Garth George: History repeats when it comes to claims

There are a number of questions in the minds of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders which for the most part, out of fear of the consequences, remain unspoken. So let's get them out into the open.

They are these: when, oh when, will Maori Treaty of Waitangi claims be settled finally, once and for all?

When will the taxpayers of New Zealand be freed from having to watch hundreds of millions of public dollars being shovelled at Maori, who make up less than 15 per cent of the population? (In the 2006 Census, there were 565,329 people who identified with the Maori ethnic group, and 643,977 who were of Maori descent.)

When can we close the public purse to Treaty claims, move on and start spending our money on things like health, education and infrastructure, which become more pressing year by year?

How do we find out how much money has been paid out in Treaty claims so far, and what are the chances of discovering what has been done with all those hundreds of millions?

Why is it that even after something like a quarter of a century of Maori tribes acquiring this vast wealth, more than 50 per cent of our jail population are Maori; poverty is endemic among Maori; illiteracy and innumeracy are rife among young Maori; and crime, violence and child abuse are more often than not perpetrated by Maori?

And why is it that Maori claim the exclusive title of tangata whenua (local people, hosts, indigenous people of the land) when the same applies to most Pakeha, whose parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and often great-great-grandparents were born here?

These questions, which have lain dormant for a while lately, have come back to mind as a result of a couple of events that have happened in the past week or so.

One is the report of the review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act, passed in a panic by the Labour-led Government in 2003; the other the payment of some $280 million to tribes in the Central North Island from the Crown Forestry Rental Trust.

The recommendations of the review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act was, of course, a foregone conclusion from the moment the makeup of the review panel was made public - former High Court judge and Waitangi Tribunal chairman Eddie Durie, barrister and law academic Richard Boast, who has represented various iwi in Treaty negotiations; and Hana O'Regan, a Maori culture expert.

As anticipated, it recommended that the act be scrapped and some other way be found to deal with seabed and foreshore issues that recognise both Maori "customary rights" and the right of all New Zealanders to enjoy our beaches and coastal waters.

So now we're in for a lot more time-consuming negotiations which will, in spite of comments to the contrary, probably include yet another claim for "compensation".

And the question - what customary rights and how do they differ from the customary rights of other people of the land? - remains unanswered.

The big cheque presented to Maori at a marae near Turangi last week came in the wake of the largest settlement ever of Maori Treaty claims, the $400 million-plus Kaingaroa Forest ("Treelords") deal.

Here in the Rotorua district, the 11 iwi and hapu who make up Te Pumatanga o Te Arawa Trust - a grouping which is part of the Central North Island collective - have already each handed out $1 million to members. The group's total settlement is $85 million, the bulk of which will be centrally administered by Te Arawa Group Holdings, the trust's commercial arm.

So the question on just about everybody's lips, which mostly remains unexpressed, is: what are they going to do with all that money?

And: when will we see the beneficial effects on our local Maori folk, far too many of whom are living seriously disadvantaged lives?

I wonder whether Kiwis in general have become so inured to the settlements issue that we now take it for granted. I was browsing through comments posted on nzherald.co.nz this week when I came across this item, written by an Englishman living in Devonport.

"Here we go again - I'm off to claim part of Brittany from the French as they dispossessed my 'whanau' of their lands there sometime back in the 12th century.

"I refuse to do another hour's work until I have full reparation, since the French Government now owes me a living and should keep compensating me until I can feed at the trough no more.

"Do you think the French will listen to my ancient grievances? I doubt it. They will see it for the nonsense it is and no doubt reach the sensible conclusion that there are more pressing concerns on which to spend the nation's limited resources.

"If only New Zealand had the backbone to say that enough is enough and consign all this to the historical dustbin to which it belongs."

And, buried in the Herald's world section on Tuesday I came across a brief item which reported that South Korea's President, Lee Myung Bak, will donate about 33.1 billion won ($42 million) - almost all his personal fortune - to establish a youth scholarship programme. The bulk of Mr Lee's wealth was accumulated through property deals.

* garth.george@hotmail.com