Maori after Brash: Nat stalwart stands out in the crowd

Mita Harris grew up in a rural Maori settlement in Northland, surrounded by a traditionally Labour Party family with strong links to the Ratana church.

Yet, outside Te Tii marae on Waitangi Day, this smartly dressed Ngapuhi man - brown suede jacket, blue shirt and tie, polished shoes - waited patiently until a group of National MPs walked up.

For the next 10 minutes, the 33-year-old stood tall next to Don Brash as the National leader turned back from the marae gates in defiance of a media ban, and had mud thrown at him.

Harris, the National candidate for Tai Tokerau in the 2002 election, did not have a privileged upbringing in the Rahiri settlement, just south of Okaihau.

"I washed in the creek until I left home, a lot of times our power and phone got cut off and we cooked outside. I slept in the lounge. But the human spirit is always stronger than people think."

His family have been Labour since "day one". But Mita announced to his father that he was going his own way when he was 28 after listening to Jenny Shipley.

"I've got this thing about the dole, just giving money out. There's a lot of people I know about that don't do anything all day other than watching TV. That's just really wrong. It makes your head septic.

"When I was campaigning I sat at a table in a Kaikohe park with these kids, aged between 12 and 17, and they were smoking pot around the table. I asked what they saw for the future and they really didn't know and didn't care. Those things really matter. I'm petrified about children falling through the gaps."

He uses the language of Labour's canned "closing the gaps" rhetoric to describe the problems.

Harris admits he's pretty much the only one singing from National's songsheet among his friends and family, but he wants exactly the same thing for his people that others want, and thinks National's philosophy of personal responsibility is a better way to get it.

Harris also has a high opinion of Brash.

"I'd see that name on the $5 note back in the 80s and wonder about the man who had signed it. I was always taken by his stature. Prior to him becoming leader of National, I said he has mana. A lot of people I've spoken to up North think that as well, and a lot are Maori."

He still has to distil his own opinions of the specifics of Brash's message - on Maori seats in Parliament and preferential treatment in health and education.

"I believe in what he is saying about the Treaty of Waitangi, that that stuff should be sorted out as soon as possible. I see the amount of money they spend on Treaty of Waitangi stuff, and if you monitor places like Kaikohe and Moerewa, you don't see a decline in the problems.

"Like Don, I believe Maori can stand on their own two feet. Everyone has got to pull finger now, because everything is global now, everything is moving."

He doesn't believe that spells out the destruction of the Maori culture.

"What I do support is that we should never lose our culture. My kids are not in mainstream classes and it's fantastic. They get a bit of both worlds and it's a choice."

Harris got off lightly at Te Tii marae. However, he expects more strife over the next year or so. "It's too easy to dismiss someone's arguments by accusing them of playing the race card. There's no depth in that. So I'll go to marae and I will face them and hear what they have to say, as long as they respect me for it."

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