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Native Hawaiians must be ever vigi- House prepared to speak out fearlessly lant and continue to assert themselves on behalf and in support of Mäori, in the name of social justice. no matter how strident the media and tracie ku‘uipo cummings opposition attacks on her become. Many Mäori hoped she would be included in cabinet, as she had cer- References tainly earned such a posting. Her appointment as a minister outside Keesing, Alice. 2000. Charter Schools Ready to Empower. Honolulu Advertiser, cabinet sent a clear message that the 10 Jan. Labour caucus is still uncomfortable with Mäori who consistently support Lingle, Linda. 2003. Testimony before the their own people. US Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, However, Turia is no longer the 25 Feb. Available at or only Mäori member of Parliament Metiria Turei, a first-time member in the Green Party, is showing con- Reynolds, Jerry. 2003. Hawaii’s Governor Lingle’s Campaign for Native Hawaiians. siderable potential. Although the Indian Country, 10 Sep 2002; posted 27 mainstream media ignores most of Mar 2003. not appear to be censuring them. of the conserva- tive National Party, on the other hand, has increasingly found herself having ¯ Maori Issues to contradict her party leader. After The July 2002 general election deliv- the party failed miserably in the ered 20 members of Parliament who general election, the National leader identify as Mäori, out of a House of abandoned any pretence of support- 120 members. Ten of them are in the ing Mäori aspirations and set out to Labour caucus of 52 that leads the attack any policy or program aimed at coalition government. All 7 of the improving Mäori circumstances. He Mäori seats went to Labour. Mäori called for the abolition of the seven therefore expected to see at least Mäori seats in Parliament; demanded 3 Mäori cabinet ministers, with the that the government legislate to vest same number or more becoming min- the foreshores and seabed in the isters outside cabinet. It was indicative Crown, effectively confiscating those of things to come that only 2 Mäori areas from Mäori; he argued that cabinet ministers were appointed, Mäori should be given no special along with another 2 outside cabinet. consideration in any matter and that One of the ministers outside cabinet all New Zealanders are the same (thus was , who returned to willfully disregarding all socioeco- the House with a very substantial nomic indicators that contradict this); 7,536 majority in the new Taihauauru he attacked the government for setting seat. Turia has developed the reputa- aside money in the budget for a tion of being the only member in the Treaty of Waitangi education pro- political reviews • polynesia 159 gram; he attacked the Waitangi its personnel by refusing to speak to Tribunal for saying that Mäori have mainstream journalists. The media an interest in the country’s oil and appeared to lose interest completely gas resources; and he promised to after having attacked the service stop Mäori from making claims under continually over the previous twelve the Treaty of Waitangi and to remove months. By January the budget allo- those aspects of the Resource Man- cated by government to set up the agement Act and Local Government service had increased from NZ$6 Act that protect Mäori relationships million to $13 million with hardly with their ancestral lands (National a murmur of dissent. Legislation for- Party website: ). His racist outbursts have eventually passed in May 2003 after not improved National’s showing in years of strenuous efforts to stop it. the opinion polls. The opposition eventually supported In April 2002 the government indi- the legislation and its passing into law cated that it intended to introduce went unmentioned in the mainstream legislation setting up a new Supreme media. Court to replace the London-based The allocation of fisheries quota by Privy Council. More than 90 percent the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Com- of Mäori who made submissions to mission continued to be bogged down the Select Committee hearings in 2003 in disputes among Mäori. Eleven years opposed the proposed legislation. after the so-called “settlement,” the Many called for constitutional reform allocation is still not complete. In to precede such a move. Such reform December the new commission chair would have to entrench the Treaty of tried to force an agreement and ran a Waitangi in the constitution before propaganda campaign claiming that many Mäori would consider the 96 percent of Mäori supported the introduction of a Supreme Court Commission’s allocation model. The in New Zealand. Submissions often mainstream media believed the propa- noted that the present judicial system ganda, praising the chairman as the discriminates against Mäori, with savior of warring Mäori factions. Mäori being convicted and impris- However, the media subsequently oned at a far greater rate than non- ignored the fact that a large number Mäori. The Privy Council is perceived of hapü (groupings of extended fami- as independent of New Zealand and lies) and (tribal groupings) initi- not tainted with the same racism that ated litigation to prevent the model exists in the New Zealand courts. from being entrenched in legislation. Many felt that a Supreme Court made The litigation failed and the matter is up entirely of New Zealand judges now in the hands of the Minister of would continue to discriminate Fisheries. against Mäori. In December the Local Government In May 2002 a very successful Act passed into law. Mäori had hoped Mäori businessman was appointed for some major reforms to ensure that to guide the setting up of the Mäori they would play a more active and Television Service. He managed to meaningful role in the decision stop media attacks on the service and making of local authorities. For it 160 the contemporary pacific • spring 2004 is at the local authority level where prying into their personal affairs. Mäori resources are most immediately Many Mäori, including members of affected, where decisions are made Parliament from other parties, spoke that directly affect their ancestral out against the cruel treatment by the lands, waterways, seas, and within media. By contrast, the suspension of them, the wähi tapu (the sacred sites ex-Minister from and places of special significance the National Party in July made head- that have been ritually restricted). lines for a couple of days and then Although there are provisions in the vanished. No mention was made of Resource Management Act 1991 to either his family or his private and recognize and provide for these mat- personal affairs. ters, the lack of knowledge and polit- Media assaults on Mäori came ical will to implement the relevant under attack from an unusual source sections of the act means that Mäori this year: a columnist in the New cultural and spiritual concerns are Zealand Herald. Since February 2002 constantly trampled on by developers Tapu Misa has been contributing whose actions are fully condoned by weekly columns in the country’s consent-granting local authorities. largest newspaper. In a column Those whänau (extended families) headed “Media perceptions of Mäori and hapü who can afford to do so still pretty distorted,” she noted that are increasingly resorting to the courts “misunderstanding and misinforma- for relief. Yet the reforms sought by tion abound and I’m beginning to Mäori were so watered down during think some of it is willful. Mäori have the passage of the legislation that all complained for years at the way an judgments about whether Mäori overwhelmingly Päkehä mainstream should be included in decision making media continue to shape and distort were left entirely in the hands of the perceptions about them” (NZH, 27 existing local authorities. To date, only Nov 2002). While the newspaper one of the eighty-six local authorities continues to publish items attacking has made provision for Mäori repre- Mäori, its new editor has yet to with- sentation on their authority, and only draw Misa’s columns in the way that twelve have chosen the Single Trans- columns supportive of Mäori have ferable Vote polling system, which been withdrawn in the past. The would give Mäori a greater chance to Herald continues to publish letters be elected. The overall result appears attacking Misa’s columns, although to be a recipe for continued litigation there has also been the occasional against local authorities by Mäori. letter supporting them. Keeping up their tradition, main- In at least seven of her columns, stream media have persisted with Misa (who is Samoan) has raised the their attacks on Mäori members of issue of racial discrimination not only Parliament. This year it was Donna against Mäori but also against Pacific Awatere-Huata’s turn. When the Islanders, drawing on topical issues right-wing act New Zealand party that demonstrate that racism is alive suspended her in February, the media and well in New Zealand. Media harassed her and her family for weeks, attacks on Mäori for seeking protec- political reviews • polynesia 161 tion for their wähi tapu have occurred billion and NZ$3 billion respectively on at least four different occasions in (Mutu in press). As the Ngäti Ruanui the past year. The Race Relations Treaty Claims Settlement Bill passed Commissioner was vehemently criti- into legislation, Tariana Turia warned cized for defending Mäori because he Parliament that NZ$41 million repre- had compared New Zealand’s colo- sented only a tiny proportion of what nial history of vandalizing Mäori was lost. The government also entered culture and the natural environment negotiations with four other iwi, to the Taliban’s destruction of the including Ngäti Whätua o Öräkei, Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan. whose claim covers city. Misa defended the commissioner, But the government reacted angrily to saying “Joris de Bres chose to talk decisions from the about the many sins of New Zea- and the Court of Appeal, which found land’s colonial government to help in favor of Mäori against the Crown. throw some light on Mäori cultural In May, the Waitangi Tribunal issued issues.” However, she concluded, its finding that Mäori have an interest “we are not yet ready as a society to in the country’s oil and gas resources. acknowledge the ongoing effects of The government immediately declared past wrongs” (NZH,11 Dec 2002). that it would ignore the recommen- One bright note in the year for dation that Mäori interests be recog- Mäori was the release of the film nized. One month later the Court of Whale Rider, based on the novel by Appeal issued its decision that the Witi Ihimaera. It won accolades at the Mäori Land Court has the jurisdiction Sundance Film Festival and awards at to investigate the title of foreshore and other festivals including Seattle, San seabed and to declare its status to be Francisco, Maui, Toronto, and Rotter- Mäori customary land. The Crown dam, and is enjoying great box office had wrongly assumed that it holds success in countries including the title to all these resources, when both United States. It finally screened in common law and the Treaty of Wai- Auckland in January and ran for tangi clearly say that they belong to several months. It is an adaptation Mäori until such time as their title is of a well-known East Coast tradition properly extinguished. A legal com- about an ancestor who rides on a mentator noted, “It is difficult to whale, and makes very poignant com- underestimate the importance of this ments about the restrictive and inflexi- decision to NZ’s general legal develop- ble nature of some Mäori customs. ment. In some ways, this decision is Two settlements of Treaty of Wait- the NZ equivalent of the Mabo judg- angi claims against the Crown were ment of 1992” (Bennion 2003, 1). completed this year: Ngäti Ruanui for The government’s reaction to the NZ$41 million and Ngäti Tüwharetoa Court of Appeal decision was to ki Kawerau for NZ$10.5 million. The announce that it would legislate to money is given to the claimants so give the ownership of all New Zea- that they can buy back their own land’s foreshore and seabed to the land from the Crown. The claims have Crown. The government’s intention to been estimated to be worth NZ$12 remove Mäori rights in respect to such 162 the contemporary pacific • spring 2004 lands would amount to the largest- the meeting to inform their commu- ever confiscation of Mäori property. nities of the outcomes and to seek The outcry from Mäori was instanta- instructions on measures to be taken neous, furious, and uncharacteristi- to resolve the problem. A second cally united. The country appeared national gathering was to be held at to be stunned by the level of anger the end of August. By the end of July, expressed by Mäori, who for once calls for Mäori to take greater control enjoyed the unanimous support of over their own affairs and resources the ten Mäori Labour caucus mem- were becoming more widespread. The bers along with almost all other Mäori government, on the other hand, was members in Parliament. The Labour refusing to discuss the foreshores and government reeled in the face of the seabed matter with anyone other than onslaught, uncomfortably aware that members of its own caucus. they hold all seven of the seats spe- In the year leading up to the cifically designated for Mäori in the announcement, Mäori had become House. Angry outbursts from Päkehä increasingly strident in their criticisms demanding that the government not of government plans to lease out sec- bow to Mäori pressure overwhelmed tions of the coastal marine area for calls by other Päkehä to respect Mäori aquaculture purposes. In December property rights. Opposition parties the Waitangi Tribunal had issued find- went to extraordinary lengths to whip ings that Mäori have rights in respect up strong anti-Mäori sentiment based to aquaculture and marine farming on imagined fears that Mäori would that the Crown had failed to take prevent public access to the country’s into account in its proposals to tender foreshores. Only after several weeks coastal space arguably belonging to of uninformed public debate and Mäori. As a result of highly exploita- speculation did mainstream media tive commercial fishing activities, the start publishing any factual informa- country’s natural fish stocks had tion relating to the issue. become severely depleted. Shellfish Within three weeks of the govern- farming in particular was becoming a ment announcement, Mäori had con- lucrative business, although competi- vened a national gathering to discuss tion for use of coastal space was such the issue. Over 1,000 attended, many that the government decided to regu- of them the mandated representatives late access to it for commercial pur- of the numerous tribal groupings poses. The fact that this would mean throughout the country. Factual infor- that Mäori would probably lose their mation on the issues involved was rights to the coastal space was disre- available both through presentations garded in official circles. After 160 made by experts in the field and for- years of successfully depriving Mäori mal written opinions. The resolutions of almost all their natural resources, from the gathering issued very strong this was just another step in the same warnings to both the government and direction. Officials and the govern- all Mäori members of Parliament not ment chose to turn a blind eye to the to attempt to extinguish or redefine repeated findings and warnings of the Mäori customary title or rights. Waitangi Tribunal that the Crown Representatives returned home from cannot steal Mäori resources with political reviews • polynesia 163 impunity. The decision of the Court government structural reforms; and of Appeal caught them completely off parliamentary by-elections. guard and their announcement that In the mid-1970s, New Zealand— they intended to effectively confiscate under Prime Minister Robert Mul- by legislation took the country back doon and the National government— 140 years to the last legal confisca- cracked down on immigrants who tions of Mäori land. Those actions had overstayed their entry permits. resulted in civil war, as Mäori were One such immigrant, Falema‘i Lesä, a forced to defend their lands. It is Samoan woman, fought back through hoped that the government is more her legal counsels, Dr George Barton, aware this time that any further qc, and Mr Rosenberg. Defeated in attempts to confiscate Mäori land the New Zealand court, Barton and will result in many more Päkehä Rosenberg appealed the decision in fighting on the side of Mäori than the Privy Council in London. On 28 did so in the 1860s. July 1982, the Privy Council upheld margaret mutu the New Zealand–British Nationality and New Zealand Citizenship Act. Barton and Rosenberg argued that References their client was a New Zealand citi- zen by virtue of legislation passed in Bennion, Tom, editor. 2003. The Claim of the Crown is Weak. Maori Law Review: 1923 and 1928, when New Zealand A Monthly Review of Law Affecting still administered Western Sämoa. The Maori (May): 1–3. clincher for the Privy Council was the 1928 British Nationality and Status of Mutu, Margaret. In press. Recovering Aliens (in New Zealand) Act. It held Fagin’s Ill-gotten Gains: Settling Ngäti Kahu’s Treaty of Waitangi Claims Against that the Cook Islands and Western the Crown. In Waitangi: Current Perspec- Sämoa were “in the same manner in tives, edited by David Williams, Michael all respects . . . [and] for all purposes Belgrave, and Merata Kawharu. Auckland: part of New Zealand.” The term Oxford University Press. “New Zealand” was “to be construed as including the Cook Islands and NZH, New Zealand Herald. Daily. Auckland. Western Sämoa” (quoted in SO, 29 Mar 2003). The New Zealand–British Nation- ality and New Zealand Citizenship ¯ Samoa Act clearly states that all Samoans Events and issues that stirred the born in Western Sämoa between 1924 Samoan community in the period and 1948, and their children, were under review include the petition by deemed New Zealand citizens. Clause Samoans to the New Zealand Parlia- 16, Part 3 of that act states, “A per- ment to repeal the Citizenship son who is a British subject immedi- (Western Samoa) Act 1982; rumors ately before the date of commence- surrounding the Sinalei Tourist Resort; ment of this Act shall on that date the controversy over the Oceania Uni- become a New Zealand citizen if he versity of Medicine; the sars threat; was born in Western Sämoa” (quoted in SO, 14 Nov 2002). On 21 August