Editorial: Not a lone voice

OPINION: Since his emergence on the national scene as a Waitangi Day protester, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira has never been far from controversy and his latest actions are another example of his ability to rile the sensibilities of mainstream New Zealand.

The MP has been roundly criticised for skiving off from a taxpayer-funded visit to Brussels to take his wife to Paris. Then, when criticised for doing so, he replied with his now famous abusive email.

But Harawira's outraged critics must not ignore the reality that he has received some support for his views about historical grievances among Maori.

This is not to say that the actual language used by the MP in his tirade directed at his critic, Buddy Mikaere, could ever be acceptable. Terms such as "whiteman's b........" and "white mother......" are offensive and racist.

Harawira has now apologised for what he described as a poor choice of words and he acknowledged that his credibility and Maori-Pakeha relations had been damaged – although his subsequent comment that Labour leader Phil Goff should be shot for his party's foreshore legislation suggests that he will continue to be outspoken.

But the MP did not resile from the point he had been trying to make in justification of his unauthorised excursion to Paris. This was that he was entitled to break off from his parliamentary trip because of the poor treatment of Maori over the past 150 years, including land confiscations.

Harawira's view that he, as a Maori MP, should not be held to account by the standards of other politicians is unacceptable. Politicians who are funded from the public purse for a trip are obliged to stick to the programme, regardless of their ethnicity, and especially if they are, as was Harawira, leading the tour.

Just as former National MP Richard Worth was castigated for going camel riding instead of attending a ceremony in Egypt to honour the Maori Battalion, so too Harawira's sightseeing was, for most people, inexcusable.

There has been the odd comment that it was understandable that Harawira should take advantage of his trip to visit Paris. But even his own party, aware that Harawira's conduct has damaged its reputation, has criticised its MP for the sightseeing and the language in his email.

In determining what further action is taken against Harawira this week, however, the party will be conscious that he is not a lone voice in Maoridom when he talks about colonialism.

His views on past injustices and their ongoing impact today have resonated with many Maori, especially in his Te Tai Tokerau electorate, where one measure of his popularity is that he polled 12,019 votes, or 60 per cent of votes cast, in 2008.

Within the Maori Party, Harawira's opinion that he is not bound by normal political standards is similar to the proposals for a separatist approach by its other MPs in areas such as justice and education. And party co-leader Tariana Turia was herself widely criticised for using the inflammatory term "Maori holocaust" in 2000.

The Harawira controversy is, therefore, a reminder that, despite improvements in race relations in recent decades, an intense sense of grievance and a yearning for separatist policies persist among many Maori and must not be underestimated.

- © Fairfax NZ News