Act MP attacks Waitangi 'nonsense'

By AUDREY YOUNG, political editor

An Act MP has taken the rare step of openly attacking Maori speeches yesterday on the Treaty Grounds at Waitangi as "disgraceful", "preposterous" and lacking "nobility".

In an outburst setting aside the sensitivities usually accorded the Waitangi Day commemorations and likely to intensify the race debate, Act MP Stephen Franks was highly critical of what he heard at the dawn service on the Treaty Grounds.

"It was just disgraceful. There was not a single noble speech. There was not a single speech of inspiration. Nearly every speaker spent his time tossing off at [National Party leader] Don Brash. It was just trite nonsense."

One man had said Maori had been in New Zealand for 30,000 years and that he did not believe Pakeha estimates of 750 years or 1100 years. "No one even had the decency to snigger," Mr Franks said.

Another speaker had said that about 8000 Ngapuhi servicemen had fought in World War II and five out of seven had not come back - when 8000 Maori had served overseas, of whom about 650 were killed.

"You have speaker after speaker making preposterous claims and no one from within Maoridom is even embarrassed at this bombast and mock piety.

"At the end of each speech, there would be a hymn, a sweet hymn. I just thought it was a disgrace."

Mr Franks' comments, while the personal views of one Opposition MP, came after a highly charged two days of commemorations at Waitangi.

The Government's policy on foreshore and seabed ownership, and National's controversial stance on Treaty of Waitangi and Maori issues, prompted intense opposition.

In other developments yesterday:

* Dr Brash was called a racist and a Maori-basher by some in the crowd after the dawn service at Waitangi.

* Prime Minister Helen Clark restated that the Government would not rethink its foreshore and seabed proposals in spite of anger at Waitangi yesterday.

* Protesters clashed with police in the Treaty Grounds after politicians left. Two men were arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour as hundreds of protesters marched towards the flagstaff.

* Ngapuhi elders promised that next year would be different following the violence of the past two days.

A speech in Wellington yesterday by Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright - in which she "corrected" a controversial Maori translation used by Dr Brash last week - added a further twist to the tensions.

Dame Silvia said she was not interfering in politics: "I'm afraid it's a complete coincidence."

But the outspoken Mr Franks described Dame Silvia's efforts in re-interpreting the phrase as twisting it towards "the separatist agenda".

The fuss is over the phrase "he iwi tahi tatou", used by Governor William Hobson at the signing of the treaty on February 6, 1840, which he said meant, "We are now one people".

At her Government House garden party in Wellington yesterday, Dame Silvia said that was incorrect.

Governor Hobson's words were repeated by Dr Brash in his state-of-the-nation speech at Orewa last week, when he said New Zealand was embarking on a dangerous path towards separatism.

Citing anthropologist Dame Joan Metge as her reference, Dame Silvia said the phrase had two possible meanings. In 1840, the phrase correctly would have meant, "We two people together make a nation". Today, an equally valid translation would be, "We many peoples together make one nation".

Dame Silvia told reporters later that the theme of yesterday's speech was taken from a lecture Dame Joan gave on February 1 (five days after Dr Brash's speech) but she accepted that some people would see her speech in the political context.

Dame Silvia said she learned 20 years ago that Governor Hobson's translation was wrong when she first learned how vehemently Maori disagreed with that interpretation.

"The treaty is very much part of our current political scene and it always will be. We will always be discussing it every Waitangi Day and that's very healthy, I think."

Dr Brash, who was part of Dame Silvia's official party at Government House, said his reference to the "one people" term was not about making New Zealand a homogeneous nation.

"I'm very comfortable with different cultures. Clearly. I've got a Chinese wife.

"I quoted what I thought was the correct translation of Governor Hobson's comment. But it is not essential to the speech at all. I don't care whether it's one, two or 25 peoples.

"The key issue is that we are one country and the Government should be dealing with all New Zealanders on the basis of their need, not on the basis of their race."