Culture 'no excuse for assault,' says MP

An assault on a tourist during a Maori welcome performance tarnished the reputation of both New Zealand and Maori, says Associate Tourism Minister Dover Samuels.

Richard Mitai-Ngatai was ordered in the Rotorua District Court this week to do 150 hours' community service for the November 24 attack on tourist Johannes Scheffers.

Mitai-Ngatai, aged 40, admitted headbutting Mr Scheffers during a welcome for a 160-strong tour party to the marae at the Tamaki Tours village, about 25km south of Rotorua, because he thought the tourist was laughing at him.

Mr Samuels said yesterday that the sentence did not send a strong enough message about the seriousness of the assault.

"Culture is no excuse for assault. It undermines the integrity of the Maori culture."

He said respect must be shown to all cultures, including those who had no understanding of Maori protocol.

"Many visitors do not see the wero [challenge] as a welcome. They see it as aggression."

But Andrew Te Whaiti, chief executive of tourist attraction Te Puia, doubted that the incident would have a long-term effect on the industry.

"In the big picture of global tourism, New Zealand has something quite unique, and that's Maori culture."

Mr Te Whaiti was reluctant to comment on Mitai-Ngatai's case but said there had been no similar incidents in the four years he had worked at Te Puia, where a great deal of effort was put into ensuring that tourists properly understood the elements of Maori culture on display.

Explanations were provided in languages to cater for the 97 per cent of visitors who came from overseas.

Tamaki Tours director Mike Tamaki said a number of suppliers to his business had pulled out following the incident. But he believed Mitai-Ngatai - who lost his job - had been penalised enough.

"He is very well known as one of Rotorua's, if not the country's, top cultural performers. He has lost a lot of mana among Maori for what he has done. That is more devastating than any court sentence."

Yesterday, tourists in Rotorua voiced mixed opinions about the incident. Some expressed support for Mitai-Ngatai, saying tourists needed to show greater respect for cultural performers, but others felt his violent reaction - which left the Dutch tourist with a broken nose and two black eyes - was unacceptable.

English tourist Wendy Atkin said she understood why Mitai-Ngatai had headbutted the man.

"The Maori was probably well within his rights because tourists can behave appallingly badly," she said.

The 55-year-old said tourists often looked down on native people doing cultural performances.

"They're [seen as] no better than monkeys coming out of trees."

The story had been reported in Britain and people's sympathy had been with Mitai-Ngatai.

Indian tourist Jyodi Kotru, 55, said it was wrong of Mitai-Ngatai to react with violence.

She said visitors to New Zealand could not be expected to know the intricacies of Maori protocol. "We need an explanation."

Hahns Kim, 32, of Korea, believed the incident could put people off.

He said it was wrong of tourists to laugh or show disrespect to Maori, but performers should control their tempers.