As I made my way to this wananga kaitakawaenga, the words of a remarkable haka composed by Whetu Tipiwai came to me:

In its essence, the haka inspires us to always have our horizons set firmly in our gaze. If you aim for the mountains, you will hit the plains. If you aim for the sky you will hit the mountain peaks. It inspires us all to climb up, to strive for pathways of knowledge, to achieve excellence - spiritually, mentally and physically.

The haka was written for a particular group of Maori; a distinguished group whom the nation turns to for leadership and success. Matt McIlraith, in writing about this group said that they, and I quote:

“provided tangible proof that a combination of history and social responsibility can still be blended to create success in the increasingly soulless environment”.

It could have been the march-on song for te wananga kaitakawaenga o te motu; a challenge to the Iwi Liaison Officers of the Police.

Perhaps it could also apply to the experience we have had as the Maori Party in our quest to draw on our kaupapa and our tikanga, to be the truly independent Maori voice in Parliament.

It is, in fact, Timatanga – the New Zealand Maori rugby team haka.

In these troubling times, I think there is a special responsibility on all of us who are in the public eye to respond to the particular challenges of the “increasingly soulless environment” that is being associated with most branches of government, and for the purposes of this hui of course, the New Zealand Police.

There will be no-one better equipped to talk about the success or otherwise of Police strategies in addressing responsiveness to Maori, than the twenty five Iwi Liaison Officers in our midst.

You will know, only too well, the way in which whanau, hapu and iwi have responded to events such as:

• the numbers of Police who have appeared before the Court this year on assault or sexual offending charges;
•

• The report from the United Nations Committee to Eliminate Racial Discrimination which expressed concern regarding the over-representation of Maori and Pacific people at every stage of the criminal justice system;
•

• The revelation as the country commenced the taser gun trial, that 55% of all pepper spray victims were Maori - and at the close of the trial, that 56% of those shot with the taser were Maori and Pasifika
•

• The fatal shooting of Stephen Bellingham in Christchurch – which took people back to the fatal shooting by police of another Steven, Steven Wallace who was killed in the main street of Waitara on 30 April 2000.
•
And of course, the events that have unfolded in this nation since 15 October 2007 under the banner of Operation Eight, events that have the potential to create enduring tension in the relationship between Maori and the police.

I have to give it up to Wally Haumaha and Hurimoana Dennis, that it must have taken some tough talking to keep me on the agenda, given the critical comments we have been making about the police actions in Ruatoki over the last fortnight.

But it is also useful to have an opportunity to set a couple of matters straight.

The first is the matter of Police charges.

We have never, contrary to the verbal punches of the Prime Minister, made any statements about the charges laid against specific individuals caught by what the media are describing as ‘police terror raids’.

How could we? We have absolutely no information to go on.

If Judge Jimmy Rota was reported as noting “the uncertainty of the charges”, and, secondly, the “scant information before the court” when individuals were first brought before the Rotorua District Court; then it’s hardly likely that a mere politician will have such information.

Except of course, the Prime Minister, who despite repeatedly saying that this is an operational matter, has now been quite explicit that the charges include illicit use of firearms, construction of Molotov cocktails and training in the use of napalm.

An utterance which in our view is further demonstration of the politicisation of the issue. It is political interference, which jeopardises a fair trial. That she has also explicitly announced the guilt of those arrested ahead of any trial is yet another question to be asked about whether due legal process is in fact being allowed to happen in this case.

Alongside questions about due process, our concern has been consistently about thetraumatic impact this action has had in damaging relationships with the community.

And out of that has arisen our growing anxiety that what such actions have done is provide the conditions for breeding a new generation of discontent.

The action taken by the State in targeting environmentalists, peace activists, the Tuhoe Nation, Maori women’s refuge workers, all and sundry who appear to have been guilty of making a visit to the awesome Te Urewera National Park – has already exacerbated the lack of public trust and confidence in the police that surrounded some of the events I mentioned earlier.

We have seen nation-wide protests in Auckland, Whakatane, Rotorua, Wellington, Lower Kaimai, Christchurch, Dunedin. The groups have called for four actions: no terror charges, immediate bail for all arrestees on the tenet that they are innocent until proven guilty; that the Government withdraw the Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill, and that the legal rights of the arrestees and their communities be upheld.

And we, in the Maori Party, will continue to speak out about the concerns that people have raised with us, because to ignore them is tantamount to cowardice.

Just as Wally and Hurimoana had the courage to continue with my invitation here, so do you, as Iwi Liaison Officers, have to persevere in relaying any concerns that you have about how the police actions have jeopardised and threatened the very key relationships you have been developing with whanau, hapu and iwi.

I would also implore you to critically examine the Police culture in to which you have all been acculturated.

How do you really see our people?

Is it any different to how you see your own whanau?

Have your views of our people changed since you joined the force?

Has your view of your whanau changed?

Why?

The answers to those questions are for you, not for me.

Over the last few days we’ve all heard the hysterics as they have been released from the mouths of the Government. The Prime Minister has called our stance, ‘absolutely extraordinary’; Winston Peters has taunted us with allegations of hymns of hatred in an 'apartheid' state, and even the Minister of Maori Affairs has stumbled into the boxing ring, saying how ‘annoyed’ and ‘disappointed’ he is at our statements.

Well, as they say, we were given two ears and one mouth, to ensure that we listened for twice as long as we talked.

The truth is, it’s not the Maori Party that needs to be the focus of these heated attacks. We are simply performing our sacred responsibility to our constituency, in raising the calls for justice that have come out of Taneatua, Ruatoki, the kohanga reo, the safe house for women, the police cells, the court rooms, the rallies. Their voices must be heard, their genuine and heartfelt concerns listened to.

As Iwi Liaison Officers you will understand that the korero from our people is not cheap. E ai ki te whakatauki ‘ko te kai a te rangatira, he korero’.

If we are to ever restore confidence in the community, that we have an effective police force, one that commands public trust and respect, abusive statements from so-called political leaders is not the way to go about it.

I acknowledge the moves that Police took, in going to Otenuku Marae, to korero, to explain what had been done, and most of all, I presume, to listen.

That marae holds a plaque, commemorating one of their last great paramount chief, Takarua Tamarau, whom the plaque describes as being a“protector and guide to his Maori people, and a loyal supporter of the British flag”. The plaque was erected, the NZ Herald tells us, by the Commonwealth Covenant Church, and I quote, “as a token of arohanui between the Maori and Pakeha peoples”.

What has happened in the last fortnight, so the people of Tuhoe tell us, has trampled all over this ‘arohanui’. And it was in the context of such community concern, that I made my statement suggesting that this incident has set back race relations a hundred years.

Why a hundred years? Perhaps it should have been more.

Next Monday, the 5th November, we will remember the morning when 126 years earlier in 1881, 1600 armed police, militia and volunteers invaded the pacifist settlement at Parihaka.

Five years after the attack on Parihaka, the focus moved to Tuhoe. And it has now been well reported that the pain of the community in 2007 at the onset of Operation Eight, was stripped raw by placing the police roadblocks on the confiscation line which marks the site at which Tuhoe were punished for their alleged rebellion against the Crown, by confiscating all of their lands in 1866. Wrongly accused and punished for it.

Time and time again, we have heard over this last fortnight how Operation Eight was repeating history. People have talked about a time in April 1916, when 57 armed police arrested the prophet Rua Kenana at Maungapohatu, the community he had founded on non-violent principles.

And of course, the police raids bring up other memories, including the para-military exercise that occurred on Day 507, ending the occupation at Takaparawha, Bastion Point some thirty years ago in 1978.

Or the police interactions with iwi Maori in the occupation of Pakaitore in 1995.

Knowledge of these hundred years and more helps us to understand the present outrage, and to think how best to respond. It was Aristotle that once said, if you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.

And I think this is where the deepest gulf has been evident between the current Government and between the people. The Minister of Maori Affairs issued a release earlier this week, which conveys just how far out of touch he has become with the general public. He said, and I quote:

“Race relations in this country aren’t perfect, but they are pretty good and we need to acknowledge that times have changed. We can’t look at the world through the eyes of the past. We can’t keep singing the songs of the past”.

The problem is, those who choose not to remember the past, are condemned to repeating it. Those who wilfully ignore the lessons that history provides us, choose to jeopardise our future.

The people of Tuhoe are hurting – for 1866, for 1916, for 2007.

We must know that if we are truly committed to Te Tiriti o Waitangi as the founding document of this nation, that our present and future advancement is directly attributable to the steps we have taken over the last 167 years.

Singing the songs of the past, valuing our cultural heritage, the kaupapa and tikanga that are the eyes of the past, is absolutely key to our success in this land.

That is why we in the Maori Party, consistently take the step to raise the issues of the past, no matter how uncomfortable it makes people feel. At the end of the day, the insults and attacks that we receive in reminding this nation of our history are nothing compared to the ongoing pain of those who do not have a voice in the debating chamber of this land.

I have to admit, the brief that I was given in talking with you, didn’t actually request a passionate expression in response to the raids.

While it is easy to be critical of the Police I am conscious the Police are merely an arm of the State. The Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 was created and passed in a place where I now spend some of my days. It was passed by people like myself - politicians.

What we in the Maori Party are critical of are the processes used in the last fortnight, where an arm of the State itself may, in carrying out their duties, have themselves breached the ‘rule of law’.

That, e hoa ma, is frightening.

Finally, I want to just share some ideas about how the Maori Party is able to exert influence by utilising kaupapa Maori, and how, ultimately, we may be able to work together for the benefit of our whanau, hapu and iwi.

The key to success in any Maori responsiveness strategy is indeed the lessons that we can learn from the purakau, karakia, moteatea, whakatauaki, whakapapa, and many other puna korero encapsulated in Maori worldviews.

Our kaupapa, our tikanga, our kawa provide us with all the resources we need in caring for whanau, seeking to uphold rangatiratanga, treating each other in a way which expresses manaakitanga.

The richness of the learning evident through te reo Maori me ona tikanga can give us vital clues into how we work with Maori communities on goals they believe in. The commitment to maintaining the whakapapa, to valuing and respecting whanaungatanga, establishes a solid foundation for any relationship.

Our kaupapa also teach us about the universal values which lead us to a common purpose, towards kotahitanga. Values such as kaitiakitanga – taking care of our environment and our property; respecting and acknowledging the impact of wairuatanga.

I absolutely believe that these kaupapa and tikanga are the defining features of a healthy democracy – and that the New Zealand Police - all members of the police workforce - could greatly enhance its public profile by taking some time to really learn about how these kaupapa work in upholding the rule of law.

Our hope would be to see these values thrive in a non-corrupt police force; a strong and effective workforce, a professional body committed to maintaining public safety.

I am sure that the key to your ongoing progress rests in the comment I made earlier about the New Zealand Maori Rugby team, in demonstrating “tangible proof that a combination of history and social responsibility can still be blended to create success”.

Just as every player who wears the Maori jersey does so with pride, it will be the combination of all of the kaupapa pertaining to te Ao Maori, that will help to give honour to the uniform you put on every day.

ENDS

© Scoop Media