Conciliator gives own plan for race harmony

Press, 27 July 1982, Page 18

Conciliator gives own plan for race harmony

From

OLIVER RIDDELL,

in Wellington

The office and personality of the Race Relations Conciliator, Mr E. Te IR. (Hiwi) Tauroa, have been very much in the news during the last year, particularly over his attitude to the .Springbok rugby tour and his visit to South Africa. In his annual, report to Parliament, Mr Tauroa has set out his approach to his difficult but increasingly important job. During 1981-82 the office aimed to step up its efforts to inforffl the public and the community of the implications and responsibilities which attach to the Race Relations Act. The aims were two-fold, and the emphasis was placed on prevention rather than cure: • Being better-informed, people would have a greater awareness of their individual responsibilities to each other, and of the consequences of breaching the Jaw;; • In every society there will be people who act in a racist manner; those at whom, such discrimination is directed need to be aware of the protection the law affords them. "Persons with different values can live happily together, can live successfully together, and can enrich each other by retaining and sharing their values,” Mr Tauroa’s report said. “The understanding .of other cultures presents each New

Zealander with a further series of options and choices.- This is of advantage in a fast-changing world where a particular traditional response to a particular situation would be the norm. The understanding of other cultural options presents alternatives that might be more fulfilling for the individual. “We would ask New Zealand people to examine themselves in terms of their multi-cultural abilities. The understanding of the term ‘multi-cultural’ we believe to be the ability to be 'at home’ in a range of cultural situations. In view of the fact that the two major cultural groups in New Zealand are Maori and pakeha we would ask — can each New Zealander fit easily into a Maori situation or a pakeha situation? Unless a New Zealander is at home in a Caucasian-Polynesian, or Cau-casian-Asian situation, then he is not even bi-cultural. Without honest evaluation, we might not move at all,” the report said. “We chose to place before our people the suggestion that we examine the concept of a democracy as it applies to a multi-cultural situation. Democratic decisions or majority decisions which relate to areas that are known to all are the best means of decision-making. Where, however, in a multicultural situation the majority are unaware of a minority value system, then honest voting could without any

intent perpetuate an outvoted minority. We would make the point that if there were to be changes in our systems that would reflect an input from another culture, then it would be for the majority culture to create this change.

“We would stress that the majority of New Zealanders do not approve of racism. Most New Zealanders are concerned for the good of others. We have become complacent. We would stress to the communities at large that traditional practices in decision-making can lead to unintentional discrimination — and unconscious discrimination is just as hurtful as intentional discrimination.

"We would attempt to collect and collate information from other sources so that our office could become a resource centre for other groups working within the area of race relations.

“We chose to take the offensive on education in the race relations area. We chose to contact people rather than wait for people to invite participation. We considered that groups of persons in power — those whose actions had impact on others — were important contacts, and an avenue for disseminating the advantages of a diverse culture. We set out to preach strength through diversity,” • the report said.