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POLITICS
New Zealand Polls Stir up Maori Issues
By Bob Burton
CANBERRA , Sep 14, 2005 (IPS) - Boosted by its pledge to reverse support for Maori indigenous rights, the conservative New Zealand National Party is optimistic that it will be able to form a minority government, after next Saturday's general elections.
Playing the race card reveals an unseemly aspect of politics, commented Chris Eichbaum, lecturer at the School of Government, Victoria University. ''As in all societies, race is a sleeping issue. At one level there are substantive policy issues and at another level, it is an itch that is being scratched and it is an unseemly itch. It is about an aspect of racism that is buried within New Zealand political culture.''
Prof. Nigel Roberts at the Victoria University, traces to a January 2004 speech on 'nationhood' by the leader of the National Party, Don Brash, the current political polarisation over race.
In that speech, Brash railed against ''the dangerous drift towards racial separatism'' and complained that there was a ''grievance industry'' exploiting concerns over the implementation of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, signed between Maori leaders and British colonisers, guaranteeing Maori ownership of their lands, forests and fisheries.
''That speech boosted Don Brash's standing as a leader and got the National Party, which had been very severely dealt with in the 2002 election, back as a main player again,'' Roberts said.
In a bid to deflate Brash's attacks on Maori rights, the Labour government, led by Helen Clark has proposed legislation seeking to overturn a court decision which gives Maori tribal groups title to areas on the coastline.
Faced with three Maori members of her own party, pledging to vote against the bill, Clark brokered a deal with the populist, anti-immigration New Zealand First Party led by Winston Peters.
The anger over Clark's planned legislation within the Maori community led to the formation of the Maori Party. While the seven seats in the New Zealand parliament, allocated to Maori people, have traditionally gone to the Labour Party, the fledgling party may now win three or four of the reserved seats.
''After the election, Clark may look at what other minor parties are on the cab rank and have to open the door to talk to the Maori Party,'' Eichbaum said. For his part, Brash has promised to abolish the Maori seats.
Brash's stance on Maori affairs and advocacy of across-the-board tax cuts, is likely to result in a re-alignment of the right-wing too.
In the 2002 elections, the National Party won just 27 of the 120 seats in parliament, while the right-wing, free-market Association of Consumers and Taxpayers (ACT) party won nine seats. This time, however, ACT may disappear from parliament altogether as conservative voters swing back to the National Party.
Peters' New Zealand First Party remains the election wild-card. While last week's opinion polls were indicating that Peters could lose his own constituency seat and his party fall below the five percent threshold, this week's surveys indicate he could be the king maker. Peters has pledged to support, with some qualifications, whichever party wins the greatest number of votes.
The Labour Party, which currently holds 52 seats, also needs other minor parties to do well, if it is to have a chance of forming the next government. While it currently rules with support from the centrist United Future party and a small left-wing party, both like Labour are likely to lose seats.
The Greens, which currently hold nine seats, have pledged to support a minority Clark government. In recognition that a few percentage points drop of both Labour and the Greens could give conservative parties the edge, conservative groups of Christian fundamentalists have launched a covert smear campaign.
In early September, a brochure, authored by the previously unknown group, New Zealand Advocates for Timely Healthcare, was pushed into letter boxes around the country, attacked Labour's health policy and urged a vote against it.
Another, titled 'The Green Delusion', railed against Green Party policies, such as support for the Kyoto treaty which is aimed at curbing climate change induced by greenhouse gas emissions. ''The Greens have an agenda reminiscent of failed communist and socialist ideologies,'' the brochure claimed.
Investigations revealed the Exclusive Brethren, a fundamentalist Christian group which, last year, poured over 600,000 US dollars into the re-election campaign of President George W. Bush and a conservative Senator, was behind the campaign.
Brash, at first, denied all knowledge of what has been estimated to be a 385,000 dollar-campaign and then confirmed he had met with the group, but insisted it was for prayers only. He subsequently confirmed he had advance knowledge of the leaflets.
More recently, it has been revealed that the anti-Green Party leaflet distributed in New Zealand is nearly identical to the one distributed in Australia before last year's federal election.
While the controversy temporarily embarrassed Brash, it appears to have done little to dent his electoral prospects.
The election of a government led by Brash could also see the ban on U.S. nuclear-powered and armed warships overturned. In January 2004, Brash and the National Party's spokesman on Foreign Affairs and Trade, Lockwood Smith, met with the then Republican Senator for Oklahoma, Don Nickles.
Brash allegedly told U.S. officials that the ban would be "gone by lunchtime," the day after he was elected, a record of the meeting, released by a Labour government minister in the election campaign, notes.
Smith wanted to know if it would be worthwhile for a U.S. think tank to assist with the public campaign in New Zealand, following the National Party study/review. Nickles deflected the request, stating that it ''should be left up to a New Zealand think tank''. (END)
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