Lack of Maori policy blamed on Mr Rata

Press, 16 April 1980, Page 1

Lack of Maori policy blamed on Mr Rata

PA Wellington The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) yesterday blamed the former Labour member, Mr Matiu Rata, for the lack of Maori policy advanced by the Labour Party in recent years. Mr Rata, now an Independent member, was the Minister of Maori Affairs from 1972 to 1975 and chairman of the party’s Maori policy council for 10 years. He has, announced he will resign from Parliament on April 30, forcing a by-election in the Northern Maori electorate.

Mr Rowling announced on Sunday part of Labour’s Maori policy and yesterday released a further package. He said at a news conference that these policies had been “in the pipeline” for many years. Mr ' Rowling said they did not emerge in 1978, when they should have, because there was “some dereliction of duty” on the part of the then chairman of the Maori policy council. “There is no use beating about the bush — it was

Mr Rata,” Mr Rowling said.

The Labour Party’s main policy council relied on the Maori policy council to put forward policy, Mr Rowling said. This was traditionally accepted as it was presented. “We don’t give it a pakeha flavour,’’ said Mr Rowling, who is chairman of the Labour policy council. “The difficulty was that in the 1975-1978 period the well seemed to dry up. We did not have a flow-on from the Maori policy council to the party.” He said: “That roadblock is very much cleared now.”

Mr Rowling also said in reply to reporters’ questions that the policies had been given urgency because it seemed a by-elec-tion was possible in the Northern Maori electorate.

Mr Rowling denied that the announcement of Maori policy at this time amounted to bribing Northern Maori voters. Labour’s member for Southern . Maori, Mrs Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan, took over as chairman of the council after Mr Rata’s resignation from the Labour Party.