Maori seats bill ‘racist’

Press, 15 September 1976, Page 3

Maori seats bill ‘racist’

PA Hamilton Proposed government legislation permanently to restrict the number of Maori Parliamentary seats to four has been branded as “racist” and undemocratic. And the Matakite movement leader (Dr Douglas Sinclair) has said that his organisation may organise a mass Maori boycott of the next General Election polls in protest. Dr Sinclair attacked the proposals as “apartheid legislation” and said it would give Maoris in the sprawling, separate Maori electorates a status “even worse than second-class voters.” The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) announced on Monday that the Government was drafting legislation to ensure the number of Maori seats remained at four, despite any population increase. Under the Labour Government, the Electoral Amendment Act was created to allow the number of Maori seats to increase or decrease according to the number of Maoris opting for enrolment on the Maori rolls.

The Government’s move has come amid speculation that the number of Maori seats was about to be increased after the census which recorded the total Maori population.

Mr Muldoon denied that the Government had received any report on the likely number of Maori seats under the existing legislation. He said that the Cabinet agreed that a bill would be drafted and approved by Parliament this year before the census results were released. The four Maori seats are at present held by Labour. National has two Maori members representing South Island general seats.

Dr Sinclair said that it was his view that Maoris should protest by boycotting the next polls and his movement would discuss the proposals. “The only way the Maori can point out how much he has been conned is to protest publicly by staying away from the polls,” he said. “The legislation will be racist and ridiculous.” Dr Sinclair said he did not believe that there was a need for separate Maori seats, which were part of an apartheid system dating back to the Maori Wars.

If they were going to be retained there was a need for at least eight of them to allow Maori members of Parliament to service their constituents to a level equal to the general electorates. At present some Maori seats had almost triple the number of Maori people in them that the general seats had.