Mr Bata 'far from trounced'

Press, 9 June 1980, Page 1

Mr Bata ' far from trounced '

PA Auckland Mana Motuhake’s respectable performance in the Northern Maori by-election raises the question of whether it will continue to be a force in New Zealand politics. Although Labour had _a decisive win, Mr Matiu Rata’s Mana Motuhake was far from trounced. Labour won 52.44 per cent (3328 votes) of the ballot and Mana Motuhake 37.46 per cent (2377 votes), a lead of 951 votes for Labour.

The sccessful Labour candidate, Dr B. C. Gregory, said he believed that Mana Motuhake support would erode in next year’s General Election even though the movement intended to contest all four Maori and possibly some European marginal seats as well, depending on other candidates’ attitudes. Mr Rata contested that view, but he did not put all the emphasis on votes. He had always held that his movement should be seen in Maori rather than purely political terms and

he believed it was satisfying a Maori need. “Young people constitute 68 per cent of the Maori population,” he said. “I have grave doubts the Labour Party can contain or inspire them. “It is not so much that they are going for me but for an alternative policy which they can relate to which is Maori.”

For the ' “sake of the country” he hoped that policies which accorded with his movement were brought in.

Mr Rata is now unemployed. He has been without a Parliamentary salary since April 30 when he resigned from Parliament. “The first thing I have to attend to is my family interests. 1 am not in a hurry to seek re-employ-ment. We have existed on less than nothing before,” Mr Rata said.

He hopes to be able to work for his movement full-time, , provided the members agree. He cannot dtaw a Parliamentary pension until he is 50 (he

is now 46) and it is believed it will then be based on 17 thirty-seconds of his salary at the time he ceased to be a member of Parliament.

Dr Gregory said .Maoris had endsored Labour policies. The result also showed, he said, that there was some concern about the separatism issue. “We are a multi-cultural society and we must encourage cultural- expression, but this can be done within the framework of government as it exists,” he said.