Audrey Young: Hone and the in-laws cont...

Hone Harawira said he was comfortable recognising that prejudice exists. File photo / Mark Mitchell

It has been a normal week in politics: over-spending on credit cards at Logan Brown, Frank Bainimarama bursting a vein about New Zealand and Australia, and Hone Harawira getting under Pakeha's skin.

You know an MP is in trouble when they take the back way to the debating chamber which is what Hone has been doing this week at Parliament.

He has been avoiding reporters' questions about his views on Pakeha in-laws.

If you haven't caught up with it already, he said that he wouldn't feel comfortable about his kids bringing home a Pakeha for a partner.

In his own defence he said that he was just like every other New Zealander [with prejudices] except that he recognised his own prejudices.

His views were expressed over a week ago in a profile of him, buried in the Weekend Herald on page 10 of section B.

The story didn't get any follow-up until we asked John Key about it at his post cabinet press conference on Monday.

Key gave it oxygen saying he wouldn't mind if his kids ended up with Hone's kids and after the story ran on Page 3 on Tuesday everyone wanted to know what everyone thought about it.

And the biggest question in my in-box was how many Pakeha relations does Hone have - though most of them didn't call him Hone.

The original feature was written by my Press Gallery colleague Derek Cheng, who is in Vanuatu with John Key at the Pacific Islands Forum.

Hone has asked to see the transcript of their interview and it is interesting enough for everyone to see [it follows at the end of this].

Derek did the feature largely to look at how Hone has rehabilitated himself since the White Mother-F*****s fiasco last year.

So just as Hone is emerging from the kuri box, he is back in it - though not so deeply.

The email was more damaging because it appeared to reveal a contempt for Pakeha in a private email. That offended not just people who hated Hone anyway but people who respected him and it almost led to a split with his party.

He is in trouble this time because of what he said openly and truthfully, almost as a social commentary, and as Pita Sharples said, it is a widely held view.

Hone Harawira being uncomfortable with Pakeha in-laws does not necessarily equate with feelings of contempt towards them or all Pakeha.

But after his track record, people will see it whether it is there or not, and the more it happens less effective he and his party can be.

And if you want to know how he feels now, it is probably summed up best by himself in Derek's story, where Hone is talking about the email business.

"I regret having got myself into that situation. Hell yeah," he told Derek.

"It meant for the party having to recover a lot of ground and I don't know whether it has and I don't know whether it ever will. For me I had to spend time in the dog box when I could have been doing other things."

Below are two extracts, one from the actual interview, and one from Derek's published story (about which Hone has no complaints), and the story on John Key's reaction run on August 3.

PART OF INTERVIEW WITH HONE HARAWIRA BY DEREK CHENG

Derek says: In the lead up to this, Hone said he did not have many Pakeha friends and talked about giving out energy, and how when he gave out energy to Maori communities, it was all positive, but when it was for non-Maori, "a lot of it is completely barren".

DC: What if one of your kids came home with a Pakeha, how would you feel about that?

HH: I wouldn't feel comfortable.

DC: Why not?

HH: I just wouldn't feel comfortable. That person will come into my house and not have a Maori expectation of how we operate. Do you know what I mean?

DC: Couldn't you teach them that?

HH: Christ, like I have time for that. I don't have time to be teaching people about that sort of stuff. We had this old Pakeha chap who died in our local community, and we brought him to our marae, and his mother came. She was really really old. And she stands up in the marae and she says,'this is wonderful. It's the first marae I've ever been to'. She must have been 80-something. I think to myself,'for God's sake'. You know what I mean? I really don't have time to be trying to teach people, aye. I've got [barely] enough time to teach my own, to teach myself. There're some people who enjoy and are good at teaching non-Maori about Maori things. I'm not, so I don't try. And I don't try to bullshit anybody that I am, either.

DC: But you'd feel uncomfortable about one of your kids bringing home a Pakeha?

HH: Yeah

DC: People would view that as being almost prejudicial

HH: Like all Pakehas would be happy with their daughters coming home with a Maori boy, and the answer is no they wouldn't. That's just the reality of the world we live in. The same reason why somebody can complain about what I said about white MFs but say nothing about Andy Haden. So, that's the reality but let's not cry about it. Let's just live with it. Let's just move on. I've had a couple of my kids come home with Pacific Islanders. No issue at

all, for some reason. No. I guess because we are Pacific Islanders ourselves, really.

DC: You don't think that makes you prejudicial?

HH: Probably does. But how many people do you know who don't have a prejudice? I'm just like the other New Zealanders, except I'm comfortable in recognising that that prejudice exists. I try not to let it fester into racism, or a refusal to engage, if you know what I mean, or a deliberate attempt to deny. I'm comfortable in trying not to do that and recognising what those boundaries are. It's coming back to the ... for example, when I go home, I do my best

to try and get this mokopuna, who happens to live not too far away from where we live, to come and spend a few days with us. I pour all my energy into it, you know what I mean? Because, She's mine, and it's so much easier than having to sit down with an in-law who doesn't even understand what a mokopuna is. I don't have time for that.

START OF DEREK CHENG'S PROFILE ON HONE HARAWIRA, (Weekend Herald, July 31)
Harawira smartens up his act

Hone Harawira doesn't hate Pakeha New Zealand. Being pro-Maori doesn't make him racist or anti-Pakeha, he says.

He doesn't care what Redneck New Zealand thinks of him but he has no animosity for them, either.

The Te Tai Tokerau MP is brutally honest and doesn't mince his words. Nor does he dilute his method or message to make it more palatable.

He embraces the radical firebrand label because, he says, that's what he is. Though his opponents are quick to accuse him of playing it up for the cameras, they respect him for being principled and a tireless advocate for Maori.

Harawira admits he is arrogant, difficult to work with - which has led to tensions with the co-leaders of the party - and that he cares little of what people think of him.

But there are people in his own electorate who say he is loyal, effective and hard-working.

So how would Harawira feel if one of his seven children came home with a Pakeha partner?

"I wouldn't feel comfortable. Like all Pakehas would be happy with their daughters coming home with a Maori boy - and the answer is they wouldn't.

"That's just the reality of the world. Let's not cry about it. Let's just live with it and move on."

Some of his whanau have dated Pacific Islanders and he didn't have an issue with it. Does that make him prejudiced?

"Probably, but how many people don't have prejudices? I'm just like every other New Zealander, except I'm comfortable in recognising that prejudice exists."

Harawira was the reason that hundreds of complaints flooded the race relations commissioner last year after he sent the infamous "white motherf*******" email to former Waitangi Tribunal director Buddy Mikaere, after the MP left a parliamentary trip in Brussels to take his wife to Paris.

The incident damaged the Maori Party, drove a rift between Harawira and his co-leaders and fuelled talkback radio for weeks until Harawira apologised - for the language he used, not for the sentiment, which was meant in the context of theft of Maori lands.

NEWS STORY
Harawira race-date view "ridiculous" - Key
By Audrey Young and Vaimoana Tapaleao

Prime Minister John Key says it is "ridiculous" that MP Hone Harawira would not be happy about his children dating Pakeha.

Mr Harawira made the comment in a Weekend Herald profile about his political comeback since his notorious email referring to "white motherf*****s."

Asked how he would feel if one of his seven children came home with a Pakeha, he replied: "I wouldn't feel comfortable. Like all Pakehas would be happy with their daughter coming home with a Maori boy - and the answer is they wouldn't."

Mr Harawira said he did not have an issue with his family dating Pacific Islanders, and acknowledged that the difference in attitude probably indicated prejudice - "But how many people don't have prejudices?"

Mr Key said he found Mr Harawira's views ridiculous.

"It depends on you as an individual but I wouldn't care what ethnicity my kids dated as long as they are happy."

Asked if he would be happy for his children to date Mr Harawira's, he quipped: "I guess it would make the wedding an interesting thing, wouldn't it. But as long as they were happy, yep."

Mr Key said he had met one of Mr Harawira's daughters at an art college in Gisborne.

"She seemed a really nice girl, so yes, if Max wants to date her, she's a bit older than him, though."

Stephie Key is 17 and Max is 15.

Maori academic Margaret Mutu said that although Mr Harawira's comments were a shame, they were true.

"That mindset is still strong among many Maori. They still feel a lot of hate, distrust and there's still a lot of hurt among Maori, by what the Pakeha did to us. The theft of all our land ... we've got a really raw deal in this country and a lot of Maori are very hurt about that."

Professor Mutu said it was important that Mr Harawira's comments were taken in context.

Her first husband was Pakeha and her mother is English and Scottish.

But she defended the mindset of those Maori who continued to feel prejudice against Pakeha.

"They know that when these [Pakeha] kids come in, they bring Pakeha attitudes. And not all Pakeha are bad - you'll always hear about a lovely Pakeha daughter-in-law.

"But when they first come in, [the Maori family] are suspicious - and those suspicions are grounded."

Maori Party leaders Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples yesterday refused to discuss the comments, though they are likely to talk about the article at today's caucus meeting.

In the article Mr Harawira, the MP for Te Tai Tokerau, also criticised the Maori Party's handling of the email affair and said he had been close to leaving the party.

He did not respond to follow-up questions yesterday.