Mr Tauroa’s tour ruling brings fire

Press, 29 April 1981, Page 2

Mr Tauroa’s tour ruling brings fire

Pj L, „ Auckland Ihe Race Relations Conciliator, Mr Hiwi Tauroa, has been criticised by antibpnngbok tour leaders for his judgment that any public body would be breaching the Race Relations Act if it Withheld facilities from the Springboks. His stand did, however, win praise from the Society for the Protection of Individual Rights. Mr Tauroa considered the question after complaints aßer Manukau and Wellington City Councils decided to close their facilities to the team.

Mr Tauroa cited sections of the Race Relations Act, which stated that discrimination was unlawful if it was based on colour, race, ethnic, or national origins. , He said that if the councils were to put their resolutions into effect . . . “Then such bodies must be ruled to be in breach of the Race Relations Act.”

Mrs Jill Amos, the local body politician who had sponsored the Manukau City Council motion, yesterday described Mr Tauroa’s judgment as “quite wrong.” “I think he has interpreted the act incorrectly.” ; The secretary of the Citizens Association for Racial Equality, Mr J. O. Newnham, said Mr Tauroa had abused his position. “Certainly he has misunderstood the reason for boy-

cotting the Springboks,” he said.

Mr Newnham explained that the act was passed by the Government to give support to the United Nations convention to prevent all forms of racial discrimination.

He said the anti-tour moves had been made not on the basis of racial origin, but because the Springboks represented the system of apartheid. The spokesperson for S.P.I.R. in the North Island, Mrs Yvonne Wilcox, described Mr Tauroa’s decision as a ‘fair one.”

“The act is there to protect us all. I suppose it’s really the only decision , he Could reach.” She said that if Mr Tauroa had ruled against the complaints, one of which was laid by 5.P.1.R., local bodies could be in the position of being used for a number of purposes. ‘

Wellington City Council leaders have also rejected the Race: Relations Conciliator’s opinion. Cr Frank' O’Flynn said it was “pathetic” that Mr Tauroa should come up with such a decision.

It was “all the more sad that he is a member of the Maori race, one of the ethnic groups for whose protection the legislation was passed.” The Mayor, Mr E. M. C. Fowler, said the council could only assume that this was a preliminary decision, because Mr Tauroa had not sought any information from the council about its decision. He has asked the Town Clerk, Mr lan McCutcheon, to pass on the council’s views to Mr Tauroa. Neither Mr Fowler nor Ct

O’Flynn thought that the issue should again be referred to the City Council in the light of Mr Tauroa’s opinion.

The Race Relations Conciliator has again shown himself incapable of fulfilling his role and should resign immediately, the member of Parliament for Southern Maori, Mrs Whetu Tirika-tene-Sullivan, said. The decision illustrated his misinterpretation of the act and reflected his personal stance on the Springbok tour issue, she said. “The Race Relations Act was based on the United Nations declaration of Human Rights, which as most people will realise, is specifically opposed and aims at ending the apartheid system.”

“For Mr Tauroa to twist the act to say the Springboks are being discriminated against on the basis of race and colour, misses the whole point .that local bodies and others are withholding facilities in protest against the Springboks’ belief in apartheid.

“It could reasonably be expected the Race Relations Conciliator would agree with their stance — not oppose it on the grounds of legislation meant to protect race relations,” she said.

She said the Governmentappointed conciliator has shown his pro-apartheid stance in the past when he put his name forward to coach the All Blacks against the Springboks. “His resignation was called for then when his position as Race Relations Conciliator became untenable — that situation still stands and I call for his immediate resignation,” she said.