Editorial: Parties face work to woo Ratana

The annual Ratana celebrations have always carried a lot of significance on the political calendar, even if only as a marker for the major parties to commence battle at the start of each new year, following the holiday break.

However, this year's celebrations carried the unmistakable hint of an extra touch of spice.

There's now more competition for the Ratana vote. The traditional allegiance to the Labour Party has been eroded through a potent combination of Labour's recent underperformance and a recent surge in other voting options for Maori. Hone Harawira's Mana Party has arrived on the scene, while the Maori Party has aligned itself with National - although whether by doing so it has become a more prominent voice for Maoridom or been subsumed by the bigger party is a topic still open for vociferous debate.

Yet despite what some may think of the Maori Party in its current form, there can be no doubt that Tariana Turia, Dr Pita Sharples and their colleagues have helped pave the way for more engagement by Maori in the political process.

It's another reason why the Ratana celebrations continue to be such an important event for this country's political leaders.

If his speech at Tuesday's celebrations is anything to go by, new Labour leader David Shearer appears to have at least recognised the situation he and his party now find themselves in.

He spoke of the need for Labour to renew its relationship with the Ratana movement, a tacit acknowledgment that what was once arguably taken for granted now needs to be earned.

There can be no doubt Maori need a strong voice in Parliament.

Some would argue they already have that - there are now more MPs of Maori descent than ever before and, thus far, the Maori seats have been retained.

And yet, Maori continue to be over-represented in statistics pertaining to crime, poverty, unemployment and other interconnected hallmarks of social deprivation.

For this reason, it's more important than ever that the people of Ratana give careful consideration to who they throw their political support behind.

All the party leaders who made their way to Ratana on Tuesday will hope they did enough to secure that support.

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