Government faces second defection

By RUTH BERRY and AINSLEY THOMSON

Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta is now refusing to confirm she will stay with Labour, placing the Government's majority in jeopardy.

With Tariana Turia's defection cutting its guaranteed majority to a perilous 61-59, the Prime Minister yesterday expressed confidence Ms Mahuta would remain loyal to Labour despite planning to vote against the foreshore legislation.

But Ms Mahuta last night refused to confirm the Government would continue to enjoy her support by the end of the week.

A day before the foreshore hikoi descends on Parliament, Ms Mahuta's stance places huge pressure on the already embattled Prime Minister, who yesterday raised eyebrows by labelling some of the marchers "wreckers and haters".

Her remarks renewed questions about the Government's handling of the issue.

If Ms Mahuta resigns from Labour, the Government will be forced to negotiate with her and Mrs Turia to retain the confidence of Parliament and pass this month's Budget.

The alternative would be to strike a deal with the Green Party, either way leaving Labour governing in a difficult four-way arrangement.

It is already reliant on Jim Anderton's Progressives and Peter Dunne's United Future.

The Government decided not to contest the byelection Mrs Turia is forcing by quitting Parliament. It wants to avoid giving the former minister a platform to launch a new Maori party.

But if Ms Mahuta also opts for a ballot in her Tainui electorate, the Government majority is then in question and it may be forced to rethink its strategy.

Pressure on Ms Mahuta to leave Labour has grown since Mrs Turia announced her plans and the Tainui MP said a meeting would be held with key electorate players in Wellington tomorrow night.

The bill will be voted on for the first time on Thursday.

Ms Mahuta said last night that while "everyone else is focused on whether I'm going to leave, I'm focused on getting change through".

She wanted to see the Government ensure Maori claims to the foreshore and seabed were given due process through the courts.

Asked if she could confirm she would still be a Labour MP by the end of the week she said she was "not prepared to commit long-term support".

Ms Mahuta said if the Government failed to change tack "it will result in Maori forming strong opinions about whether their political voice is best served within the Labour tent or aligned to it" - a sign the two MPs may have discussed approaching Labour to form a coalition-type arrangement.

Ms Mahuta's position will further rattle Helen Clark, who said yesterday that the MP had personally assured her several times, most recently last Friday, that she was not going to leave Labour.

The big South Island tribe Ngai Tahu has published an open letter in the country's major daily newspapers urging every MP to vote against the bill.

The letter accuses the Government of undermining the rule of law, interfering with judicial independence and breaching human rights.

The pressure was also stepped up on Tai Tokerau MP Dover Samuels yesterday with all but one iwi organisation in the Far North demanding he oppose the legislation.

An angry Mr Samuels said there was only one tidal wave coming and that was National leader Don Brash.

The swelling hikoi against the bill is due at Parliament tomorrow.

Helen Clark said it wasn't so much "a hikoi as a daily demonstration that people bus into" and described some of the marchers as "haters and wreckers".

Later she said the comments were directed at the people "who do the annual Waitangi production and appear to be bringing that to Wellington and I say that with some feeling".

She had no doubt there were sincere people on the hikoi, even if she disagreed with them.

Mrs Turia labelled Helen Clark's comments on the marchers "appalling".

The Prime Minister was trying to portray the hikoi as the act of a few radicals, but it was a hikoi of "aroha and dignity" thousands had joined.

Helen Clark yesterday posed for a photo with Shrek, the celebrity merino recently shorn of his long fleece.

But she said she had no plans to meet the hikoi on its arrival, prompting Mrs Turia to ask "are sheep more important than her own people?"

Agriculture Minister Jim Sutton was also on hand for the Shrek photo-call, though he had earlier caused further Government embarrassment by forgetting to turn up to sign a free trade deal with Chile.

Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere, Mr Samuels and others confirmed the Government's Maori MPs planned to front the hikoi tomorrow. Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia is set to address the crowd.

Division also emerged within the Ratana Church leadership yesterday over whether it continued to support Labour or had swung in behind Mrs Turia. But Labour MP Mita Ririnui, a Ratana minister, said he believed the church remained behind the party.

Te Puni Kokiri chief Leith Comer, meanwhile, confirmed yesterday that he had given staff of the Maori development ministry "strong guidance" not to participate in the hikoi.

"Participation would be contrary to the Public Service Code of Conduct and would mean publicly protesting against the policy of a Government that we are here to serve."

NANAIA MAHUTA

Elected Labour List MP in 1996, represented the Te Tai Hauauru electorate in 1999 and Tainui in 2002. Aged 33.

Daughter of the late Sir Robert Mahuta, her links to Tainui royalty have earned her the nickname "the Princess".