Peters denies hypocrisy on Maori-blood attack

Winston Peters

Winston Peters has claimed it would be ridiculous for those with a "few drops" of Maori blood to be able to go on the Maori roll, but denies it makes him a hypocrite for attacking Don Brash's blood quantum comments.

Mr Peters lashed out at Dr Brash on Sunday, labelling his remarks an "evil" attempt to try to define Maori out of existence.

He compared Dr Brash to other unnamed figures in history "who have similarly used blood purity as a political argument only to lead their people into an abyss of violence and destruction".

It followed Dr Brash's controversial questioning last week, when asked about a speech delivered by Justice Baragwanath, of whether Maori were still a distinct indigenous group because few, if any, full-blooded Maori remained.

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples and the Prime Minister threw their support behind Mr Peters yesterday, although Helen Clark declined to use the word "evil".

But in a September 2000 speech entitled "The way ahead - one country, one electoral franchise", Mr Peters made repeated references to blood quantum to defend his argument it was time for the Maori seats to go.

"We must end a dual electoral system in which the only qualification to vote is based on race - in some cases as diluted as one part in 512.

"Under the Electoral Act, anybody of Maori descent or [who] claims to be a Maori can apply for registration on the Maori Roll.

"In 1993 there were four Maori seats - in 1999 there were six. It has been estimated that over the next 40 years or so, up to 30 per cent of the population will have some Maori blood - in many cases only a few drops.

"What is to be feared is the prospect of demands for 30 or 40 Maori seats.

"That would be plainly ridiculous.

"And it is just as ridiculous to look at some of these benefactors of Treaty [of Waitangi] claims who are of mixed descent.

"Ask yourself, if a claimant is one-eighth Maori, does he or she get one-eighth of the amount they would have received from the claim if they had been of full Maori blood. Or does the seven-eighths European part of that person pay?"

Mr Peters yesterday said any attempts to compare what the two men had said were "utterly wrong".

Dr Brash has claimed he was referring to blood quantum when being asked, in relation to the Baragwanath speech, whether there should continue to be separate policies for Maori.

Asked if he wasn't using the same "diluted blood" arguments to support the abolition of the Maori seats, Mr Peters said, "No, what I'm saying is that an electoral system that is based on that is flawed."

Dr Brash is on holiday and his office declined to comment yesterday.

Dr Sharples declined to call Mr Peters a hypocrite.

"Maybe he's changed his mind, maybe he's learned. I can remember Winston talking against kura kaupapa Maori schooling ... I gather he doesn't have that line [now].

"I guess maybe he's taking advice or living as a Maori now."

Asked about Mr Peters' 2000 speech, Helen Clark said, "It's a statement of the obvious that to be full-blooded Maori is not a possibility. But to then deduce from that that Maori are not an indigenous people is a simply extraordinary assertion."

She said she had read Dr Brash saying Maori should be blamed for their own lung cancer rates.

But "when you have people who are often picking up tobacco when they are quite young ... to blame them for the fact that they have an addiction to a powerful drug like that ... is simply an extraordinary thing to say."


DIFFERENT TIMES, SIMILAR LINES

* Don Brash
Last month, on Judge Baragwanath: "He also continues to talk as if the Maori remain a distinct indigenous people ... it is also clear there are few, if any fully Maori people left in New Zealand."

* Winston Peters
In 2000: "We must end a dual electoral system in which the only qualification to vote is based on race - in some cases as diluted as one part in 512."