Veteran fears uprising if Maori seats canned

Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan

Labour elder stateswoman Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan is urging voters to protect the Maori seats by voting for the Maori Party.

Warning of "an uprising" if National abolishes the seats, Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan, the Labour MP for Southern Maori for 29 years, said Parliament "is the lion's den in Maori, te ana raiona, and we need our gladiators in there".

"I would expect Maoridom to come out with even stronger protests than the seabed and foreshore hikoi [in 2004]," said Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan.

"It would be tragic for one of the very few nations in the world that has recognised a tangata whenua people to remove their right to have dedicated advocates in Parliament."

Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan would not say how she would vote, but said she endorsed a widespread Maori view that "anyone who holds Maori identity as their number one priority should give two ticks to the Maori Party. I believe that is valid".

National's most senior Maori MP, Georgina te Heuheu, said the issue was not often raised by Maori she met on the campaign trail but "I think it is something that can be done carefully in a planned process."

She said she had detected Maori fears about whether Labour would protect the seats even if all seven were won by the Maori Party.

All parties except National and Act say that abolition of the Maori seats, created in 1867, must be a decision made by Maori. The policy can pass if endorsed by 61 of Parliament's 120 members.

Historian Ranginui Walker is horrified by National's plan and said he would not be surprised if there were huge protests.

"National are going back to the colonial patriarchy, and if they pull this off, who's to know where it will stop?" Professor Walker said.

Te Atiawa iwi spokesman Peter Love said the seats were now a "hugely significant taonga", or treasure.

"Gifts have such huge importance in Maoridom and these seats were a gift to our people. They have become part of our inheritance ...

"Taking them away is like giving someone a gift of a car, then coming down the driveway and taking it back."

Broadcaster Willie Jackson, former leader of the Mana Motuhake Party, said National's policy would cause "huge anger and massive protest" but was probably just political wind.

"People are comparing them to the Ku Klux Klan, but I don't believe the Nats are in any way as bad as our people think," Jackson said.

"This is all about vote-buying for this election, and they know that if you give Maori a kicking, you'll go up in the polls. But if they get into power, they will work and engage with Maori."

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said "the best thing the Maori Party could do would be to urge their supporters to give Labour their party vote in order to secure the Maori seats".