Maori party woos votes across the ditch

Pita Sharples

Thousands of Maori voters living in Australia are being targeted by the Maori Party to help it win the Te Tai Tokerau seat and the other six Maori electorates at this year's general election.

Maori Party co-leaders Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia are planning to make three trips to Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in May and June to try to cement the votes of 70,000 Maori.

The party says it is convinced its Te Tai Tokerau candidate Hone Harawira will sweep out Labour's Dover Samuels by a "huge majority".

Mr Sharples said support for the party in Australia was so strong, branches had been set up. He said 70,000 Maori were living "across the ditch", but he was not sure how many of them were from Te Tai Tokerau.

"That's a lot of votes," he said.

Maori living in Australia felt compelled to support the party as their isolation made the pain of being "betrayed", through the Foreshore and Seabed Bill, "twice as bad", he said.

Last July Mrs Turia left the Labour Party because of legislation which placed the foreshore and seabed into Crown ownership. The Maori Party was formed by her after resigning from Labour.

Mr Sharples said that as the election loomed closer -- it must be held by late September -- meeting Maori voters face-to-face was the party's key campaign strategy.

Mr Harawira kicks off a six-month speaking tour around Northland this Sunday.

"We're poor (the party). We can't counteract (Labour's increased Maori electorate campaign) in money but we have the troops on the ground," he said.

"It's my belief that the media and the major parties have underestimated the damage the foreshore and seabed legislation has done to Maori self-worth and support for Labour."

Within New Zealand Mr Sharples and Mrs Turia will speak in towns and cities. On his own, Mr Sharples plans to knock on the doors of everyone enrolled on the Maori roll in his Tamaki Makaurau (Auckland) electorate.

As for a long-awaited party policy release, Mr Sharples said it had been finalised and he expected it to be "drip-fed".

A Maori Party Council meeting was held in the Waikato at the weekend to decide how to release it, Mr Sharples said.

While he would not go into policy in detail, he said there would be an increase of Maori education programmes because they were important to Maori identity.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)