Advice from Ngata recalled by Tapsell

Press, 26 September 1989, Page 6

Advice from Ngata recalled by Tapsell

By

BRENDON BURNS

in Wellington

The Eastern Maori member of Parliament, Mr Peter Tapsell, yesterday recalled the advice of a predecessor, Sir Apirana Ngata, in defending his call for Maori people to set better standards.

Mr Tapsell, who is Minister of Lands, has drawn criticism for his reported comments that Maoris were failing to face up to their responsibilities in curbing crime. He had said money spent on teaching young children Maori would be wasted without an improvement in the way Maori people conducted themselves and that unemployment was no excuse for crime.

He said Sir Apirana Ngata, the long-serving Maori M.P., had 30 years ago told young Maori people they needed to put their hands on pakeha skills while keeping their culture in their hearts.

Some Maori leaders were saying the culture was all that was needed. “That’s nonsense,” said Mr Tapsell. There was a generation of bright young Maori people who did well at school until the secondary level. From that time onwards many seemed to fall back, said Mr Tapsell.

This was because they saw a poor image of Maoris, as reflected by high crime rates and poor standards.

“It is the fault of us, we older Maoris,” said Mr Tapsell. Some spending on education and training of Maori youth was wasted, he said.

He had seen young Maoris using computers on Access courses when they did not have the basic mathematics to use them properly. Mr Tapsell said spending on teaching Maori children their own language was wasted unless they saw a more positive image presented by Maoridom. The Ngai Tahu trust board’s chairman, Mr Tipene O’Regan, said Mr Tapsell’s comments, as reported, were not a helpful contribution. “It was a totally negative, sermonising, hectoring sort of performance.” Mr O’Regan said he respected

much of what Mr Tapsell had to say. Unemployment was no excuse for crime, but concrete economic and social development policies were needed, not criticism. A Maori lawyer, Mr Moana Jackson, suggested Mr Tapsell’s comments were politically motivated and likely to become more frequent as next year’s election approached. New Zealand’s unemployment problem was the result of Government policies and Mr Tapsell needed to address these before attacking the result. The Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, yesterday declined to be drawn into any reponse about Mr Tapsell’s call for Maoris to improve their behaviour.

He said no distinction was necessary between Maoris and other people.

Everyone had to take responsibility for themselves and the raising of children, he said.