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Speech: Rugby World Cup urgent debate - Te Ururoa Flavell

Friday 16 September 2011, 9:36AM

By Te Ururoa Flavell

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AUCKLAND

Urgent Debate
Thursday 15 September 2011; 3.48pm
Application to extend Queens Wharf for ‘Fanzone’

Tënä koe. Kia ora tatou katoa. I have to say I am sort of standing in the middle of a field here Mr Speaker, listening to the Hon Heather Roy – get it? In the middle of the field? Anyway I digress.

On the one hand I have that sense of real pride around the events of the opening ceremony. I was there with a number of colleagues. On the other hand, I am also experiencing that other side of the issues that have been well documented, because right in that little group of Parliamentarians in the New Zealand Parliamentary Rugby Team – which won the World Cup I might add – we had a cross range of events that happened.

For example I arrived early; I got there on private transport, straight into the game with no problems. The crowd was great. Yet all of my colleagues rolled in at various times, coming in on public transport, telling me about their stories. Some missed the start of the opening and they were pretty brassed off, I would have to say. Some even missed the start of the game and they were worse.

Across the length and breadth of that Friday evening, we had the full range of things that one could actually think about in terms of this particular debate. The one thing that really worries me about this whole debate – and it is not to get into whether the Minister should or should not – is the issue of public safety. If there is an issue of public safety then I reckon we have to do everything we can to make sure that it is dealt with.

I have to say that there were some warnings – there were some warnings.

I can report that in my first reading speech – looking back it was on 22 June last year - I spoke about three key things.

The first one was the problem of one person – namely the Minister – making all the decisions over matters pertaining to the World Cup. That was problem number one.

The second issue was the issue of the involvement of the Minister of Maori Affairs with the Rugby World Cup Authority. I thought that was quite important. The third issue I spoke about was alcohol consumption. Three issues and I have to say there were some warning signs there right from the very start.

Following on from that, on 17 November my colleague Rahui Katene said these words – I think they are quite important which is why I pulled them up.

“We have been keen to ensure appropriate management to avoid public disturbances or mass arrests from the specific liquor licensing requirements.

And I do have to raise a concern that we might be placing so much emphasis on liquor licensing to allow people the opportunity to become inebriated while watching the rugby whereas for a significant sector of our population simply getting to the game itself will be an issue.

She carried on to say:

Alcohol is already playing too prominent a role in the World Cup and the Minister for the Rugby World Cup has too much power under the bill”.

That is what my colleague Rahui Katene said, and lo and behold, here we are today, just after the start of the World Cup and most of those issues have come to pass. I reckon we sort of got it right.

In reflecting on this, the key concern that I had was around the public safety. Clearly, it is not a good idea having a lot of people in a small space with alcohol.

We know the various reports about delays, the aggression of some people spilling out into the crowds, hundreds of people frustrated on stalled trains; crowds packed in like sardines – there were elements there that could have caused some serious chaos.

In fact, Mr Shane Jones was talking about it yesterday in the Maori Affairs Committee. He reckoned that it just needed something to spark that could have turned that whole environment into something pretty dangerous. Having been down to the Cloud, one piddly little iron fence on the side of the water may not have saved some from going in there.

They also talked about some technical failures they had with some big screens further up Queen Street I believe or Quay Street. That contributed also to people massing down at the waterfront. Technical failure; transport delays; alcohol misuse; and of course the one that has come into the light more recently is the issue of some of our waka paddlers also being assaulted and abused.

Again they recount that it was alcohol at the heart of it. We had this awesome scene of twenty waka coming down the Waitemata Harbour, berthing there and our paddlers getting out, doing the haka, and trying to get back to where they came from. Lo and behold we had some crazies, who were alcohol-fuelled, who decided for whatever reason that they wanted to take certain feathers and also get in the road of our people.

Young people – young girls – were assaulted and all of that. Bottles were thrown, paddlers were physically and verbally abused, simply while they were walking from point A to point B. Hair was pulled, taonga were taken, and some were even questioning why the carriers, the waka kaihoe people – did not hold their hoe up high. Instead they held them down the side as a form of protection for those people involved, especially the young people.

I was pretty sad and brassed off to read the account from a fourteen year old girl who attends Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Puau te Moana-nui-a-kiwa. Her name is Binny McGee-Repia. Binny’s memory of the grand opening of the Rugby World Cup was of getting pushed back and hit in the head, which eventually lead to a CAT scan to investigate a possible head injury.

One other girl suffered from shock and another girl ended up with broken ribs. All of this is not a good look and it sort of soured the occasion really because it was such a good day.

I have to say that the other unfortunate aspect of this particular situation about the kaihoe, was that despite calls for help to the police and the security people or indeed to the general public there was no attempt to intervene.

The Minister says that it is not true, but it is the account from some people to us that the general public did not help out. That is a disappointment that we hope will be addressed in future.

In talking about dealing with what could have been a catastrophe, a number of people turned up at Auckland City Hospital. There was a letter to the editor on Tuesday from a gentleman, Les Galler, who is an intensive care specialist at Auckland City Hospital.

It was his assessment that Friday's opening night celebrations could have easily turned to tragedy because of the large crowds, the cramped conditions and limited access and escape routes. He reported that the Hospital was just basically overloaded with drunk and injured revellers on Friday and that ambulances had to take patients to other hospitals.

Against all that, and on the positive side, we had Precious Clark, with the sound of the karanga to open the Rugby World Cup, we had the Pacific Island dancers and drummers, and we had of course Te Arawa kapa haka team ‘Te Matarae i Orehu’. The ceremony as I say was awesome.

We also had Ria Hall, who sang the song. She is from Tauranga, but lives in Wellington. I send a special message to her to say that she was awesome.

There were some great things there – the fireworks and all that sort of stuff – and of course there was the moment with Jonah Lomu walking hand in hand with the young boy from Canterbury; that was pretty powerful in itself.

It was a great, great occasion to be at, and we hope that the positiveness takes over from all of the negativity that we have had to run through.

In the end I think it is important that we consider where we go to from here.

Well we welcome the news that the Auckland City Council will compensate for Friday night’s fiasco by rewarding affected fans with tickets to the semi finals.

But we really want to talk more about crowd control as opposed to compensation. Our collective efforts must be given to ensuring that Party Central on Queens Wharf is well managed in order to avoid more Rugby World Cup chaos.

I think it is important that we do get it right. Things are tracking along quite well, as other speakers have said, with the games being managed pretty effectively, and the test may come this weekend.

I reflect on the reaction from the Mayor Len Brown – who urged us all to keep calm and carry on. In that regard he has probably set the scene for what we need to do. If the measures that are being contemplated today are about taking us through to having a positive end to the Rugby World Cup, then we should get right behind it and ensure at the end of it that not only is public safety dealt with and taken care of but also everybody has a good time while we are at it. Kia ora tatou.