Editorial: Maori seats on way out, but not yet

The acid test for the durability and credibility of any concept or organisation is the number of people prepared to come on board. On that basis, National Party leader Bill English is headed up a dead-end street in calling for the abolition of Maori seats. Maori, after many years of regarding the seats with indifference, have increasingly warmed to the idea. There is no compulsion to vote on the basis of ethnicity but more and more are choosing to do so. Thus, in a short time, the number of Maori seats has shot up from four to seven. That degree of enthusiasm suggests they still have a valid place.

One of the main aims of the political framework must be to attract as many people as possible to the ballot box. Democracy is poorly served by low voter participation. Traditionally, Maori seats have had a much lower turnout than general electorates. In part that might have reflected Maori apathy; in part it recognised that the outcome was a foregone conclusion. For 60 years the Maori seats went to Labour, courtesy of a pact between the Ratana Church and Prime Minister Savage.

But all that changed when New Zealand First achieved a clean sweep of the five Maori electorates in 1996. That swing signalled increasing Maori sensibilities, and delivered a warning about complacency. The flexing of muscle foundered, of course, when New Zealand First disintegrated, and other aspirations have had to be tempered by the realisation that Maori electoral participation is not yet at a stage where an unalloyed Maori party could contemplate crossing the 5 per cent threshold to Parliament. Instead, Maori have increasingly relished the voice provided by the Maori seats, even as their number have become more evident as candidates in general electorates. The worth of the seats lies in delivering Maori to the ballot box.

At one time Mr English saw that value. Both he and his party previously supported the seats. The party rejected a call for their abolition in 2001 and Mr English's plug for the Maori vote at the last election secured new Maori members for the party. The change of policy now is clearly discomforting for the likes of National's sole Maori MP, Georgina te Heuheu. Her unconvincing response has been to point to the primacy of party majority rules.

At least Mr English's new policy is consistent with National's call for one standard of citizenship. On that basis, the party will soon also disown the likes of special admission to tertiary educational institutions to members of racial minorities under-represented on their rolls.

On another level, the policy at least represents a forthright expression from a man who needs to do just that to retain his job. National policy is now significantly different from that of the Government, which, in local government legislation last year, in fact extended the concept of Maori seats by giving councils the right to reserve places on territorial authorities for Maori representatives.

On all levels, however, Mr English's change of heart risks being seen as partisan politics - National, after all, struggles to reach four figures in Maori electorates - rather than perceptive policy.

There will come a time when Maori seats will be abolished. At that time, Maori will no longer regard them as an important expression of their status under the Treaty of Waitangi. They will be comfortable with their place, and the presence and voice of inspiring Maori leaders, in the mainstream. The number of seats will dwindle automatically. Increasing enrolments suggest, however, that that time is some way off.

It may suit Mr English's purposes to decry Maori seats, but for now the democratic process is best served by their retention.