name of Waitangi Day to New Zealand Day would be a shift in consciousness away from that. It is a day for non-Māori — for all of us and all our communities — to take stock of where we are and of how much we are all living up to our responsibilities under the Treaty of Waitangi. It is a day to assess whether our nation, the Government, and Parliament are truly abiding by the essence and provisions of the treaty, whether we are making progress in the righting of historical wrongs, whether we are empowering Māori communities to take control of their own lives, and whether we are properly resourcing tangata whenua, iwi, and hapū to overcome the historical disadvantages caused by the past mistakes of our Governments.

Some people say that Waitangi Day is discredited, but they are wrong. Sure, it has been a day of debate, passion, and protest, and there is nothing wrong with that. That is what our democracy is all about — the right to disagree. But we have some way to travel before we can become a bicultural, bi-structural nation. The debate over the foreshore and seabed, when there was so much anger and hurt from Māori and from Pākehā, illustrates how far we have yet to go. The Government ran roughshod over Māori and Pākehā concerns that Māori cultural and customary practices and Māori entitlements to their traditional resources were being extinguished by legislation. We cannot and must not hide from the divisions that exist in our society — divisions about what the treaty means to us all and what the ways forward for us might be — by taking away the platforms for dialogue and debate, the key one being Waitangi Day. We cannot just change the name of Waitangi Day to New Zealand Day and pretend that in doing so we will make things better. It will make no difference to the situation we find ourselves in. It will not mean that we become one people and that Māori will suddenly forget about all the things that have happened to them in the past, or that Pākehā will forget their own histories in our nation.

In the explanatory note of the bill, Peter Dunne talks about how we are now a modern, multicultural nation and how New Zealand Day would recognise that better than Waitangi Day. But true multiculturalism can be consistent with biculturalism. True multiculturalists take pride in recognising the place and role of indigenous peoples in their own countries. Migrants often recognise that much better than our Pākehā community. Migrant communities often take on the reo and songs. Some migrant communities, like the Sri Lankan Tamil community, have special educational events on Waitangi Day to learn about the treaty and its implications for them as a community. Those are important activities. The bonds are growing. Migrants are becoming more bicultural. They understand what it is to be indigenous in a country and to face and suffer the difficulties that arise from that. Māori and migrant communities sense a need to prevent their cultures from being undermined by the dominant State. The Greens do not knock a bit more holiday time for New Zealanders, but we need a day to celebrate and recognise Waitangi and what it means for us all. Long may Waitangi continue!