Wetere under fire

Press, 2 December 1987, Page 3

Wetere under fire

By OLIVER RIDDELL in Wellington

A long-planned party was held in Parliament last evening. It celebrated the eighteenth anniversary of the election to Parliament of two friends — the Minister of Finance, Mr Douglas, and the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere — in 1969. For Mr Wetere there were mixed emotions: only hours earlier' the Opposition had been howling for his resignation.

Mr Wetere was nearly Minister of Maori affairs during the years of the Kirk-Rowling Government in 1972-75. Mr Kirk had advocated his claims against those of Mr Matiu Rata, who got the job.

Mr Wetere lived in Mr Rata’s shadow until Mr Rata resigned from the Labour Party to set up the Mana Motuhake Party. Since then Mr Wetere has been Labour’s spokesman on matters Maori and has sat on the front bench of the Government since 1984.

His strength has been

that of an advocate; he has few administrative skills, but this has been a time of intense activity with great administrative changes in Maoridom. The move towards devolution of social welfare delivery, of job training through Maori access schemes, the creation of Mana Enterprises to set up Maori businesses, the enhanced legal status of the Treaty of Waitangi, all these and other changes have placed great pressure on Maori administrators. Mr Wetere and his department have often seemed to be lagging behind. Too much has been asked of the department too quickly. There have been complaints that action was too slow and badly done, that corners were being cut and monitoring not up to standard. Late last year the department became involved in unapproved overseas loans. This led to Mr Wetere offering his resignation. If he had known about the loans he ought to have stepped in sooner, or if he had not

known then he ought to have known.

His resignation was not accepted and more resources were given to the department. The pressure to approve Maori employment and other opportunities was too great for the pace to be slowed down or for Mr Wetere to be allowed to go.

Yet the criticism has continued and Mr Wetere has continued to bear the brunt of it. Mr Wetere is an immensely likeable man. Even his harshest critics like him. He has been described as the Ronald Reagan of New Zealand politics; a man everyone likes and everyone criticises.

Whether he is the right man to be Minister of Maori affairs, with the breath-taking changes he is overseeing, is open to argument. As far as the Government and most Maoris are concerned, he is the only possible Minister. There is no member of the Cabinet the Government would find it harder to replace.