He whakatika i te Pire Mana Arai me te Taake Hanga nM Rwaho (Te Aukatinga o ng Hanga i mahia ai e Te Kaimahi e Tukinotia ana)

Wenerei, te Rua Tekau ma Iwa o Hurae

Hone Harawira, Mema Paremata mo te Tai Tokerau

Customs and Excise (Prohibition of Imports Made by Slave Labour) Amendment Bill

I ahau e rangahau ana i te Pire nei ka puta mai te pukuriri.

Tata atu ki te kotahi rau rua tekau puna, te utu ki te hoko i ng hk omaoma wahine, no Adidas. Ko tr te putea, e riro ai te kaimahi o Adidas, mo ng marama e toru.

Kia kaua hoki ttou e pMhh he wiki-mahi wh tekau hora noa iho, te roa.

Whitu tekau hora te roa o te wiki-mahi mo ng manomano kaimahi o ng whare hanga-hk o Adidas ki Haina. Kei te takahi a Adidas i ng ture mahi o Haina, kei te whati anM hoki i M rtou ake aratohu.

Ahakoa tr, kei te mahia tMnutia.

Kua whakatkria e Nike ng whare tMt i Haina, i Indonesia, i Vietnam hoki – 20 heneti ia haora, te putea, ka riro m te kaimahi ki Vietnam.

Ehara i te mea ko te putea ppaku, me te roanga o te wiki mahi noa iho, te raru. Te kino hoki ng tkhua mahi o ng whare tMt nei.

I roto i te whanga waru haora, ka taea te kaimahi ki te haere kotahi ki te wharepaku. Mo te inu wai, e rua ng w. Maiangi ai te tangata i te wherk, i te hau kino, i te wera rawa atu.

Te mMrikarika hoki o ng kamupene kait nei, e taetae ana ki nei whnua, ki te takahi i te wairua tangata. N te ngoikore o ng ture whenua, ki te tiaki i te kaimahi, ka tkkinotia te kaimahi.

Noreira, e tautoko ana te Paati Mori i tnei Pire, kia aukatihia ng mea kua hangaia ki te whare tMt, me k+, kua hangaia e ‘te kaimahi taurekareka’.

Roa te w e noho trewa ana tnei take

Wh tau ki muri i heria mai e Trade Aid ttahi petihana ki te Paremata, i hainatia ai e te 17,000 tngata, kia aukati i te hoko i ng mea nM twahi kua hangaia e te ringa o te kaimahi taurekareka.

Engari, i a Trade aid e whakarite ana i te petihana nei, ko t te Kwanatanga k, he whakatutuki i ng kirimana hokohoko watea no rwahi – ahakoa horekau he ture tiaki i te kaimahi.

Ahakoa Reipa, ahakoa Nhinara – he orite tonu, kaore he paku aha ki a rua.

Engari, he kaupapa nui rawa tenei ki a mtou o te Paati Mori.

I ngä tau e rua ki muri, i puta mai te kupu wangawanga a te Kai Titiro o te UN mo te mahi taurekareka; nui atu i te tekau m rua miriona, te tokomaha, kua horohia e tnei ngrara, te mahi taurekareka.

N, kua ara mai te ptai nui: mena ka aukatihia te pktea ka riro ki ng kaimahi nei, ka phea rtou e whai oranga ai?

Kua toitk te Paati Mori hei kaitautoko i te whakakorenga, o te rawa kore. Kei te tino whawhai hoki mtou, kia patua i te pöhara, e pa ana ki te hunga tamariki.

ngari, he pMhh noa iho nM ttou, kua kore tnei huatanga e kitea i Aotearoa nei.

Hei t te Roopu Tiaki i ngä Tamariki Pohara, i tr tau he hau-ono te tokomaha o ng tamariki e noho ana i roto i te whare tino pMhara.

NMreira, me kaha ttou ki te whawhai i ng kino maha o te ngrara nei.

Kei te tautoko pkmau mtou i te Pire nei. Ka huri ng whakaaro ki tnei mea te mahi taurekareka, me Mna whakapnga weriweri ki te hunga tamariki, ka koropkpk te riri i roto i a mtou.

Neke atu i te wh miriona, ng tamariki ki Brazil, tekau mano ki te hauauru o *nia, tekau m rima mano ki Pakistan e mahi ana i ng whare mMrearea, ki te tuitui i ng pMro poiwhana, mM ng kamupene pr i a Adidas.

N te kino o ng tkhua o ng whare tuitui nei ka pngia te tamariki ki te matakerepM, ki te ringa hau, ki te mamae o te tuar, ki te mamae o te kak+.

NM reira, e tautoko ana mtou i te Pire nei? Ae Marika!

I a mtou e tautoko ana i te Pire nei, ko te tumanako, kia whai w te Kwanatanga ki te aro atu ki ng ahuatanga o te rawa kore, e p atu ana ki te tamariki.

In researching this Bill I got very, very angry.

One pair of Adidas trainers in the UK can cost anything up to £120 for the latest women’s sports shoes. That’s three times as much as a month’s wage for an Adidas worker.

And we’re not talking a 40 hour week either.

For the thousands of Chinese workers who fill the factories in China, making Adidas trainers, their average working week is 70 hours. That’s a breach not only of Adidas’ own workplace standards, but it’s also a violation of China’s labour laws.

But it still happens.

Nike sweatshops can now be found in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam - Nike workers in Vietnam earned on average 20 cents per hour.

It’s not just the low pay and the long hours that’s the problem. The conditions are appalling as well.

Workers are only allowed to go to the bathroom once in an eight hour shift, and they can't drink water more than twice a shift. Many of the workplaces have inhumane conditions causing workers to faint from exhaustion, the fumes, the heat.

It is outrageous that these top corporate giants are able to come into these countries, and exploit the fact that they have no protective labor laws in place to look after their workers.

And so the Maori Party will certainly support this Bill, to ban the importation of goods made in whole or in part by slave labour.

It has been a long time coming.

Four years ago, Trade Aid brought a petition to Parliament, signed by some 17,000 people, requesting New Zealand to legislate to ban import or slave labour products.

But of course, while Trade Aid was preparing its petition, the Government of the day was busy passing free trade agreements with little or no protections for workers.

Labour or National – it doesn’t seem to matter to either of them.

Well it does matter to the Maori Party.

Two years ago the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery said that he was deeply concerned that the minimum estimate of the number of people in slavery is over 12 million and that the problem appears to be increasing.

The one issue that has caused some concern for our caucus is, if the slave wages are taken away from these people, what will they live on?

The Maori Party has made a conscious commitment to respond to the global call to action against poverty, with a particular focus on the eradication of child poverty.

Of course it’s not as if New Zealand has got our own backyard looking pristine and clean.

The Child Poverty Action Group said that in 2008 one in six New Zealand children still lived in a household below the very lowest poverty lines.

So we need to tackle it on all fronts.

There is no question that we would not support this Bill. Our anger is particularly profound, when we think of the ever-growing problem of child slave labour.

Some four million children in Brazil, some ten thousand children in western Indian’s Punjab region; and some fifteen thousand children in Pakistan are found working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions, sewing, of all things, soccer balls for companies like Adidas.

The factory conditions are so harsh and dangerous, that it is not uncommon for children to lose their eyesight, deform their fingers, suffer from chronic back and neck pain, and more.

So will be supporting this Bill? Too right.

And while we’re supporting this Bill, maybe there will be some support for our Government taking some action to respond to the persistent poverty that continues to drag us down, including of course, our shameful record in addressing child poverty.