Bastion Point action defended by P.M.

Press, 29 May 1978, Page 2

Bastion Point action defended by P.M.

PA Hastings The Prime Minister (Mr Muldoon) has defended the actions of the Minister of Lands (Mr Young) in regard to Bastion Point. "Bastion Point is not Maori land,” he said. “It is Crown land and the Minister of Lands has been very patient in letting the courts take their proper course and only finally acting when it was dear that the protesters, who were a very small minority of even their own Ngati Whatua people, were determined to remain on the land.

“Contrary to the attitude it takes at present, the Labour Party, in particular Mr Rata, when Minister of Lands, had in 1974 proposals for the subdivision of Bastion Point in which a considerable amount was going to be devoted to housing — and at no time did he even say it was Maori housing, just ordinary housing — so that his attitude represents a complete reversal of the position,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Muldoon, interviewed on his arrival at Hastings on Saturday, said that the police had performed extraordinarily well in what were verv delicate circumstances. There were no incidents and there was no possible chance of any criticism of the police, “which the extreme Left-wing element behind Mr Joe Hawke would have been delighted to have had, so that it could have given a label of police brutality,” Mr Muldoon said. Mr Muldoon told the National Party’s Wellington devisional conference, at

Hastings: “We have had many months of heart searching over this matter because it is not the policy of this Government to disadvantage the Maori people,” said Mr Muldoon.

A solution had been found which was recognised by Maori elders and by the New Zealand Maori Council, and even by those who up to the end had said they had sympathy for Mr Hawke and his people but finally said “they’ll have to go.” Mr Muldoon said he had sent a letter of commendation to the Commissioner of Police (Mr R. J. Walton) about the way in which the protesters had been evicted from Bastion Point.

It would echo the view of the vast majority of New Zealanders, Mr Muldoon said. It had been a situation where some people would have loved to have been able to talk of police brutality and was one of the most difficult situations the police had faced. “There were those who wanted to blazen across the news media of the world that we had racial violence here, but the police did not put a foot wrong,” said Mr Muldoon.

A protest outside Parliament on Friday over the Bastion Point issue had been led by Mr T. Poata — “the leading Maori Communist in this country” — who apS eared to have a permanent ome on the steps of Parliament.

Mr Muldoon later told the meeting that Labour’s Maori members of Parliament had

performed badly, but the National Party would have four Maori members representing general seats next year. “Then we will see across the floor of the House who best represents the interests of the Maori people in this country,” Mr Muldoon said. He would release details of a subdivision plan for Bastion Point which was prepared in 1974 by the Labour Government.

He said that the plan was prepared with the approval of the then Minister of Island and Maori Affairs, Mr Rata. Mr Muldoon devoted a considerable part of his address to the Bastion Point issue, and said he “wanted to give credit where credit was due.”

He singled out the Minister of Lands (Mr V. S. Young) and department officers for “conducting themselves for many months with patient endeavour.” The Government in turn had faced strife, distortion, and insults, from a people to whom that kind of thing was normally foreign. The controversial area of land would become the site for many Maoris, and would include Maori pensioner housing. There would be some non-Maori housing to “round off three streets” which had been there since the time of the Nash Government.

The cost of the scheme would not involve cash from Maori people but $250,000 would be advanced from the Maori Trust Fund and recovered from housing rents.