Rejection Of Maori Means Rejection Of Pacific & Asian Participation In Super City

On Thursday I was privileged to speak at the official opening of a Maori art exhibition at the Mangere Arts Centre. The art exhibition was called ‘Kawakawa – 12 responses to the 25th Anniversary of Te Maori”. This exhibition displayed works of arts, sculptures, paintings by 12 Maori artists to commemorate 25 years of ‘Te Maori’. Te Maori was the name given to the largest travelling exhibition of Maori customary taonga which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA in September, 1984. This event became a watershed moment and profound milestone in the Maori cultural renaissance of the 1980s.

In acknowledging the Maori artists and their contribution to the unique creative fabric of Aotearoa New Zealand I related how proud I am of Maori art and how I wished I could have attended the original exhibition of Te Maori in New York 25 years ago. It was while living overseas that I gained a deep appreciation and respect for Maori and learned also to be comfortable with my own roots, a Samoan birthplace, and growing up in Otara, Aotearoa, New Zealand, the land of the long white cloud.

While Maori, and we, in Mangere, celebrate this significant event, on Friday the Government tabled in Parliament the report of the Auckland Governance Legislation select committee which will confirm what Key and Hide have already publicly announced. The Government MPs voted there be no Maori seats on the Auckland Super city.

In promulgating this backward step before the select committee had completed its report, the National Government deliberately sabotaged the select committee process, undermined the MPs on the committee, and proclaimed its naked arrogance to all Aucklanders that National knows best.

By acting this way, National revealed that it had no intention whatsoever to honour a single word they uttered or implied when they called public meetings and promised to listen to the people of Auckland before the public hearings.

Sixty per cent of the submitters supported having specific seats for Maori on the Super city. Overwhelmingly Pakeha, Pacific, Asian, young and old argued that it was the right thing to do for Auckland, for Tiriti o Waitangi principles, for a new beginning, to accept once and for all the practicalities of Maori concepts such as kaitiakitanga and whanaugatanga in the Auckland governance model which needed to be inclusive and forward looking.

Mr Hide threatened to throw his toys out of the cot and spit the dummy out if Maori seats were granted. He called Maori seats ‘race-based’ seats. Yet Maori don’t see themselves as a colour or race but as people of the land, manawhenua, tangata whenua.

Mr Hide also argued that New Zealand is one people and one vote. Sadly what he failed to acknowledge is that New Zealand is many nations of different languages, cultures and unique abilities, and most non-Pakeha speak at least two different languages. In fact while some Pakeha might be uncomfortable with this diversity, everyone else in Otara, Mangere and indeed almost throughout Manukau City are very comfortable and accept that there is strength in our diversity and differences.

By using these arguments Mr Hide, being white, sees the skin colour of Maori. It appears he is determined to keep Maori and every other non-white communities in “their place”.

To be fair to Mr Hide, we really should all know by know that he was never ever going to allow Maori seats on the Super City. That’s why he was appointed by National to be the Minister of Local Government. Mr Hide gets to do what he wants done, which is also what National wants, but National doesn’t want to get the blame for it. This includes Mr Hide’s intention to sell off Auckland’s $28 billion worth assets as well. As ACT got less than 4% of the vote in the 2008 general election, Mr Hide could weather any blame, because it would provide his small party with profiling and media attention.

The rejection of Maori seats in the Auckland governance, also means that the National Government rejects Pacific and Asian participation. It means the Government rejects diversity and rejects inclusiveness. It rejects the inevitable changing demography of the new New Zealand. That there will be more brownies than whities between the next 20-50 years.

In the year 2009 when the New Zealand Government had an opportunity to be visionary, to provide strong leadership, and to unite the people of Aotearoa and to move them forward to new horizons, Mr Key’s National Government, reverted back to type. What a wasted opportunity.

The acceptance of Maori seats in the Auckland Super City, should have been part of a daring vision of a nation of people united in its diversity, vibrant in language, colours and flavours.

Su’a William Sio
Labour MP for Mangere
5 September 2009.
ends

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