Will 2010 be a year that tests how much New Zealand has matured as a multi-cultural Nation? Rawiri Taonui reports.
Earlier this month, the descendants of the Mäori prophet Wiremu Tahupötiki Rätana gave their blessing to the one-year-old National-Mäori Party partnership. Prime Minister John Key’s no-baggage, no-nonsense, straight talking “let’s work together” style is a race relations revelation. He knows what matters and what doesn’t (flying two flags is not a drama), and where the boundaries lie: “Let the Mäori Party deal with Hone Harawira; he is their member.”
The twin pillars of the Mäori Party leadership, Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples, have also been important. Dignified, thoughtful and strong they are the best Mäori political leaders since Princess Te Puea and Apirana Ngata. This triumvirate knows that working together is about trust, keeping things simple and the freedom to disagree.
The win over Labour at Rätana belies deeper waters ahead. Waitangi Day was important with several in Ngäpuhi arguing to fly the St George Cross of the Confederation ensign instead of the newly chosen Rangatiratanga flag. There was also debate over the Hone Heke Harawira affair and National Party policies that disadvantage Mäori.
Budget 2010 signals the roll out of the Whänau Ora, with some estimating up to $1 billion in resources devolved to Mäori social service providers. Modelled on successful initiatives in health where the increase of Mäori providers from 0 to 275 in 25 years has had real impact – they understand issues better, know the communities, and don’t suffer the ingrained prejudices built up over multiple generations in mainstream institutions. This quiet revolution will be the most effective policy initiative for Mäori since World War Two.
Changes to the foreshore and seabed legislation fall due mid-year. Most Päkehä now accept that the 2005 Act was a paranoid pre-emptive strike against Mäori human rights. Important components will include, guaranteed public access to the beaches, continuing and building on Labour’s negotiations with Iwi for settlements (which were good) but broadening provisions for joint ownership and management regimes between the Crown and Mäori (with appropriate checks and balances) as successfully applies for the Rotorua lakes and Waikato River (both Labour initiatives).
There is also a need to allow for the investigation and/or negotiation and settlement of other residual claims (which Labour excluded) in line with the Sealords deal of 1994, including ditching of the “proof of a continuous connection” clause that denies the separation colonisation caused, and payment of a centralised settlement component, perhaps to a national authority.
In another real victory for the Mäori Party, and following on 20 years after the Bill of Rights, a constitutional review, including consideration of the status of the Treaty of Waitangi is on the agenda, something Mäori have advocated for four decades. Fundamental questions are at stake. Did the Treaty cede sovereignty in 1840 or was sovereignty acquired over time through the marginalisation of Mäori society? Do we enshrine the treaty in legislation, as the international community via the UN Periodic Review of Human Rights in New Zealand recommends, or, continue to apply the Principles of the Treaty, and, if so, who says what they mean?
Sharples and co need to consolidate their recovery from the Hone Harawira Affair with the latest Te Karere poll showing Labour is now dead even at 38% each after the Mäori Party previously held 46-26 advantage.
Labour will have ample opportunities to strike at the National-Mäori Party alliance. However, they need to change tack. Suffering the self-inflicted anguish of rejected lovers, leader Phil Goff’s cross-cultural skills aren’t convincing, his state of State of the Nation race relations speech and general deliberate negativity may drive more Mäori toward the Mäori Party than away from it. The Te Karere poll shows 47% of Mäori approve of John Key and 59% disapprove of Phill Goff. More tellingly, Labour may need a new leader if it is to recoup ground on race relations – 48% of Mäori members of the Labour Party do not support Phil Goff.
The relationship that was no longer exists, neither is it lost, it has evolved, changed and matured. Labour are no longer the only place for Mäori to be. Mäori are no longer the 40,000 desperate destitute of the 1930s that had just escaped annihilation by colonisation and needed a hand up. They are 800,000 dynamic descendants of a people who through fight-back have
earned the right to be co-equals with all Päkehä, working as partners with this National government and with the next Labour government.
Labour must focus on policy not rhetoric. There is traction in the arguments that the Mäori Party is delivering small kumara, such as the twin flags, but not the big ones, such as seats on Auckland Super City and Polytech councils. There are questions about the impact on Mäori of the 90-day rule allowing workers to be sacked without appeal, cutbacks in ACC, pay rates not keeping up with the cost of living, a pathetic increase to the minimum wage, and tax cuts that favour the wealthy.
The Mäori Party partnership must also defend against the National – Act partnership as it gathers momentum on right wing policies, such as the one-year review of beneficiaries
and three-strikes policies: anathema that impact differentially on Mäori.
The full impact of the recession is not over. The OECD suggest just 1.8 to 2.2.% growth for New Zealand in 2010. Just 23% of firms are optimistic. The IMF says 2 million more people worldwide will become unemployed this year. Mäori unemployment already at 10% last May, is now probably double the national rate of 6.5%. Mäori suffered worse than non-Mäori under Rongernomics and Ruthansia, their incomes not returning to early-1980s levels until 2005.
The real strength of the groundbreaking relationship between Mäori and National will be how much they deliver to Mäori. The relationship, a stream of Treaty settlements, a larger, smarter and better-educated Mäori work force and leadership, and stronger relationships with all Päkehä are the main hopes.
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