Tribunal ‘vent for volcano’

Press, 1 August 1989, Page 4

Tribunal ‘vent for volcano’

By

JANE DUNBAR

Public anxiety about the Waitangi Tribunal is shortsighted as the Tribunal is providing a controlled vent for the “active volcano” of Maori grievances, says its director, Mr Wira Gardiner.

“Since the Waitangi Tribunal was set up we have not seen large numbers of Maori taking to the streets and direct action to vent their frustrations,” said Mr Gardiner. “Instead they are able to bring their grievances to an appropriate venue.” No-one could forget the long land marches of the 19705, and the Bastion Point protest where 600 policemen were used to evict hundreds of Maoris occupying their ancestral land, he said.

If the Waitangi Tribunal was taken away, Maori people would feel the need to take stronger action.

“To reject the Tribunal would close the vents on a very active volcano,” he said.

Public anxiety about the Tribunal was understandable when so few people understood its role. “Inadequate informa-

tion creates a vacuum filled by misinformation, drivel and poison. “The public’s anxiety is being inflamed by people who take advantage of public ignorance to suggest all sorts of horrid things,” said Mr Gardiner.

The One New Zealand Foundation, for example, had claimed the Tribunal was a “kangaroo court,” and a “forum for Leftwing radicals to gain control of other people’s property.”

This was utter nonsense. The Tribunal had the power of a commission of inquiry, not a court. Its members included two professors, four lawyers, historians, leading Maori elders and a former president of Federated Farmers.

“To suggest that this distinguished group of New Zealanders could be subject to hijack is like

suggesting the All Blacks are a pack of cream cakes,” he said. "In my view the Tribunal is a positive mechanism of change. It provides a vent for releasing pent-up frustrations which many tribes have experienced over the past 150 years.

“Maoris are no different to any other New Zealander. They need a venue to air their grievances, they need their day in Court, and they want an outcome,” Mr Gardiner said. Three divisions of the Waitangi Tribunal are hearing claims throughout the country. The largest is the Ngai Tahu claim which covers large areas of the South Island.

The fishing industry’s legal submission on the Ngai Tahu claim will be heard in Wellington this week.