Joris de Bres: Stick not needed to enforce good race relations

Hone Harawira, as a public figure, bears a greater responsibility to think about his words and the impact they have. Photo / Richard Robinson

There has been a lot of heat, but precious little light in the discussion about how I should respond to the email by Maori Party MP Hone Harawira.

People began to contact the commission immediately the email became public to express their concern and call for action. Most said they found Mr Harawira's email offensive and a good number added that they found it divisive.

As Race Relations Commissioner I agreed, and said so then and have kept saying so.

At the same time I have called for Mr Harawira and the Maori Party to acknowledge and address the damage to race relations caused by the email.

The complaints people make to the commission are important. As a barometer of public feeling they become part of the way to progress beyond the understandable first response of hurt and anger.

Mr Harawira has apologised for causing offence, and for damaging New Zealand's good race relations. He says he wants to begin bridge-building. Can it end there? Not in my opinion. Mr Harawira is a public figure, an elected representative of Te Tai Tokerau and a member of the New Zealand Parliament representing the people of Tai Tokerau and the Maori Party.

Public figures enjoy a platform not available to ordinary citizens. Their words carry greater weight and it follows that public figures bear greater responsibility to think about their words and the impact they have.

What does the law, particularly the Human Rights Act say here? First, it has never been the job of Human Rights commissioners or the Race Relations Commissioner to stop people speaking their mind. Freedom of speech is a foundation stone of a free society, a freedom outlined clearly in the Bill of Rights Act. As French writer Francois Voltaire said: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

There is not always a legal recourse to address issues of racist comments. It is true, as some have indicated, that "exciting racial hostility" is unlawful under the Human Rights Act. But it must be exciting hostility against a group of people on the basis of their race or colour and I would ask people to consider who, apart from Mr Harawira and the Maori Party, have faced hostility because of his comments about white people.

This is not to say that, as commissioner, my hands are tied. Mr Harawira is not the first public figure to use language that is racially divisive or offensive in public. When broadcaster Paul Holmes referred to the then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as a "cheeky darkie" in 2003 there was a similar public outcry. My response then, as it has been today, was the same. Holmes could say these words, but they were racially offensive. He and his employer the Radio Network, needed to build some bridges afterwards to address the hurt they had caused and to acknowledge the damage to race relations.

Healthy race relations are more about how tolerant people feel towards difference. They are about how accepting Maori and Pakeha and all other New Zealanders are of each other. And at a personal level they are about how far people are prepared to speak out against racism when they encounter it in their daily life.

I do not want to bring Holmes up again and apologies to him for doing so. But it was clear in 2003 that many New Zealanders saw his comments as an unacceptable racial slur on Kofi Annan and to a degree on anyone who happened to share his skin colour. Like Mr Harawira, Holmes offered an apology. And like the present issue, that left an essentially irresolvable argument over the sincerity of the apologies.

As commissioner I became involved and had several discussions with the manager of Newstalk ZB, Bill Francis, culminating in a meeting with him, Holmes and the manager of The Radio Network.

Following that meeting, Newstalk ZB issued a public statement that acknowledged the offence caused, the broadcaster met with representatives of the communities he had offended, and the station agreed among other things to put in place a policy that would not tolerate judgments based race, creed or ethnicity by staff who were in the position of shaping public opinion. By working with Holmes and Newstalk ZB to engage with those they had caused hurt, bridges were built.

As commissioner I am available to assist if the parties so desire. Often those involved resolve them by themselves - given advice, the space and the time - as with the recent instances of racially offensive behaviour by Lincoln University and Auckland Grammar students. The Maori Party has itself been unequivocal in its condemnation of Mr Harawira's comments, and is allowing time for the appropriate action to uphold its mana with both Maori and Pakeha. Race relations can be harmed by words, but are healed by talking. Good race relations are not enforced by the use of a big legal stick. No stick exists, nor, I hope you agree, should it.

* Joris de Bres is the Race Relations Commissioner.