Maori frustration seen at Summit

Press, 31 October 1984, Page 1

Maori frustration seen at Summit

PATRICIA HERBERT

in Wellington Frustration, a growing separatist spirit, and an urgent demand for reform surfaced yesterday afternoon among delegates at the Maori economic summit meeting. Dr Pat Hohepa, representing the Treaty of Waitangi discussion group and the Maori Language Council, set the ball rolUng by dismissing the just-announced $500,000 Government grant to the kohanga reo movement as a “mere pittance.” It would mean an extra $2 a week for each child in the language nests, he said and urged that Maori be given the same status as English and taught at all levels. In some schools and classes, it might be used exclusively if there was sufficient demand from parents, he said. Dr Hohepa also called on the Government to give the

Treaty of Waitangi power of law and to institute “a realistic, accelerated programme” of settling grievances related to it. Failing this, he said the summit should resolve that Aotearoa be decolonised so that the sovereign, pretreaty status of the Maori people was restored and Maori nationhood established. A youth representative, Mr Toni Waho, was next to speak. “Our land was stolen from us and we want it back,” he said. “All Crown lands should be handed over to Maori tribal authorities to control. “We are not the beggars. We are the robbed and we demand the right to selfsufficiency.” A similar view was put by Mr Paul Reed, who asked the Minister of Maori Affairs and conference chairman, Mr Wetere, for the right to speak. He was not on the speaking list but

was given five minutes on the podium. The “priority issue” facing Maoris was their right to the land which had been confiscated from them, he said. “It is a crime which has to be acknowledged by this Government and the Crown

and the land has to be returned to its owners. Nothing less will do,” he told delegates. Ms Mereta Mita spoke of the need for a separate Maori television and audio unit, saying that a feasibility study had shown that it would cost only $414,000 to establish and run for the first year. This represented less than 1 per cent of the total spent on film and television annually and Maoris comprised 12 per cent of the population, she said. Mr Horo Brennan, secretary of the Christchurch Nga Hau E Wha marae, said an estimated 38 per cent of the total Maori labour force was out of work and that they were bearing an “unjust and unequal share” of the unemployment burden. Maoris were the last to be considered for permanent jobs because of their lack of skills and good work habits, their attitudes to authority and responsibility,

and the prejudice of some employers, he said. He then presented 10 recommendations which, he said, were aimed at recognising the separate needs of Maoris and might therefore be seen by some as “racist.” Among them were the employment of more Maoris in the Labour Department, and rehabilitation programmes for Maoris just released from prison or dependent on alcohol and drugs. “Our people have been forced to accept the injustices of the last 100 years,” he said. “It is. now time for action and, if the anger of the Maori throughout the nation is not heeded, the widening gap in race relations in this country will continue and New Zealand will not be the better off.” Mr Parekura Horomia, of Tolaga Bay near Gisborne, dwelt on the need for Maori youth training. “Temporary job schemes and extended age-groups for

school attendances only halt the progression of young people into adult ranks,” he said. “I tell you that Maori youth are dejected and sick of it and are being caught in the human back-log. They are struggling to see any realistic hope in the near future ... and are now hinting at open rebellion.” However, Mr Rino Tirikatene, a Wellington-based employers’ advocate and district head of the Ratana Church, turned the argument inward. “As a race we have been decimated by the weaponry of Western seduction,” he said and urged Maoris to stop “boozing,” smoking, drug-taking, and playing Housie. He also said that many young Maoris prejudiced their chances of getting a job by turning up with friends to the interview rather than going by themselves, and by getting distracted and restless. They must learn to act as

individuals, Mr Tirikatene said. Mr Zack Wallace, who starred in the film, “Utu,” but before then spent 14 years of his life in and out of penal institutions, spoke about prison reform “from a Maori point of view.” He suggested the establishment of a “camp” where first offenders, court referrals, and young people at risk from all races might be sent for two years. There they would learn work skills and aspects of Maori culture. He said this would be more likely to achieve rehabilitation than the- present system with its recidivism rate of 80 per cent over five years. The prisons now were “bringing out guys covered in tattoos like myself who will never get a go like I got and who will continue to distrust people, shoot them, whack them down, then go back to jail,” he said. Further reports, page 2