Warrior's chainsaw massacre rings on

By JON STOKES

Ten years to the day since Mike Smith took a chainsaw to One Tree Hill's lone pine, the earnest Maori activist remains unapologetic.

Sitting in a cafe near Whangarei's yacht-laden waterfront, Mr Smith's infamy escapes the office workers and shoppers tucking into paninis and lattes.

Yet on a drizzling October night in 1994, his attack on Auckland's most famous tree, sparked uproar in Maori and Pakeha communities.

His action, driven by his frustration at the Government's fiscal envelope - limiting Maori treaty settlements to $1 billion - led to his arrest for "interfering with a tree without resource consent".

He was convicted and sentenced to nine month's periodic detention. The attack started the demise of the Monterey pine, which survived his ring-barking, to be finished off after a similar attack by some of his relatives in October 2000.

The following year, council staff, concerned the tree might fall, cut it down, ending its 125-year stand.

Mr Smith, 46, who manages the Tai Tokerau community legal service, acknowledges the irony of his job given his high-profile conviction. But he maintains his attack was justified, although he does have regrets.

"It was done in an effort to bring focus on the Government's treaty settlement of the time, which I felt was unjust and unworkable.

"The only regret I ever felt, was when I read a story in the media, about a woman who talked about how much that tree meant to her.

"I think her husband, who had died, proposed to her under that tree.

"She saw it as a touchstone for the love she felt for her partner, to take that away from somebody on a human level, I didn't feel too good about that."

The day after the tree was felled, the Herald carried the tale of Maureen Taylor, who trekked to the summit where she had scattered her husband Graham's ashes 12 years earlier.

The subsequent outrage was not appreciated by the Northland social worker.

"It [the attack] created a platform in order to talk about the issues. I wasn't too comfortable about the cult of personality stuff that came of it.

"I would have much preferred people talk about the issues. The focus kind of came on about the tree, more than it came on about the issues. In that sense it was a failure as a tactic.

"What it did do was bring focus on me as an individual, which gave me currency to get out and bring focus on the issue."

He acknowledges he was more welcome in communities already sympathetic to his views rather than those he hoped to convert.

He said his actions were driven by years of frustrations.

"I used to be a mellow kind of chap when I was young. As I began to learn more, join the dots, and figure how society worked, things changed.

"I grew up like any other kid, I thought this country's quite a cool place. I got more outraged as I learned more.

"There is regret that I got catapulted into public notoriety, that's not fun in anyone's book."

He said his actions were about "maximum effect for minimum casualty".

"The casualty was me and the tree, and that was a fairly small price to pay for the wholesale extinguishment of Maori treaty rights, at a time they were all just starting to be recognised by the courts.

"I don't want to sound like a martyr but it just seemed like economy of action."

"What can they do if you cut a tree down? What are they going to throw at you? The charge was interfering with a tree without a resource consent, hardly a hanging offence. I knew my action was going to kick up a lot of dust.

"The attention that came on me didn't come onto the issues. I would do something like that again if it was absolutely necessary. But I would want to be sure the outcome would focus on the issue.

"The amount of words and coverage expended on that motley bloody tree. And the hundreds of thousands of dollars that went into preserving its life ... I felt quite guilty about that. I felt guilty that money that could have been better spent on other things was spent on that tree."

The father of nine - seven boys and two girls - said he had made a deliberate effort to avoid the limelight following his actions.

"It's been a conscious effort. The whole kind of cult of personality that can develop around activists and the people who obtain a profile in the media, can be corrosive both to people individually and can detract from the issues."

Currently he has no interest in linking with the Maori party.

"I am not a Maori party member. I'm a treaty activist, and the treaty of Waitangi talked about a plural political system.

"Maori would meet and develop our own views and standpoints on issues, and then we would sit down with the crown and negotiate on that basis.

"I see the Maori party as being part of mainstream politics, in opposition to the treaty vision."

So has he softened in the past 10 years? "I think there are some hugely unresolved issues in contemporary society - the foreshore and seabed for example - and I am not confident that the Government chooses to handle these things is in the nation's best interest.

"If the Government continues to ignore their own process including their own courts of justice, and to deny justice to significant sections of society, that is a recipe for trouble the future."

"I don't want to be seen to advocating for young people to go out and make a name for themselves, but the Government needs to be aware of what may happen."


Herald Feature: The tree on the hill