Goff roasts commissioner for Maori comments

Graham Kelly. Herald file picture

Graham Kelly, New Zealand's high commissioner to Canada, has had a ticking off for comments he made about Maori.

Foreign Minister Phil Goff said Mr Kelly had apologised unreservedly for the racially-offensive comments in a speech to the Canadian Senate.

Maori leaders and National MP Pansy Wong have called for him to be sacked but Mr Goff said his performance otherwise had saved him.

"If he had not been doing a good job as High Commissioner, if he had not shown the energy and enthusiasm for representing New Zealand we would look at that option," Mr Goff told reporters.

He said he had accepted Mr Kelly's apology hoped those who had taken offence would too.


Earlier Maori leaders said Kelly should be dumped for ridiculing Maori in a speech to the Canadian Senate.

The former Labour MP told the senate last week, in a speech on New Zealand's fisheries quota system, that Maori "all held each other's hands to stop them from sinking on the voyage" to New Zealand from Hawaiki in 740.

"Once they got to New Zealand, they started fighting and eating each other; so there have been Maori wars ever since then. Now they are learning to get along with each other."

The comments angered Maori academics and politicians, who say he should be recalled from the position.

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples said he found the remarks "absolutely disgusting".

"We don't need people overseas bringing contempt and ridicule to people in this country," he said.

Mr Sharples said the commissioner's personal views on Maori history were irrelevant to any discussion on the fisheries allocation.

Auckland University Professor Margaret Mutu said Mr Kelly was "an embarrassment".

"He doesn't belong overseas representing us. He needs to come back and learn the proper history of this country," she said.

Hauraki iwi spokesman John McEnteer said he was disappointed by the commissioner's remarks.

"You expect a bit more prudence and sensitivity from a person who represents all New Zealanders," he said.

Te Ohu Kai Moana head Shane Jones said if the reports on Mr Kelly's speech were accurate, the commissioner was painting "a pretty wild picture of our country".

The Prime Minister's office would not comment on whether Mr Kelly, 64, would be censured for his remarks.

Mr Kelly left Parliament in 2003 to take up the Canadian post. That year he also underwent a heart bypass after suffering three heart attacks in the first half of the year.

Earlier in his career, Mr Kelly spent 25 years with the Electrical Workers Union, the Clerical Workers Union and was secretary of the NZ Shop Employees Union from 1972-1987.

- NZPA