Peters doing a Don Brash - Sharples

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is playing "the race card" with comments accusing the Maori Party of fostering political separatism, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples says.
On the House blog: Who's really playing the race card, Pita Sharples?
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Speaking at the close of his party's annual conference in Taupo yesterday, Mr Peters accused the Maori Party - and those who supported the activists arrested in the raids - of humming "a hymn of hate".

"New Zealanders are sick and tired of being called racists by those who are clearly the most militant racists in the country.

"New Zealanders wonder why a political party based solely on race is held up as the moral compass for the country. In South Africa, we called that apartheid."

But Dr Sharples said Mr Peters was guilty of "playing the race card".

"He's doing a Don Brash really, in hope that he will get a bit of support," he said on Radio New Zealand. Dr Sharples said the Maori Party's stance on the so-called "anti-terror" raids was purely to call for fair treatment for their people.

He said even easy-going moderate people in the Bay of Plenty iwi Tuhoe had been shocked by the police tactics used in raids a fortnight ago.

Questions needed to be legitimately asked why the people of Ruatoki - a peaceful quiet village - had been subjected to such heavy-handed tactics when gangs who had been killing each other for years were not.

Dr Sharples said the Maori Party was not supporting a small group of separatists - as Mr Peters' claimed - but voicing the concerns of the majority of Maori.

NZ First, which once held all the Maori seats, had abandoned Maori through its policies.

Dr Sharples said even if some of those arrested were found guilty of terrorism related charges he did not feel the large-scale swoop on Ruatoki was warranted.

But no immediate action to reduce Maori Party co-operation with the Government was planned as a result of the raids, he said.

Prime Minister Helen Clark today said a lot of Mr Peters' speech was "hyperbole", but it was true the Maori Party were "ethnicity-based".

She said she did not accept the Maori Party's assertion that Maori had been targeted by police in the raids.

"The police targeted what they believed were offences and their decisions and the Solicitor-General's decisions about that will be known in the fullness of time and I think probably not too far away," Miss Clark said on Newstalk ZB.

"So I think we are all better to suspend judgment about this until we see what evidence police intend to put forward before the court."

Miss Clark said she did not believe Tuhoe would ever have sovereignty as a separate state as some desired.

Mr Peters said those arrested in the raids sponged off the state they chose to undermine, while other Maori worked and paid taxes to fund them.

Mr Sharples said on Newstalk ZB that the Maori Party had spent its time in Parliament "building bridges" rather than preaching separatism.

However, it was prepared to stand up for its constituents when necessary.

Dr Sharples said the Maori Party's stance on the so-called "anti-terror" raids was purely to call for fair treatment for their people.

He said even easy-going moderate people in the Bay of Plenty iwi Tuhoe had been shocked by the police tactics used in raids a fortnight ago.

Questions needed to be legitimately asked why the people of Ruatoki - a peaceful quiet village - had been subjected to such heavy-handed tactics when gangs who had been killing each other for years were not.

Dr Sharples said the Maori Party was not supporting a small group of separatists - as Mr Peters' claimed - but voicing the concerns of the majority of Maori.

NZ First, which once held all the Maori seats, had abandoned Maori through its policies.

Dr Sharples said even if some of those arrested were found guilty of terrorism related charges he did not feel the large-scale swoop on Ruatoki was warranted.

But no immediate action to reduce Maori Party co-operation with the Government was planned as a result of the raids, he said.

He said the whole Tuhoe community had been outraged by the police raids a fortnight ago.

That feeling was felt throughout the iwi - not just in a small group of separatists, as Mr Peters claimed.

On Saturday, 700 people turned out in Auckland, 250 in Wellington and 100 in Christchurch in protest over the raids.

The Maori Party wrapped up its conference at the weekend with a strongly-worded statement condemning the Government over the raids and labelling them discriminatory. The party did not rule out using its confidence vote to lodge a protest.

But their claim that the raids are politically inspired, risks prompting a backlash from more moderate and conservative Maori, a group traditionally courted by Mr Peters, who yesterday called on them to "join the fight against militant separatism".

Sharples had earlier read out a letter from imprisoned activist Tame Iti, who was one of those arrested after a series of terrorism-related sweeps. And, in an impassioned speech, he suggested the raids were in response to Iti's earlier act of shooting a New Zealand flag.

"There is no way the Government is going to let Tame Iti free ... they're getting back at him now," he said.

Dr Sharples had previously accused police and the Government of setting back race relations by 100 years. He did not resile from that, he said.

Co-leader Tariana Turia said the raids sent "a signal to our people that they could be next".

An angry Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia yesterday labelled the Maori Party's call for his resignation "nonsense" and accused them of staging their annual conference in his home electorate so they could use the raids as a political football.

"I've no intention of resigning. I don't want to engage in this nonsense. The Tuhoe thing is a serious business ... this is a disappointing attempt to whip up anxiety just to get a few votes."

Global Peace and Justice spokesman John Minto accused Mr Peters of "spittle-flecked dog whistling".

He said most people protesting the anti-terror raids were doing so because they saw them as a crackdown on civil rights not because some of the arrested suspects were brown.

Mr Peters had a long history of racial opportunism with previous targets including Asians, refugees and Maori rights supporters, he said.

- with NZPA

- © Fairfax NZ News