Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson puts the boot into loud-mouth Aussie TV host

The Six60 poster promoting their tour. Image / Supplied

Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson says the “loud-mouthed” “white” Australian TV host has no right to question superband Six60 and its use of te reo and needs to look in his own backyard.

Australian broadcaster Rowan Dean said on Sky News that in New Zealand “there’s been a big push to be more inclusive of the Māori, the Māori language, the so-called ‘iwi’ at the moment”.

He continued of the poster by Six60 to promote its tour: “It’s all in Māori, there’s not a word of English anywhere in there,” he said.

The Kiwi band and fans shot back at Dixon quickly, and now Jackson is adding his spin.

“When I look at the history of racism by white Australians against Aboriginals, I’m not sure an Australian loudmouth on Sky TV has any moral high ground to lecture Six60 on using Te Reo in a poster!” Jackson said.

“Six60 should be congratulated and admired for their use of our taonga, so why does an Australian talkback jock get to criticise and attack them simply for using te reo in their tour poster?

Rowan Dean said if people questioned Māori science, they were termed racists. Photo / Supplied

“How does it impact an Australian talkback host? He claims Six60 sent him the poster and states there is no English on it, [which is of course factually incorrect to begin with because the word Six is on the poster] but why should he care?

“They aren’t touring Australia, they are touring NZ.

“This negative attack just for dog-whistling purposes is ugly and a reminder that even when it doesn’t impact some, they still want to denigrate the attempt to be inclusive and uniquely Kiwi.”

Jackson said Six60 have a long proud history of promoting Māori culture and the language.

“Six60 have a long and proud history of including Māori in their music and performances, a simple touring poster in te reo isn’t an excuse to bash them.

“If Sky News Australia want to make racist commentary, they should stick to their culture, not throw mud at ours.”