Maori Opposition To Idea Of Maori Parliament

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32166, 9 December 1969, Page 18

Maori Opposition To Idea Of Maori Parliament

(Nmo Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, December 8. Suggestions that the Ratana Church wanted to establish a Maori parliament in New Zealand were spumed by the main council of the church in Auckland today.

An executive meeting of the Auckland regional council of the church—which represents 26 registered apostles and five parish committees with--in the Auckland district —was held tonight. It passed three resolutions. The first was that the council dissociated Itself “without qualification” from the suggestion about the forma-

tion of an exclusive Maori Parliament. Tbe council also deplored the use of the church’s name as a means of expressing public political questions, and called upon its members to refrain from this practice. The third resolution said that the council affirmed the belief in Maori representatives in a New Zeeland Parliament to ensure the social and economic advancement of the Maori race. One Voice In Rotorua today the idea of a separate Maori Parliament was denounced as being ridiculous and quite impracticable . by an executive member of the church in the Bay of Plenty. The executive member, Mr Michael Hohepa, of Rotolti, said he could not believe that the church itself was behind

themove. The instigators appeared to be a group representative of the Auckland area. “There can be only one voice that speaks for the church and that is the president and his committee," said Mr Hohepa. The question of a Mqori Parliament was not discussed at the last synod meeting of his ehurch, and had nothing to do with the church atall “You just can’t have two Parliaments ruling in one country the size of New Zealand. How would they adopt laws? The laws must conflict.” “In this modern age the trend is to unite as one people,” said Mr Hohepa. “It is not the belief of the church to divide people.” It was a “hideous thought” that a separate Maori Parlia-

ment could be established in New Zealand, the Ngati Poneke Association’s president (Mr F. B. Katene), said today, according to a Press Association message from Wellington. Describing the suggestion as “rot” and not representative of a lot of Maori thinking on the matter, Mr Katene said: “We are .one people and it is in our interest to remain so.”

It was “a shame” the Maori people did not have a political representative in the governing party rather than all four Maori seats in the opposition, he said. The Labour member of Parliament for Southern Maori, Mrs W. Tirikatene-Sullivan, said Maori candidates standing for European seats had done significantly welt. “European voters have demonstrated tteir readiness to support competent Maori candidates. I hope this trend will be advanced to the stage where Maoris are elected by Europeans.

Sovereign Crown The secretary of the Maori Council (Mr X M. Booth), said the council was the nearest thing to a separate Parliament It contained “one or two Ratana members" and they had the same rights to representation as anybody else on the council. There was certainly a need for a Maori voice to be heard and the most extreme view was in favour of Maoris being able to make their own laws, but this was incompatible with a sovereign Crown.