BY JANET ROTH AND EUGEN LEPOU
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Winston Peters, New Zealand deputy prime minister, asserted the coalition government there has a greater understanding of the aspirations of Maori than any previous government. He was speaking at a welcome for government ministers and various dignitaries at Te Tii Waitangi Marae (marae = Maori meeting area) in Waitangi, as preparations began for commemorations of New Zealand's national holiday, Waitangi Day, February 6.

The new Maori MPs (Members of Parliament) "are central to the aspirations of all people of this country - good education, good employment, good health and sound economic resource development. There is an acceptance on Maoridom's part that this is coming very soon in the future," he declared.

On February 6, 1840 a treaty was signed at Waitangi between Maori chiefs and the British Crown, which this country's capitalist rulers commemorate as the nation's founding document. Since the 1970s, the day has become one of discussion and protest around issues of Maori rights, focused at the small town of Waitangi in the north of New Zealand.

The issue overshadowing all others this year was a controversy over government funding of a Maori television station and accusations that a former director of the station and New Zealand First MP, Tukoroirangi Morgan, had misappropriated some of the station's money.

Since forming a coalition government with the National Party in December, New Zealand First has promoted itself as a new leadership for Maori people. Peters, a rightist politician, is the party's leader. A record 15 Maori were elected to the 120-seat Parliament, of whom seven are members of New Zealand First. Peters and two others are part of the Cabinet - its deputy leader and Minister of Maori Affairs, Tau Henare, and Associate Treasurer Tuariki John Delamere.

An increase in Maori middle class
The past decade has seen a sharp increase in the number of Maori in professional, business, and other middle class occupations. The majority of Maori are working class.

An editorial in the October 22 Christchurch daily newspaper The Press commented, "Among the remarkable outcomes of the election on October 12, none is more remarkable than the change in Maori representation in Parliament. That change might have a more profound effect on politics and society in New Zealand than anything else that happened in the election....

"One long-term social effect will be that New Zealanders will see impressive Maori politicians playing significant roles. That will help undo the images of the dispossessed and the gangs. Much will still need to be done to improve the lot of the Maoris, but there will be a different feel about it."

Peters and other politicians, including Labour Party leader Helen Clark and the leader of the right-wing ACT party Richard Prebble, made the decision to attend the commemorations at Waitangi despite the government holding the official ceremony in the capital city of Wellington for the second year in a row.

The government moved its commemorations from Waitangi after angry clashes with 700 protesters in 1995.

The demonstration was organized against government plans to impose a ceiling of NZ$1 billion (NZ$1 = US$0.69) compensation - commonly called the fiscal envelope - for all Maori claims for the return of stolen or confiscated land and resources guaranteed to the Maori people under the Treaty of Waitangi.

This protest took place in the midst of an upsurge of land occupations and other protests for Maori national rights that began in the second half of 1994 and continued into the first months of 1996. The new coalition government has promised to scrap the fiscal cap on Maori treaty claims.

Smaller protests continue. On the evening of February 6, 100 demonstrators for Maori rights set off from Waitangi in vehicles and on foot for a week-long march to Rotorua, to be joined by others at the different cities and towns they stopped in. On February 8, 40 people climbed Pouerua Mountain near Waitangi to set up an occupation camp to oppose its sale.

New Zealand First under fire
At the Waitangi commemorations, and in the weeks before and since, New Zealand First has been under fire for the role of one its members, Maori MP Tukoroirangi Morgan, in the Aotearoa Television Network (ATN).

ATN is the first Maori language television station. It was launched in May last year with government funding, following a series of court rulings that the government, under the Treaty of Waitangi, was obliged to protect and actively promote the Maori language. Both English and Maori are official languages of New Zealand.

The station was a pilot scheme for a limited time period, and broadcast only in Auckland. On January 27, the government announced it would provide an additional NZ$4 million to keep it on the air until June, in what the Sunday Star-Times described as "a sign of the new influence of Maori in government."

In response the opposition Labour Party, spearheaded by Clark, began campaigning against this funding, with accusations of cronyism, financial mismanagement, and the misuse of "public" funds. Daily front-page scandal- mongering about ATN's functioning led to the government canceling its additional funding and launching official inquiries into the station's affairs. Peters announced he was conducting his own secret inquiry using unnamed contacts.

The controversy has acquired the name Undiegate, in reference to revelations that former director Morgan had spent NZ$4,000 of the station's money on expensive clothes, including NZ$89 for one pair of underpants. Morgan has become the center of the scandal, with calls for his resignation from parliament. If New Zealand First lost Morgan's seat, the coalition government would lose its one- seat majority in parliament.

The methods being used by Labour politicians mirror anti- corruption campaigns carried out by Peters, through which he gained notoriety. One feature of national politics has been a commission of inquiry, set up by the former National Party government in 1994 under pressure from Peters, to investigate an alleged company tax evasion scheme, dubbed the Winebox Inquiry. Executives involved with the company at the center of the Winebox Inquiry were found to also be linked to ATN.

Attacks on affirmative action
Opponents of Maori rights have used the opportunity to speak out against government funding of affirmative action measures for the Maori language.

Right-wing columnist Frank Haden wrote in the February 2 Sunday Star Times, "It has become very obvious that we don't like it. The last thing we want is programmes in a dead language nobody understands or uses and what's more never will understand or use."

An editorial in the same issue of the Sunday Star Times, headlined "Maori TV a waste of our money," said, "The concept of a Maori television station....is a noble dream. Aotearoa Television has proven that throwing large dollops of public money to a group of middle-class Maori journalists is no way to turn this dream into reality.... Given the huge expense of the medium, it is impossible to envisage a stand alone national Maori language television network ever being financially viable."

Right-wing National MP and radio talk show host John Banks called on the coalition government to stop pouring money down a "black hole." "The public out there are spewing at this wasteful saga... their money being blown. Only people on the public tit at Aotearoa Maori Television with blank cheque-books seem to be able to buy $95 knickers."

Alongside ATN, the Maori radio station Aotearoa Maori Radio and Pacific Island station Reo Atumotu (Voice of the Islands) are expected to close because of cuts in state funding in the wake of the controversy.

The opening of Parliament on February 18 provided a further opportunity for the Labour Party to throw new accusations at Morgan and ensure the affair remained at the center of national politics.

New Zealand First Cabinet member Delamere used his maiden speech to Parliament to, in contrast, present his party as a defender of Maori rights by highlighting discrimination against Maori and calling for "fair and reasonable restitution of our claims under the Treaty of Waitangi."

Delamere had earlier this year backed a campaign to have a posthumous Victoria Cross awarded to a World War II soldier Haane Manahi, saying Manahi was blocked from receiving the war medal because he was Maori.

He also railed against lawyers hired by Maori tribal authorities to work on Treaty of Waitangi claims as "legal parasites." "The law fraternity has benefited enormously from treaty claims and Maori have seen precious little."

A number of prominent newspaper articles have focused on fellow Cabinet member Henare as a fighter for Maori equality and part of a new Maori leadership. While Delamere counts among his achievements time spent at West Point military academy in the United States, Henare is described as "left-leaning," of having "a strong commitment to social justice," and of promising "to ensure that within three years poor Maori health, housing, and education figures are reversed."

In practice, Henare has backed the policies of his party, requiring him to reverse previous stances he had taken - such as opposition to the anti-union Employment Contracts Act, support for income versus market-related state house rentals, and opposition to being in a coalition government with the National Party.

Working people who are Maori have borne the brunt of a two-decade assault on the rights and living standards of workers and working farmers. This is reflected in statistics on unemployment, health, education, and other social injustices. The unemployment rate for Maori, for example, is 15.9 percent while for whites it is 4.5 percent. The percentage of Maori leaving school with no qualifications has increased since 1993 to 35 percent, while the equivalent figure for non-Maori is 14 percent. Most statistics for Pacific Islanders are similar to those for Maori.

In state-of-the-nation speeches at two business forums in Wellington, February 11 and Auckland, February 12 government leaders highlighted their previously-announced plans to further restrict welfare benefits. They include introducing a work-for-the-dole workfare scheme, reviewing the Domestic Purposes Benefit for single parents, and cutting back on entitlements for accident compensation.

In an article in the February 12 New Zealand Herald headlined "Leaders say more work, less welfare," Peters, in his speech as Treasurer, is quoted as saying the coalition government would be distinguished by the prominence it gave to the need to shift people "from state dependence to independence." Priority would be given to the need to "create an environment which instills greater levels of parental responsibility."

The Herald described the government's thinking as seeming to have toughened on these issues. "Much of the impetus is understood to be coming from New Zealand First's Maori MPs, concerned at the effects of high welfare dependency among Maori," the article stated.

Eugen Lepou is a member of the Meat Workers Union and Janet Roth is a member of the United Food, Beverage, and General Workers Union in Auckland.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home