Row erupts after ‘token Maori’ remark in House

Press, 3 November 1983, Page 12

Row erupts after ‘token Maori’ remark in House

PA Wellington A row broke out in Parliament on Tuesday evening after the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Couch, referred to “token” Maori representatives in the Oppo s i tion. Mr Couch, made the remark during debate on the Maori Affairs Department estimates, and drew a quick response from the member for Western Maori, Mr K. T. Wetere (Lab). Mr Wetere asked that Mr Couch withdraw the comment “because I do not believe the Minister had the right to say what he did say in view of the fact that we do represent dur people.” In the years that there had been Maori members “we have never been spoken to as being tokens,” Mr Wetere said. The chairman, Mr J. F. Luxton, said that while it was customary to refer only to “honourable members,” and Mr Couch should desist from making further similar comments, the remark was not particularly offensive and Mr Couch did not need to withdraw.

Mr M. K. Moore (Lab., Papanui) said it was surely the member who should determine whether a remark was offensive.

“I put it to you that to be called a token representative of a race is not something that ought to be brushed aside lightly,” he said.

After Mr Luxton again declined to ask Mr Couch to withdraw the comment, Mr Moore demanded that the Speaker, Sir Richard Harrison, be recalled to the chair. A vote was taken, which Mr Luxton declared lost, sparking another row. Opposition speakers said it was usual to call for a division on such a question. Mr R; W. Prebble (Lab., Auckland Central) called Mr Luxton a “token chairman” and Mr Couch a “token Minister,” adding, “We will get the Speaker back one way or another,” while Mr Moore referred to “token integrity.” The Prime Minister, ’Mr Muldoon, said that the conduct of Messrs Moore and Prebble constituted “gross misbehaviour.”

After a drawn out argument, the Chief Opposition Whip, Mr J. L. Hunt (New Lynn) suggested that as members should only be referred to as “honourable,” perhaps Mr Couch would be prepared to withdraw the remark.

Mr Couch withdrew and apologised. Earlier in the debate, Mrs Whetu Tirakatene-Sullivan (Lab., Southern Maori) criticised the amount allocated for Maori housing. The |17.9 million, while the largest single item in the vote, would provide loans for only 570 homes, she said. In 1979, 1000 homes had been established and ever since the total had fallen.

She said that while 73 per cent of pakehas owned their own home, only 40 per cent of Maoris did. That percentage was higher 30 years ago, she said. She also criticised the Government’s record in Maori health, saying that child mortality rates were higher for Maoris than any other group in society. Mr Couch said the housing activity of the department would be retained. Where applicants required extra assistance, where children were living in substandard condictions, even where the income qualifications were not met, Maori Affairs would consider assistance to the limit of the family’s ability to repay the loan, he said. On Maori health, Mr Couch said that a lot of the problem was self-inflicted. “What we put in our mouths—that is what costs us ourhealth. Cigarettes and alcohol are our biggest problems. We should be en-. couraging our people to refrain from those things,” he said.

Dr B. C. Gregory (Lab., Northern Maori) said that Maori people would suffer disproportionately from the social and economic deprivation which he said the Government was responsible for.

There were depressing levels of human misery for Maoris in the fields of emSent, housing, and

He said the department had not addressed itself to housing sufficiently—“ Maori Affairs has not done well by. its people.” Mr lan McLean (Nat., Tarawera) said the Maori people were demonstrating a resurgence of identity among both young and old. “They are standing tall,” he said, “based on the old traditions, the culture and, above all, the language.” Dr P. W. Tapsell (Lab., Eastern Maori) said it was difficult to see why, in each of the last two years, the Minister had seen fit to underspend his budget $2 million. In 1980 the Minister set up a Royal Commission to look into the Maori land courts, he said.

“The .two foremost recommendations were that the administration within the court ought .to .be quickly improved to . the stage where Maori land titles could be registered in the Land Transfer Office, and that if in the near future the department was unable to satisfactorily service the courts, they ought to be serviced by .the Justice Department. “I want to suggest that the present situation withih the Maori Land Courts is a shambles. The records are totally out of date. They are hopeless for any efficient use of land.

“That report was issued in 1980 and virtually nothing has been done since then.

He should take urgent steps now to see that the Maori Land Court is able to carry out its function more efficiently.”

Mr J. A. Banks (Nat., Whangarei) praised Maori Affairs work trusts in his electorate, saying that the trusts were helping to keep young Maoris in work. But one of the problems was in getting administrative officers to help the trusts and give them leadership and direction. Mr N. J. Kirk (Ind. Sydenham) said the Labour Party treated its Maori members as a joke.

“The last member for Northern Maori, Mr Mat Rata, came into this House only to find he had been demoted and not even told,” Mr Kirk said. He said the most active member of Parliament on Maori Affairs over the last two years had been Dr Tapsell. ‘’He got a few kicks in the shins for talking about Maori tokenism last Friday when his speech on the education vote was discussed,” Mr Kirk said. Mr Couch said din reply that the department had underspent by $2 million because of the 3 per cent cuts in Government spending, which cuts were evenly spread over all programmes. ' The Social Credit leader, Mr Beetham, referred to the pursuit of the multi-cultural ideal by the Maori Affairs Department. “I am a little concerned that the pursuit of that idea has within it the seeds of separatism,” he said. Mr Couch said Maoris were being given special development because they were at a disadvantage—at the moment. He said he could assure Mr Beetham “it is not the intention of our Maori people to become totally separate. “I don’t go round emphasising the word ‘separate’ because people are incluned to relate it to other countries, and that is a danger.” Mr Couch said there could be a “backlash” if attempts were made to make such things as the teaching of Maori in schools compulsory when people in the community did not want to accept compulsion.