220 the contemporary pacific • spring 2002 Ma¯ori Issues how ‘home invasions’ [elicit] such out- pourings of concern for the victims As more high-profile cases of Mäori and an intense despising of the invad- not coping in New Zealand society ers while the invasion of the ‘home have been brought to the nation’s lands’ of Mäori does not engender the attention, Mäori leaders have started same level of emotion and concern for to make a much more concerted effo r t the Mäori victims.” to steer debate toward consideration However the section of the speech of not only the underlying causes but that riveted the media for weeks after- also the acceptance of Mäori-defined ward was the minister’s reference to remedies and solutions. Several Mäori the holocaust that indigenous people, parents and caregivers have been con- including Mäori, had suffered as a victed in the past year for the severe result of colonial contact and behav- abuse and murder of young children. io r . “I understand that much of the Th r ee more children and then an adult research done in this area focussed lost their lives in house fires in the Far on the trauma suffered by Jewish sur- North in April and June 2001. These vivors of the holocaust of World War fires, like those that claimed the lives II,” she said. “I understand that the of three children in a fire in the same same has been done with Vietnam region in 1997, were a direct result veterans. The Treaty of Waitangi of continuing poverty. Young Mäori Tribunal . made a reference [to the offenders are increasingly being con- holocaust suffered by Mäori] in its victed for brutal rapes, murders, and Taranaki Report of 1996” (Turia “home invasions.” And the rate of 2000). Mäori youth suicide is one of the Overnight the media declared that highest in the world and increasing the word holocaust was the sole pre- at an alarming rate. serve of Jewish people, misquoted In a hard-hitting speech to the New Turia, and launched an attack on her Zealand Psychological Society Confer- that in its viciousness surpassed even ence in August, Tariana Turia, the the attacks on Tuku Morgan in 1997. associate minister of corrections, The prime minister attempted to cen- health, housing, Mäori affairs, social sure Turia by issuing an edict banning services, and employment, confronted the use of the word holocaust. The these issues directly. Predictably, the edict had to be toned down to advice speech brought down the wrath of in the face of a massive backlash from mainstream New Zealand media on Mäoridom, including other Mäori her head. In asking New Zealand psy- members of parliament, in support of chologists to consider, analyze, and Turia. In turn, Turia apologized to the find remedies for the effects of post- Jewish community if her comments colonial traumatic stress disorder on had caused them offense. She drew Mäori, she pointed out that she saw unexpected support from some non- the connections between “home inva- Mäori quarters including a retiring sions” and the invasion of the “home member of the conservative National lands” of indigenous people by a peo- party who commented “New Zea- ple from another land. “What I have landers who react with horror that difficulty in reconciling,” she said, “is p olitical reviews • p o lyne sia 221 she should have described it as a holo- at the next election (2002). She was caust are being a bit precious—or also severely criticized for refusing to indulging in collective amnesia” attend Waitangi Day celebrations at (Upton 2001). Waitangi and for ordering the gover- Following the sustained attack on nor general not to attend. Tariana Tariana Turia, other Mäori members Turia and Minister of Mäori Affairs of parliament have kept a low profile. Parekura Horomia defied her and The two exceptions were Dover attended. Samuels, who sought media attention In an attempt to dampen Mäori in his fight against the prime minister criticism, the “closing-the-gaps” policy for forcing his resignation, and San- was replaced by a “capacity-building” dra Lee, whose lack of understanding policy that allows funding to be given of Mäori politics and protocol finally to grassroots Mäori groups and orga- led her own party, Mana Motuhake, nizations to develop their own pro- to dump her as its leader. grams. However, given the scarcity Tariana Turia has long championed of administrative expertise in many the strengthening and provision of of these groups, unless the Ministry of resources for the basic social group- Mäori Development provides a lot of ings within Mäori society—the wha- personnel on the ground to assist and nau, the hapü, and the iwi. The previ- train people on the job, and to help ous conservative National government contract the appropriate expertise, had developed a policy that aimed at this policy will also fail. closing the gaps between Mäori and It is becoming increasingly obvious non-Mäori. The present government that the lack of administrative experi- carried the policy on until it came ence and expertise in Mäori commu- under fire from right-wing politicians nities, particularly in commercial mat- demanding that the government stop ters, is a matter of serious concern. In providing special funding targeted many cases progress in development is specifically for Mäori. Bowing to that severely hampered where communities pressure, the prime minister aban- are not able to accept outside advice. doned the policy in December, noting The beneficiaries of many Mä o r i tru s t s the advice of her Mäori caucus mem- (including the Crown Forestry Rental bers that Mäori do not wish to close Trust, which receives millions of dol- the gaps between themselves and lars every year on behalf of Mäori) Päkehä if it means becoming the same have repeatedly accused their boards as Päkehä. For many years Mäori of corruption and mismanagement. have called for control of their own Most of those organizations have destinies along with the necessary received less media attention than is resources. The prime minister came perhaps warranted, given the extent under fire from the traditionally sup- of Mäori anger about them, but the portive Ratana church when she made same cannot be said of Tainui, which her annual visit late in January. They has been subjected to intense media put her on notice that unless her gov- scrutiny and criticism over the past ernment performed and delivered to year. Mäori it would lose Mäori support As a result of some unwise invest- 222 the contemporary pacific • spring 2002 ments, Tainui has sustained losses ments have fared better. Many refuse totaling approximately n z $35 million to discuss their progress with main- of their Treaty of Waitangi settlement stream media, and although a couple of n z $170 million, which they have been prep a r ed to talk about their received in 1995. For over a year now, achievements they receive only fleeting the country’s largest daily newspaper mention. Ngai Tahu, for example, has has been conducting a campaign continued to invest its settlement con- against Tainui, attacking them for the servatively and wisely. The n z$170 handling of their settlement, naming million settlement received in 1998 is individual members of the governing now valued at over n z$366 million, body, and openly fueling animosity and Ngai Tahu is once again the and disputes between members. The largest landowner in its ancestral New Zealand Herald website lists homeland, the South Island. In Roto- more than eighty articles attacking rua, Ngati Whakaue’s settlement of Tainui, prominently published in the n z$5.2 million is now valued at news sections in the past year, despite n z$17 million. In Auckland, Ngati the fact that the compensation money Whatua of Orakei has received a total is not public money but private money of n z$8 million plus some housing belonging to the tribe. Even the death since 1987. Their assets are now val- of the chief negotiator, who had bat- ued at more than n z$60 million. tled first the government and then his In terms of profit margins and own people over Tainui’s losses, did growing the asset, by far the most not stop the newspaper’s onslaught. successful settlement has been the By comparison, attempts to locate n z$170 million Sealords fisheries set- critical comment on that same news- tlement reached in 1992. The Treaty paper’s website about the n z$600 of Waitangi Fisheries Commission million losses of Air New Zealand, now owns nearly half of the country’s the nz$54 million debt of e n z a (who fishing quota and has assets valued at took over from the New Zealand almost one billion dollars. However, Apple and Pear Marketing Board), the assets and funds that made up the Qantas New Zealand debts of n z$88 settlement were not given to Mäori million, Brierley losses of n z$4.5 bil- but to a Crown-appointed commission lion over the past ten years, and the whose task was to allocate the assets collapses of many publicly listed com- and funding to recognised iwi. It has panies with far higher losses and debts yet to make any allocation, having than Tainui produce only passing been dogged by litigation, which has mentions in the business pages. On seen many millions of dollars of the rare occasions the chairman of the commission’s (and hence iwi) money board may be named, but the ano- spent on lawyers. Essentially the nymity and personal privacy of the Crown still controls the proceeds of rest of the directors is carefully pro- the settlement.