WHO SPEAKS FOR MAORI IN NEW ZEALAND?

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000797 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR STATE FOR EAP/ANP PACOM FOR J01E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM NZ SUBJECT: WHO SPEAKS FOR MAORI IN NEW ZEALAND? ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Race relations in politically correct New Zealand remain a sensitive issue. Two different viewpoints on the rights of the indigenous Maori were on display over the weekend of October 27-28 as two minor parties, the Maori Party and the New Zealand First Party held their respective annual conferences. As part of a wider plan to siphon off residual Maori support for the ruling Labour Party ahead of the 2008 election, the Maori Party accused Labour's Maori MPs of ignoring the needs of Maori. At his party's annual conference, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters accused the Maori Party of equating Maori autonomy aspirations with apartheid and race-based separatism in New Zealand. Labour's Maori Affairs Minister accused the Maori Party of political opportunism in light Maori anger following the recent police terror raids; PM Clark addressed the Labour Party convention in Auckland on November 2 and called for Labour supporters to suspend judgment on the raids and to move ahead in a spirit of reconciliation. End Summary. Maori Party Accuses Labour of Forgetting Maori -------------- - ¶2. (SBU) At its annual conference over the weekend the Maori Party vigorously attacked Maori MPs within the ruling Labour Party accusing them of abandoning the indigenous Maori population. Maori Party MPs also demanded the resignation of Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia. In the wake of the police terror raids two weeks ago, the Maori Party accused Horomia of "abandoning his people in their time of need." Given that the majority of those arrested in the raids were Maori led some in the Maori community to believe that the arrests were racially motivated. Horomia, who represents one of New Zealand's seven electorate seats specially allocated to Maori, stated that he has no intention of resigning. He accused the Maori Party, vocal critics of the raids, of using the resulting anger felt by some Maori for political advantage in an attempt to siphon Maori support from the ruling Labour Party. (Note: The Labour Party has historically enjoyed loyal political support from Maori and has held a virtual monopoly on the Maori seats since Labour first came to power in 1935. However, at the 2005 election the newly formed Maori Party won four of the seven existing Maori seats, with Labour only able to hold onto the remaining three. End Note). ¶3. (SBU) The Maori Party's conference attack on Labour's Maori MPs is part of a broader strategy to portray itself as the only political party capable of faithfully representing the needs of Maori. Post expects more broadsides to follow as the Maori Party seeks to claim for itself the entire complement of Maori seats at next year's election. Maori Party MPs have already accused Labour's Maori MPs of opposing its proposals on educational issues and voting down an inquiry into treaty claims despite United Nations condemnation of the process. Party co-leader, Dr. Pita Sharples, has argued that Labour's Maori electorate MPs are "Labour first and then Maori." Party Wants Political Clout; Unsure How To Use It -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) If the Maori Party succeeds in capturing all seven Maori seats, it will enter into the next parliament with expanded political leverage and a greater ability to influence the shape of the next government. In what is expected to be tight election, even if the Maori Party failed to improve on its 2005 results, it could conceivably still end up in a king-making position as the main parties contest for its support. However, should the Maori Party find itself in such a position, it remains unclear whether the Party will take advantage. At the annual conference, Maori Party MPs could not reach a consensus on whether the Party should retain its ability to speak independently by staying outside of future governments or formally join one and advance Maori interests from within. (Note: The Maori Party was formed in July 2004 by former Labour Cabinet Minister Tariana Turia after she left the Labour Party in protest over the Government's decision to enact the highly contentious foreshore and seabed law, which refused the Maori claim to ownership of part or all of New Zealand's foreshore and seabed. Turia, a vocal and often controversial advocate of Maori rights, shares the leadership with noted Maori academic Pita Sharples. Critics have challenged the Maori Party's claim to be the political voice of all Maori by pointing to the lack of uniform positions within the Maori community. End Note.) New Zealand First Attacks Maori Apologists -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The New Zealand First Party, led by Foreign Minister Winston Peters, also held its annual conference over the same weekend as the Maori Party and offered a stark contrast to the Maori Party's position. In a speech to delegates clearly aimed at New Zealand First's voter base, Peters launched into a scathing attack on racial separatism where he likened those who protested against the terror raids and arrests as supporting an apartheid philosophy. Peters asserted that the hundreds of people protesting against the raids were doing so purely on the basis of race and not an assertion of innocence. In a thinly veiled reference to the Maori Party, Peters asked why a political party based on race was held up as "the WELLINGTON 00000797 002 OF 002 moral compass" for New Zealand. (Note: Although Peters is from Maori descent, he rarely refers to his heritage in political discourse. End Note). ¶6. (SBU) Peters, whose party needs a boost in the polls, also criticized his colleagues in the ruling Labour Party and the opposition National Party by accusing both parties of co-enabling Maori separatism over the last 20 years by being too timid in response to Maori demands for special treatment. Although he allowed that the main parties only tolerated Maori separatism for fear that any stand against it would be deemed politically incorrect, Peters was reluctant to further explain how they actively encouraged separatism in New Zealand. ¶7. (SBU) The Maori Party and the Green Party immediately condemned Peters for his statements and the logic behind them. Peters' reasoning was also criticized by a leading New Zealand legal scholar, who argued that Peters' claim that self-determination by any minority entity within a modern democratic nation simply could not work was ill-conceived. Dr. David Williams, a professor of law at the University of Auckland, argued that there are existing legal frameworks that allow for successful indigenous peoples' autonomy which do not degrade the state, as Peters infers any such move inevitably would do. Williams cited the indigenous self-determined nations of the Nunanvet and Nishgaa nations of Canada, the Sami in Norway and even the Scots in the United Kingdom, as examples of indigenous peoples exercising self-determination and autonomy in their own representative institutions at no harm to the greater state in which they reside. (Note: At the center of the police raids were members of the Maori Tuhoe tribes who have who have long sought the right to self-determination. End Note). Williams urged New Zealand politicians to find a rational balance between the operation of the state and the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination. Labour and the Maori Community -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Labour has a difficult task of unseating the incumbent Maori Party MPs from their seats at the next election. Labour will fully contest these seats, but it is wary that all four Maori Party MPs are popular within their respective electorates. Nonetheless, Labour is confident of holding on to its three existing Maori seats. This confidence is probably justified for just two of these seats. Maori Labour MPs Horomia and Nanaia Mahuta are highly respected within the Maori community -- Horomia for his position as Minister of Maori Affairs and his front bench status; Mahuta for her own political status - as Minister of both Customs and Youth Affairs - and her ancestry (she is of Maori aristocratic lineage). In the deeply hierarchical and tribal Maori society, such familial status counts for much. Therefore, both MPs are likely to keep their seats. Labour will, however, be concerned that the Maori Party could pick up a fifth Maori seat at the expense of Labour incumbent Mahara Okeroa, who does not share the same sort of status and popularity that his colleagues enjoy. Comment -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Labour has a difficult tightrope to walk with respect to the Maori vote. Labour considers itself to be the most inclusive of the New Zealand political parties, and cannot afford to be seen as insensitive to Maori voters. However, Labour may also need New Zealand First as a partner in government again in 2008, so will have to put up with a certain level of rhetoric from Winston Peters, who will increasingly distance himself from the government as the election period moves ahead. In addressing Labour party members at the party convention in Auckland on November 3, PM Clark urged Labour rank and file to suspend judgment of police action in the terror raids while the legal process continues, and to move ahead in a spirit of reconciliation - a clear signal that she recognizes some Labour vulnerability within the Maori community as a result of the arrests. McCormick