Editorial: Hopeful signs for Waitangi Day

Waitangi Day does not loom large in New Zealanders' affections, The Dominion Post writes. In recent times it has seldom passed without rancour.

The governor-general has been spat at, the flag trampled upon, Cabinet ministers jostled, mud and T-shirts thrown and former prime minister Helen Clark reduced to tears.

Instead of the celebration of nationhood envisaged by lawmakers in 1974 when they made the anniversary of the signing of New Zealand's founding document a public holiday, Waitangi Day has become a focal point for Maori bitterness about Crown failures to honour the Treaty of Waitangi.

Government politicians have responded by limiting their attendance at Waitangi and organising alternative celebrations elsewhere.

Others have responded by treating the day as just another public holiday to be spent at the beach, or the races, or painting the house. But there is no denying that Waitangi Day serves as an annual barometer of the state of race relations.

For that reason it is encouraging that John Key felt able to return to the lower Treaty Grounds yesterday in his new role as prime minister and that, despite the actions of a couple of idiots who created a disturbance, all the signs point to a peaceful commemoration today. For that to happen, several things have had to come together.

Mr Key has eased Maori concerns about National by including the Maori Partyin the governing coalition and shrewdly agreeing to the flying of a Maori flag on Auckland Harbour Bridge and government buildings on future Waitangi Days. How chimerical some problems are. A fresh approach and suddenly a source of bitter dispute ceases to exist. Former Treaty negotiations minister Michael Cullen also deserves credit for reinvigorating the settlement process last year.

But the main reason for hope is that the Treaty settlement process is finally bearing fruit. Settlements have given Maori tribes an economic base on which to build and restored lost mana. The process has also given non-Maori a better understanding of injustices done to Maori in the 19th and 20th centuries.

UnitedFuture leader Peter Dunne, angered by the lack of respect shown at Waitangi, has called for a separate New Zealand Day on which to celebrate this country's achievements. But, for better or worse, Waitangi Day is New Zealand's national day. Its significance should not be downplayed simply because it serves as an uncomfortable reminder that all is not perfect between Maori and Pakeha.

New Zealand has not arrived at a mythical promised land in which all its citizens can live harmoniously together all the time. In the near future, relations will again be tested by rising unemployment, which will inevitably hit hardest the low-paid and low-skilled, many of whom are Maori. But there are signs of progress to celebrate.

New Zealanders are groping their way toward a unique national identity that incorporates not only Maori and European culture, but also the cultures of more recent migrants from the Pacific, Asia and other parts of the world.

It is a task worth pursuing. Kia kaha.

- © Fairfax NZ News