Orchestrated attack on race relations—M.P.

Press, 5 February 1987, Page 7

Orchestrated attack on race relations—M.P.

PA Wellington A Maori' member of Parliament yesterday accused the Opposition of conducting an orchestrated attack on race relations as part of its election strategy.

Mrs Whetu TirikateneSullivan (Lab., Southern Maori> said she was saddened by Opposition attempts at “political pointsscoring on the backs of the Maori and Pacific Island people.

“The attacks on what are predominantly Maori work groups, on the initiative of Maori Affairs officers and the questioning of Pacific Island visitors carry all the hallmarks of an orchestrated attack on race rela-

tions,” Mrs TirikateneSullivan said during a general debate. She said the Opposition had stooped to the level of the “infamous” Cossack cartoons of its 1975 election campaign which had been “designed to undermine race relations and to gain office.”

Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan attacked National’s race record over the last 20 or so years in office, saying it had “led the Maori people down the garden path to the point where they are in the worst social and economic crisis in modern times.”

“They stood by and watched it all happen,” she said. For the Maori people, the results had

been disastrous. “This Government therefore inherited a department and a people neglected by successive National Governments and facing crises at every point.

“In short, Maori people, have been conned by the honeyed phrases of National politicians to expect much more than was ever to be delivered.” National had called for a return to throwing “crumbs” to the Maori people. “With much of Maoridom caught in the insidious cycle of deprivation, long-term policies are desperately needed,” Mrs Tirikatene-Sullivan said.