Boris Sokratov: Who are the real privileged in Aotearoa New Zealand - Māori or Pākehā?

Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei own the land at Bastion Point and gifted its use for all New Zealanders to enjoy. Photo / Auckland Unlimited

OPINION

Who are the real privileged in New Zealand- Māori or non-Māori?.

Let’s look at the facts and see if we can dispel a certain myth that Māori are the privileged people.

Let’s also put to bed the myth that Māori will prevent people having access over their whenua. If Māori owned anywhere near 100 per cent of New Zealand today, then it would be fair to call Māori “privileged”.

The fact is they don’t. Land in Māori Title is now 6 per cent. How would you feel if that happened to you or your people?

Let’s also put to bed the myth that Māori will prevent people having access over their whenua.

Tamaki Drive is one of the most popular walking and cycling tracks in Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton

We should be more concerned about the Department of Conservation (DoC) and private land owners preventing access. Māori simply don’t own enough land to warrant the disinformation and propaganda being spread by the genuinely privileged few (non-Māori) – like those behind Hobson’s Pledge.

So who really does own Aotearoa New Zealand?

DoC and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) own around 40 per cent of Aotearoa. I guess we could call them “the Crown” (Long Term Insights Briefing Department of Conservation and Land Information NZ 2023). Maori land ownership is 6 per cent. (Office of The Controller and Auditor-General) and Foreign Ownership 3%.

The top four private landowners are foreign-owned entities. They are:

- Taumata Plantations Limited (several overseas investment funds and banks)

- The Tiong family (Malaysia)

- New Forests Asset Management (Australia)

- Matariki Forests (US and Australia)

That leaves only 51 per cent of land in private New Zealand ownership.

Why does land ownership matter? Property rights form the pillars of capitalist economies and legal systems.

They enable owners to exclude others from the uses and benefits of their property. Plus historically wealth has always been synonymous with property ownership. So by definition, it’s fair to say – property owners are “privileged.”

Just how far do some property owners take that privilege?

Clearly if you once owned 100 per cent of the land and now own only 6 per cent your position has been significantly diminished. And yet Māori have consistently been more than fair and reasonable about redress. Those who have just the slightest knowledge of history should be able to recall Bastion Point.

Takaparawhā was the site of protests in the late 1970s by Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei against the forced alienation of their whenua by the Crown. All Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei wanted was recognition that the whenua belonged to them.

Once the Crown acknowledged that, guess what they did? They gifted the land back to Auckland Council for full and unfettered use by all of the people of Tamaki Makaurau.

You don’t need much of an imagination to know Bastion Point would be covered in mansions and apartment blocks if that land had been vested in private ownership. That’s hardly Māori demonstrating privilege.

Cole Arnott's Takapuna Beach Mansion. Photo / Boris Sokratov

Let’s contrast that with an act of outright privilege from the owner of a Takapuna beach front property, Cole Arnott. He chopped down a protected pōhutukawa tree at his $16.5 million Park Road Takapuna Beachside mansion. Arnott was fined $52,500 by Judge Melinda Dickey who said Arnott’s offending was deliberate and his culpability high.

“The most egregious fact of all [was], well before the tree was cut to the point of no return, you agreed with council officers you would stop work. Yet, not more than two hours later, you went on to cut down the rest of the tree,” Judge Dickey said.

Boris Sokratov. Photo / Supplied

Arnott had also roped off a section of the beach in front of his mansion simply because he has riparian rights.

Contrast that with the selfless act of generosity expressed by Ngāti Whatua Ōrākei.

Can you imagine the brouhaha if Ngāti Whatua Ōrākei roped off Tamaki Drive? Yet nobody blinks an eye when a rich Pākehā ropes off a section of one of Auckland’s prime beaches because he “owns it”. That’s Pākehā privilege at it’s worst.

So are Māori privileged? Yeah - nah. All Māori really want is a fair go. That shouldn’t be too much to ask?

Boris Sokratov is a Bulgarian-Māori and has whakapapa to Te Rarawa, Ngati Haua. He was the producer of the Nutters Club Radio Show. He helped establish the Key to Life Charitable Trust that supports mental health advocate Mike King.