New Zealand will lose one of the founding examples of Treaty partnership if Maori seats in Parliament are abolished, according to a historian who has followed Hawke's Bay's central role in the establishment of the seats almost 150 years ago.
Matt Mullany was commenting yesterday on the stirring of political debate by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who is calling for a referendum on the issue which dates back to the Maori Representation Act drafted by Napier MP Donald McLean and passed by Parliament on October 10, 1867.
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The act took effect the following year when representatives of the Northern, Southern, Western and Eastern Maori electorates took their seats in the House.
Eastern Maori MP and Ngati Kahungunu chief Tareha Te Moananui, of Waiohiki, near Napier, was the first Maori and the first New Zealand-born MP to speak in the New Zealand Parliament, when he delivered his maiden address in September 1868.
MMP in 1993 increased Maori seats to five, and there have been seven since 2002, with Hawke's Bay part of Ikaroa Rawhiti, held by Labour MP Meka Whaitiri.
Mr Mullany, descendant of Tareha and Irish immigrants, said: "Having Maori representatives in Parliament was one of the first signs of Treaty partnership."
It had been Tareha and ally Paora Kaiwhata who had in 1851 written to Governor George Grey inviting Europeans to establish what is now the city of Napier - "to arrange Pakeha settlement quickly to ensure unity between both races of people".
Mr Mullany said Tareha's key message in the maiden speech was for lawmakers to be inclusive, if writing laws for his people to also include Pakeha.
Mr Mullany described Mr Peters' latest reported stance - promising a binding referendum of all voters - as a "political dog-whistle" to those who regard Maori seats as something from a bygone era.
Ngati Pahauwera iwi chairman Toro Waaka said "everyone" benefits from the existence of the Maori seats, with a role keeping Parliament to account, input into otherwise ignored environmental issues, and internationally as part of New Zealand's image of being one of the best countries in the world.
"We are very diplomatic in the way we do things, we don't revert to terrorism," he said. "For Maori it is a basic tenet of the Treaty. They need a voice."
Ms Whaitiri jokes she would love to wake up one morning a general electorate MP, with boundaries somewhat smaller than the 660km covering her electorate north to south.
But she's supported the seats at least as long as the 34 years she has been eligible to vote, and retention is Labour policy.
She acknowledgedthe long hours and travel that go with the job. "Our people want to be able to see their MP," she said, "and, boy, do they expect you to deliver."
"It's not a big issue for this election," she said. "We've got much bigger issues to deal with"