Brash condemned for 'divisive' speech

7.45pm

National's leader Don Brash set out his party's attitude to Maori in a provocative speech tonight that was immediately condemned by the Government as racially divisive.

In his first major address since ousting Bill English as party leader last October, he pushed National's "one citizenship for all" policy to new levels.

New Zealanders could not continue paying for the injustices their ancestors inflicted on Maori, he said, and too many Maori leaders were looking back and locking the nation into 19th century arguments.

The party had signalled his speech as a landmark event by a new leader setting out to recover lost support with strong, definitive policy statements.

"There is a limit to how much any generation can apologise for the sins of its great-grandparents," he said in the speech to Orewa Rotary Club north of Auckland, where former National prime minister, the late Sir Robert Muldoon, traditionally delivered his annual state of the nation address.

"There were injustices, and the treaty process is an attempt to acknowledge that and to make a gesture at recompense. It can be no more than that."

Dr Brash said Maori seats in Parliament should be abolished - a policy announced last year by Mr English - and welfare reform should be based on need and not skin colour.

Race-based references to the Treaty of Waitangi should be removed from legislation, and Maori should be asked to take some responsibility themselves for what was happening in their own communities.

Prime Minister Helen Clark reacted to the speech three hours before it was delivered.

"It is the politics of desperation," she said at her post-cabinet press conference, explaining that a copy had been e-mailed to the Beehive.

"This kind of speech sets out to be divisive... I think it's the duty of political leaders in New Zealand to bring people together."

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen was scathing.

"He is too scared to engage with the Government on the economy and has instead resorted to the dirtiest trick in the book - racial divisiveness," he said.

"It is clear Dr Brash would rip up the Treaty if he thought he could get away with it... instead he has to content himself with ridiculing Maori culture and scrapping the Maori seats".

Much of Dr Brash's speech was about policies that Mr English had promoted, but his language was much more forthright as he outlined National's view of the Treaty and Maori.

There was no distinct Maori population and it was misleading to refer to Maori as one group and Pakeha another as though there were only two ethnic groups, he said.

"Our definition of ethnicity is now a matter of subjective self-definition: if you are part-Maori and want to identify as Maori, you can do so.

"What we are seeing is the emergence of a population in New Zealand of multi-ethnic heritage - a distinct South Seas race of New Zealanders - where more and more of us will have a diverse ancestry."

He said National was committed to completing the settlement of historical grievances and would ensure the process was accelerated and concluded.

"It is essential to put this behind us if all of us - and Maori in particular - are to stop looking backward and start moving forward," he said.

Dr Brash again attacked the Government's foreshore and seabed policy, saying Maori would be given the right of veto over commercial developments.

It was a recipe for disaster and National would return the foreshore and seabed to Crown ownership while recognising customary rights but not customary title, he said.

Dr Brash told his audience he was "deeply saddened" to have to make a speech about race.

"It should not matter what colour you are, or what your ethnic origin might be," he said.

"The indigenous culture of New Zealand will always have a special place in our emerging culture... but we must build a modern, prosperous, democratic nation based on one rule for all."

Dr Brash said the Treaty had been "wrenched out of its 1840s context" and was being used to divide New Zealanders.

The Green Party said National was starting out on a dangerous path.

"It is disgraceful that in the year 2004 the leader of a once-proud party is prepared to dredge the very pits of political sentiment to garner a few more votes," co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said.

- NZPA