Brown: physical actions 'nothing to do with Maori'

Len Brown. Photo / Richard Robinson

Manukau Mayor Len Brown says words, not actions, were behind the Maori gesture during a passionate speech to councillors last week.

Mr Brown said beating his chest and slapping his face with an open hand had nothing to do with a Maori gesture. Instead, he said, the kanohi te kanohi gesture was an expression of how he tackled issues with his community, face-to-face.

In his speech, Mr Brown beat his chest and slapped his face as he said: "Got a problem? You come see me here."

Asked to explain the mayor's physical actions last week, his spokesman, David Lewis, said it was part of a Maori gesture inviting people to tackle him face-to-face.

Yesterday, Mr Brown said the physical actions were nothing to do with Maori, but how he communicated with the community face-to-face.

Maori broadcaster Willie Jackson, who initially said it was "rubbish" to explain Mr Brown's actions as a Maori gesture, last night accepted the mayor wanted to front up to the challenge.

"It is great that Len wants to face things, kanohi te kanohi, but he has to face them right and not collapse and get too emotional from dickheads like [Manukau councillors] Dick Quax and Jami-Lee Ross.

"They are hardly big time and if he can't handle them then questions are raised on whether he can handle someone like [John] Banks."