The Crown has weaponised fears around terrorism to target and vilify tangata whenua and has used anti-terror laws to criminalise our people, as we saw with the Urewera raids. As the MP for Te Waiariki, I am reminded often of the terror that was instilled in Tūhoe from those raids. Young children had their school bus boarded by heavily armed officers, and whānau were locked in garages without food and water. The elderly were made to lie on the floor for hours on end. In another display of State aggression, the Crown wrongfully tried to prosecute the Urewera Four with anti-terror laws. In the end, the Crown failed in using those laws and instead drummed up firearms charges. It's likely that the Crown would have tried to use the new provisions in the bill relating to weapons training and planning preparation, which may have ensured their success in demonising Tūhoe whānau, who were only practising their mana motuhake on their land, on their whenua, as they have done since time immemorial.