KEY POINTS:
I was on Radio Live last week as a guest of Paul Henry with former Act MP Muriel Newman. Henry played a recording by Tariana Turei who was advocating that we fly the Tino Rangatiratanga flag from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day.
Newman and Henry were
(genuinely, I think) aghast at the thought. Newman opposed the very idea on the basis that it was divisive. She clearly had a fear of what the red, white and black flag represented. I suppose the feudal class and capitalists had a similar fear in Europe last century when workers and revolutionaries were waving red flags.
Newman and I obviously move in very different political and social circles and therefore get a very different perspective. But I do accept that when a national design competition was run in 1990 to select a Maori flag most non-Maori New Zealanders felt threatened by something that symbolised Maori independence and self-determination. In the 16 years since then I assumed most New Zealanders had pretty much chilled out about the flag. It's pretty much adopted by all mainstream iwi and organisations as the "Maori flag" and is promoted as a symbol of Maori unity.
In light of that, the request to Transit New Zealand to fly the flag from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day seemed reasonable. But I can see why it would have had the bureaucrats running for cover.
Mike Williams, who is a member of the Transit board as well as Labour Party president, couldn't help himself and climbed into the controversy on behalf of his board. He claimed that Transit was following government policy by only allowing flags of recognised nations to be flown from the bridge. He claimed Transit couldn't set a precedent by allowing any other types of flags to fly.
The obvious question in my mind is how come every other country in the world can get its national flag flown on our bridge on their national day while the recognised Maori flag can't on our national day. After all, we are supposed to be celebrating the birth of our country by the signing of a treaty between two peoples.
But leaving aside that obvious insult to one of our treaty partners, Williams is one of the best political spinners around and he gives a plausible line that deftly gets Transit off the hook.
Unfortunately Transit's lawyers briefed Williams incorrectly. A precedent has already been set. When a number of international billionaires were in Auckland for the America's Cup, Transit grovelled before them along with the rest of New Zealand's elite. The silver fern was proudly flown from the bridge for the duration of the races. While some of the yacht sponsors may have more wealth than a small nation they aren't sovereign states just yet.
The irony of Transit waving the flag for the world's wealthy elite and refusing to do the same to recognise the other Treaty partner on Waitangi Day won't be lost on Maori. Having the Labour Party's president acting as mouthpiece for this insult won't be missed by the Maori Party election strategists either. What do the Labour Party candidates in the Maori seats say when they are asked on the hustings whether they supported their president's decision to ban the Maori flag on Waitangi Day? The only answer they can give is that they didn't support the ban. The next question is why they didn't speak out then. If Labour handles this wrong it could cost them big in 18 months.
As writer Richard Green pointed out last week, the British Crown recognised the sovereignty of the Maori in 1935 through the Declaration of Independence so this makes the signing of the Treaty in 1840 a political agreement between two nations and therefore worthy of equal status on our national commemoration day. Having our national flag and the Maori flag up on the bridge together on Waitangi Day would have seemed to be an appropriate decision.
If Ata Tino Toa, the Maori sovereignty group that is the applicant to Transit wanted to make a political point about the hypocrisy of Waitangi Day they have exceeded all expectations. No matter how you look at it, the decision smells to high heaven and we all know it, whatever side of the debate we support.
Eventually, when we grow up as a nation, we will look back at this sort of silliness with wonder. Even the Australian government, not known for its good relations with its surviving indigenous peoples, flies the Aboriginal flag from government buildings on their national day. Transit's refusal to accord that courtesy is, in one sense, a storm in a teacup. But it does once more address the unequal status of the relationship between the descendants of the two parties to our country's founding document.
Waitangi Day is a good time for us to reflect on why some New Zealanders get nervous about having the Maori flag dangling off a bridge, but happy to have one with a Union Jack on it. Henry made a closing remark on his radio show saying that the New Zealand flag reflects "our heritage". But it seems there is still some distance to go before we can all agree on what exactly our heritage is.