Editorial: Mallard and the politics of symbolism

Trevor Mallard, the Cabinet minister charged with improving race relations and nullifying the popular progress of the leader of the opposition, Don Brash, has come alive. Six months after being appointed in a whirl of reactivity following the Brash speech on race at Orewa, Mr Mallard is making his Government's stand against inequality.

Last week he changed the criteria for some teacher scholarships so that they do not favour Maori per se, just those proficient in Maori language. Its effect will most likely be negligible. Yet in the politics of symbolism, something is being seen to be done by the segment of voters which stampeded to the Brash National Party in the first half of this year. Similarly with Mr Mallard's comments on Friday, as Education Minister, questioning the appropriateness and frequency of lengthy Maori ceremonies at schools.

Here, he is moving deliberately into sensitive territory, and cloaking his message with a particular concern at the sidelining of schoolgirls at some powhiri. The omnipresence of Maori ceremony in our public institutions is something many voters will recognise. Little gets done in this country without the involvement and public imprimatur of the tangata whenua. This Maori dimension should be expressed and embraced where appropriate. It is unique to this land and to our combined culture as "one people". Like anything, however, its special place can be eroded by over-exposure and by imbalances created where European and other cultures feel smothered.

Dr Brash did not specifically target the length and frequency of such ceremonies, but his Orewa speech stirred a latent feeling of "enough is enough" that Mr Mallard is now addressing. The minister is right that some powhiri go on too long. Where any speeches in any language or situation go on for an hour more than anticipated the assembled crowd has long lost patience. Some welcomes go way beyond that. Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia recalls one which took five hours. The activist Titewhai Harawira says her personal solution is to tell the speakers to shut up. Many others wish they could do likewise, but few have such recourse. Mr Mallard has rightly suggested that schools and their local iwi consider the impact on children's education and the functioning of the school community when initiating ceremonies.

Immediate criticism of the minister's call included one principal's suggestion that Mr Mallard ought to focus on major issues in education, not the peripheral. But that is to invest his speech with educational intent. The real message was that the Labour coalition Government understands latent public unease about special treatment for Maori and is acting. Politically, the Government has a year at most to eliminate the Orewa factor from the polls. Pragmatism reigns and some of Labour's own supporters, Maori among them, will be singed if National is to be burned off.

Interestingly, Dr Brash and his advisers are simultaneously changing their tactics. As they watch the symbolic gestures from Mr Mallard over race and, to a lesser extent, tough talk on law and order from Justice Minister Phil Goff, National has decided to hold its further fire. So, out goes a grand strategy for Dr Brash to land four or five big policy hits on the Government and repeatedly force it on to the back foot. In comes an approach which seems more Bill English in its temperament: to concentrate instead on attacking Labour and its people, saving the National policies for closer to an election and denying the Government the luxury of time to undermine them. This is a risky change. Labour is already shutting down potential problems, settling the nerves of the middle of the electorate. It has opened a workable lead in the polls. National and Dr Brash are slipping. They ought not to be spooked by some reactive truisms from Mr Mallard.