Editorial: Flags show our progress in race relations

Phil Goff, so recently awry on questions of nationhood, hit the right note when asked about the Cabinet's decision that the Tino Rangatiratanga flag will fly on the the Auckland Harbour Bridge, at Parliament and Premier House on Waitangi Day.

There were, said the Labour leader, bigger issues to be dealt with.

Indeed, 10 years hence, people will struggle to see why this matter sparked a fuss. If flags have a powerful symbolism, that can be in a positive, rather than a threatening, way.

Next February 6, the sight of the Maori ensign alongside the national flag should serve simply as a marker of the progress in race relations in this country.

Those who cavil at the prospect have two major grievances. The first is what the Tino Rangatiratanga flag represents. Indisputably, it has been associated with the Maori separatist movement. But that was not its origin 20 years ago, and that is not where it sits now.

As Linda Munn, the last surviving member of the trio who designed the flag recalled last month, it was meant to be about Maori empowerment, "not walking around with a big chip on your shoulder".

The red and black banner with its white koru represented renewal and hope. Its co-opting by separatists was relatively shortlived. Today, thanks in large part to the strength of its design, the flag has gone quite some way towards being embraced by the nation. Few demurred when it was flown by Team New Zealand at Valencia.

The second objection involves its acceptance as the preferred Maori flag. The Cabinet has deemed it the official symbol of Maoridom after a series of consultation hui orchestrated by the Maori Party, which garnered strong, but not unanimous, support for it.

Of about 1200 submissions, 80 per cent favoured the Tino Rangatiratanga ensign. This does not satisfy Labour MP Shane Jones, who has criticised the hui process run by Hone Harawira, and proclaimed it "Hone's flag".

In a similar vein, Ngapuhi elder Kingi Taurua reckons the flag represents the Maori Party, rather than Maori in general, and says he will not let it fly at Te Tii Marae in Waitangi.

What happens at the Treaty Grounds will be the responsibility of the Waitangi National Trust Board. If the board does not want the flag to fly officially, that is its right.

Its comments so far have been non-committal. At Waitangi, at the spot where the Treaty was signed, the national flag, which has been in use since 1902, flies alongside the 1835 flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand. The United Tribes flag, in fact the country's first national flag, retains its share of supporters, including Mr Jones.

Yet, whatever the weaknesses of the hui process, there is little reason to doubt that the Tino Rangatiratanga ensign enjoys majority Maori support. It seems only a matter of time until it is accepted as the Maori flag.

According to the Minister of Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples, the sight of the two flags flying side by side on the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty will be a strong expression of "a coming together ... a willingness by New Zealand to recognise the bicultural nature of our foundation".

It should not be divisive. Such was not the case, he notes, when Australian sprinter Cathy Freeman draped both the national and indigenous flags around her during a victory lap at the 2000 Olympics. Few Australians appeared threatened by this expression on the international stage of pride, positivity and a distinctive identity.

New Zealanders would feel they have little to learn about race relations from across the Tasman. Indeed, they have nothing to fear from the sight of the national flag and the Tino Rangatiratanga ensign fluttering together on Waitangi Day.