Brash rocket for Te Heuheu

By RUTH BERRY

National MP Georgina te Heuheu may lose her shadow portfolios if her problems with the party's new race relations direction are major, leader Don Brash has warned.

Mrs te Heuheu yesterday joined political opponents in condemning leader Don Brash's Tuesday speech on race relations, suggesting it was divisive and unlikely to help return the party to government.

The party's sole Maori MP said she had no plans to relinquish her Maori Affairs and associate treaty portfolios - but conceded there could be a price for taking a stand.

Asked if she would sell the ideas outlined by Dr Brash, she said: "I'll deal with it when the time comes."

The increasingly isolated and angry MP said the speech "appears to take an extremely different tack to [that of] the National Party that I entered Parliament with in the 1990s" and seemed aimed at dismantling many steps designed to unify the country.

Dr Brash said yesterday that he planned to meet her, probably on Monday, to discuss her concerns in person.

He was not aware of all the comments she had made, but was not prepared to guarantee she would retain her spokeswoman roles.

"Clearly it's uncomfortable for all of us if we adopt a policy with which the spokesperson can't go along.

"I will certainly have a chat with her both to enable her to express her views to me directly and to enable me to see what the next appropriate steps are."

He said spokespeople sometimes disagreed with aspects of policies they had to promote.

"But she wouldn't want to have a spokesmanship and find that she's at variance with major areas of policy."

Mrs te Heuheu was not the only party member to attack the speech.

Hekia Parata, a former top public servant and treaty consultant who is the highest person on National's list outside of Parliament, said she was so "ashamed" of the speech she had broken her silence to speak about party policy for the first time since the election.

"It's the antithesis of everything I've worked for professionally and personally," she said.

She was now reviewing her commitment to the party.

Her husband and former National Maori vice-president Wira Gardiner, who had planned to escort Dr Brash to Ratana last week, was also scathing, calling it reminiscent of the assimilationist policies of the 1960s.

The speech prompted a rash of criticism from Labour ministers, with Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia saying it highlighted the need for the Government's treaty information programme.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said it showed Dr Brash "for what he was at Ratana Marae at the weekend - a stuffy sort of colonial tea planter trying to put native servants in their place".

The extent of the response will have delighted National strategists, desperate to improve their new leader's profile and lift party ratings.

It is understood they decided to focus on race relations for Dr Brash's first big speech of the year, after summer polls indicated this was a sensitive issue for voters and the most likely to sway party allegiances.

There was also widespread criticism from Maori leaders and commentatorsin the lead-up to Waitangi Day.

Only Act championed Dr Brash's stance. Deputy leader Ken Shirley said the two parties' treaty policies were finally in accord.

One National insider said Dr Brash's stand mirrored Act's and, together with the new leader's tax stance, was reviving talk of a merger between the two parties.

It's a sensitive issue within the National caucus.

Shortly before the leadership coup last year, National's now deputy leader Gerry Brownlee attacked Dr Brash for espousing Act-like policies, fearful it would alienate centrist voters.

Yesterday Mr Brownlee said Dr Brash had taken a harder line on the issue than former leader Bill English and he supported that approach.

Party sources said despite reservations about any perceived move to the right, the caucus would back Dr Brash if he appeared to be generating interest.