Should the Government, as Don Brash and many Pakeha feel, call time on state assistance for Maori? Not according to Maori - although opinion is far from unanimous.
In the rustic East Cape setting of Tolaga Bay, Maori children are feeling the ripple effects of a speech made a month ago to an ageing Pakeha audience in a very different seaside resort, Orewa.
Don Brash's charisma-free address on race issues was described as "curiously antiseptic and somewhat academic" at the time. But it proved the trigger for a debate that has stirred Pakeha to attack a taboo subject and shaken Maoridom to its core.
The aftershocks have moved beyond the tut-tutting of Maori leaders and radical mud-slinging to prompt grassroots Maori to take stock.
Weekend Herald reporters who fanned out in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and the East Coast this week found Maori as upfront on the issue as we found Pakeha last week, if not as united.
Auckland teacher Keri Wikitera: "I think the speech has stirred up huge racial disharmonies. Everywhere I go - work tea rooms, my friend's wedding, on the bus, train, in shops, restaurants, pubs - I'm being challenged by something from his speech.
"I don't feel confident to go anywhere any more because, while I can respond, why should I have to defend my people to Pakeha who don't have a clue about how we as Maori feel?"
What worries Maori most is not the policy implications of Brash's speech: many accept, at least in theory, that state assistance should be on the basis of need, not race.
It is the groundswell of support it attracted, which has laid bare the extent of the Pakeha challenge to the future of biculturalism, partnership and the treaty. It may prove, say Maori, a defining moment not only in race relations but in nation-building.
"I think Brash's speech brought out a lot of ignorance in the Pakeha world about Maori," says 22-year-old Manukura Rawenata after careful deliberation. "Honouring the treaty and helping Maori go hand and hand as far as I'm concerned," the Auckland student says.
Of course, Brash's speech and subsequent statements are more than an attack on race-based special funding.
The National Party leader has questioned the role of the Treaty of Waitangi, the place of spiritual beliefs and the extension of treaty principles into state and local governance.
At Tolaga Bay, school principal Nori Parata says the issue has divided Maori and Pakeha.
"Many of the kids at school see Don Brash as public enemy number one without really understanding the issues. They can just feel the attack being made on them. Mind you, a lot of us adults aren't sure what he's getting at either, so it's difficult to explain to the students. He needs to be specific about what his policies are.
"On a positive side, at least the racial undertones of a lot of New Zealanders have been brought to the surface rather than simmering away underneath. Now perhaps we can start to really debate the issues, educate ignorance and try to be a bicultural country, safe in our different and diverse identities."
Pakeha ignorance - it's a theme adopted by a core of Maori who returned Brash's serve.
"Brash's speech has revealed ignorance to the highest degree," says Keri Wikitera. "If National gets in I will not stand quietly. Ka whawhai tonu matou [struggle on, fight on]."
Labourer Waihaki Andrews, 32: "I think all this goes back to the treaty and I think Maori and Pakeha need to respect the treaty because it's part of our heritage. Both Maori and Pakeha should have equal rights and, as I see it, Maori need help so they become more equal. At the moment ... I think Pakeha are more privileged."
A retail manager, 24: "Options open to us are thanks to Maori people themselves who set them up. The Government only gives a certain amount."
She says Maori help other Maori in education, health and employment because "we have more of a community feel about us. We are more caring about each other".
Shelley Kopu, 33, an Auckland student: "The term 'special treatment' is misleading. There's a Treaty of Waitangi in place in this country and it needs to be honoured."
Ei Hunt, 40: "Even though there's a split, the majority of Pakeha will wake up to the fact that Maori were ripped off and we should be given more paybacks."
He is surprised Brash is still alive. "People like that get taken out when they're a threat. He doesn't even know what he's talking about."
Yet our reporters did not encounter hostility - the mood was more one of anxiety. While many spoke passionately, just as many were relaxed and a few had only a hazy knowledge of Brash and his policies. Others were shy, reluctant to focus on race relations.
"I'm just a dumb Maori," said one woman after a series of lucid comments. Another said we should be asking educated Maori leaders about the issue but, sipping on a takeout coffee from McDonalds, she proceeded to air her concerns.
"Maori people are the culture of New Zealand. That's what Don Brash doesn't understand." The extent of Pakeha racism had surprised her. "I couldn't believe it. I thought we were more united than that."
While it's clear the debate has triggered considerable soul-searching among Maori, it's not yet clear what the response will be. Unlike Pakeha, who largely thought Maori do get special treatment and that this is unjustified, Maori opinion is more diverse.
Of the 120 people we interviewed, nearly a third were unsure whether or not Maori get special treatment.
More thought Maori did not receive special treatment than those who did.
Many of those who pointed to targeted help such as education grants and subsidised health services reject the idea that this represented special treatment.
"Yeah, I think there's allowances out there," says unemployed father of three William Kinita, "but it all goes back to the treaty, which says that these things should be in place."
Wellington researcher Danica Waiti, 27: "It's not special treatment. It's assisting Maori and other low socio-economic groups who don't have as many opportunities as others living in New Zealand, so that society is a level playing field.
"Calling it special treatment ... just plays on ordinary New Zealanders who aren't educated enough to know it's a farce.
"I think Maori have special rights ... that are based on our tangata whenua status and are connected to Te Tiriti o Waitangi."
Professional motorcyclist Ei Hunt, of Kaiangaroa: "If there was special treatment we'd all be equal. At the moment the Pakeha have got more than Maori, that's for sure, so if he's talking about special treatment, where is it?
"They aren't handouts, they're paybacks for what's happened and if anything, there should be more paybacks to come."
There was also considerable doubt that extra help was widely available or easy to come by.
"If there is I'm getting none of it," says Jade Nepia, a 21-year-old Henderson bar manager.
Beverly Samson, 38, housekeeping supervisor: "I've never got any special treatment. I work my butt off for my whanau and pay taxes."
A customer service worker, 37: "It's a big myth that Maori get special treatment. What handouts there are are still bloody hard for Maori to get."
A Manurewa woman, 37, sought funding for her child's education when she was on the domestic purposes benefit. "I never got any special treatment. You do all this paperwork to everything they ask and at the end of it they say yea or nay."
Manukau caterer Liz Mahutu: "The majority that have applied for iwi money - it's nothing. You're lucky if you get a scholarship. The majority I know make it on their own.
"Me and my husband have just always worked, we don't know no different."
Some had received money to do social work courses or attend tertiary institutes. These scholarships and grants came mainly from iwi trusts, "not from taxpayers".
A Taranaki mother and student in her 40s says the debate has more to do with the media's fixation with Maori funding than Brash.
"We have a foundation back home, we've got a lot of leased land, our rentals come in so all of that goes into grants. There are scholarships for education, that's from our own money.
"But because Europeans don't know that, we have this they think we're just wasting it on the Warriors or things like that. They think because we get a grant it must be special.
"There is a minority of money that does come from the Government, but if you see what the Government gives to every other thing ... I mean, look at the arts ... "
A rigger, just out of prison, is unaware that he could approach his Tainui iwi for a study grant. When told, he is very keen: "I most probably will, to further my education."
Hamiora Witika, 21, has heard of special scholarships available through iwi but says Pakeha with a splash of Maori blood can obtain them, too.
"If you know your whakapapa you can get them.
"The handouts aren't that big. In the end I gave up school because my family couldn't afford to send me."
Unlike the Pakeha interviewed last week, more Maori believe special treatment is justified than those who don't.
"I agree with health issues because we are in the bottom of the heap," says a 58-year-old process worker. "We are the minority, the lowest ones, the sickest ones, so why not?
"Why not get a couple of our young people to be doctors? If they don't get grants, they will never get there, otherwise."
Maori, as with Pakeha, were vague on just where special treatment occurred beyond the education and health arenas.
Land compensation and customary fishing rights were defended. The few who mentioned the foreshore and seabed claim were generally as scathing as Pakeha.
Henderson bar manager Jade Nepia, 21: "The Maori going for the foreshore - that's a lot of shit. It should be for any New Zealander."
The issue of whether special help is justified threw up the same contradictions encountered with Pakeha. Edna Isaacs, 67, says help should be based on need, not race. But, the student and beneficiary adds: "It's usually Maori that are impoverished. It's about upskilling our people."
A 49-year-old Rotorua receptionist says special treatment is unjustified - "we are all New Zealanders."
But she supports Maori language schools and extra funding for Maori health.
Auckland student Shelley Kopu, 33, says quotas for Maori medical and legal students lead to Maori graduates being viewed as second-class doctors and lawyers. "In order for Maori to overcome all the statistics that we feature really badly in we need help, but good constructive help - not token help."
Kenneth Phillips, 32, housekeeper, Auckland. "I think it's about time [Maori] received some privileges. We deserve it.
"To take away our kohanga and Maori schools will deprive us of our language. If people think that giving money for these schools is special treatment then they are wrong. Pakeha in this country have forgotten that their ancestors signed an agreement to protect our language."
Yet there was support for the view that the treaty does not confer special rights on Maori. More than one in five argued that special treatment was unjustified; that "we should all just be New Zealanders".
"Everyone should be treated the same," says Hine Pritchard, 41. "That's why I get sick of watching the news sometimes. The Maori and stuff - it's a load of rubbish. It all happened way back."
A no-nonsense pensioner who said she raised 10 children without benefits or extra help supported Brash but advised him to "take it gently".
"Maori should get off their backsides and do some work ... there's heaps of Maori land needs clearing, it's overrun with gorse.
"Some of our kids of 16 years are always having babies. It's an excuse to go on the domestic purposes benefit."
Others agreed with the many Pakeha who said it was time to move on from the treaty and land compensation claims.
Mother of three Elizabeth Turner, 27, said we need to stop "labelling Maori and Pakeha - it's not good for the country".
She did not receive or expect special treatment. "New Zealand should just get on with it - we shouldn't be locked into trying to make up for the past. We have all been brought up here and are all the same - we should all just be New Zealanders."
A process worker, 58, wonders why land settlements are dragging on. "These issues should have been solved long ago because if they had been solved I don't think half of this would have come out."
Megan Maloney, 26, a Napier fishing industry worker: "I think Maori should get special treatment under the treaty. But I think we get enough and we are taking advantage."
Many of those interviewed had little time for politics - either Maori or national - and said they were too busy getting on with their lives to worry about special assistance.
"I don't know if I would apply for a grant, basically because of the attitude of society to it," says Anna Crisp, a social work student who says she had a very "Western" upbringing. She says she doesn't want to be seen as getting something just because she's Maori.
But the 29-year-old worked last year mentoring Maori students at Manukau Institute of Technology, "who often don't know how to access resources and will fall by the wayside".
A 36-year-old mental health worker says he doesn't dwell on the obstacles facing Maori and never talks to his daughters about it. "I don't have a bar of that - you are putting that mental block straight away in their heads."
He has never taken handouts. "Call it what you will, but it was how I was brought up. Everything I have done for myself, I have never had to depend on anyone. I don't know what grants are available for Maori. I would probably be bloody surprised."
But he is very proud of his Maori heritage and strongly involved with his Ngapuhi iwi.
In Whangarei, young and old were divided on the issue. Younger people strongly believed it was unfair for Maori to get preferential treatment, while their elders believed it was a guaranteed right under the treaty.
Graham Tadman, 25, says we live in an era of equal opportunities. "We are not treated as second-class citizens any more so I would never want a handout at my age."
He was grateful for a study grant he received, "but what about all those other races that can't afford it and haven't got the grants?"
Far more prevalent, however, was the view that extra help for Maori is for the good of the nation; that Maori are entitled to this under the treaty; that Pakeha have forgotten the Crown's obligations - and that Brash's articulation of that position has created a chasm between Maori and Pakeha.
Kenneth Phillips, 32, housekeeper, Auckland: "Don Brash really means nothing to me. It's obvious that he doesn't know anything about Maori. If he's trying to bring us down he will lose. History has shown that we are a strong race and we will survive."
Hamiora Witika, 21, unemployed: "I have just come from the north ... What he's been creating in Maori people has been an uproar. They're all angry, they're all ready to go him because of what he's wanting to do."
Richard Creighton, 22, of Rotorua: "It's like a Pandora's box being opened. A lot of Maori people are up in arms about it. They're all talking about it and everyone hates Don Brash. He wants to get rid of the Minister of Maori Affairs, Te Puni Kokiri, all those places where a lot of Maori people get their funding."
In Tolaga Bay, Nori Parata worries about the society his pupils will inherit.
"[Brash] needs to be careful because there are many disaffected Maori youth just looking for a cause to unleash their frustration, regardless of whether or not they understand it.
"Then we will see a deeply divisive Aotearoa-New Zealand, probably with a level of racial violence not seen before in our country."
Liz Mahutu, caterer, Manukau: "I don't believe Maori people get special treatment, not any more than any other ethnic groups in Aotearoa, including Pakeha." But she believes scholarships/grants and extra health funding are justified.
"I feel there has been an injustice and I just think it's about time that people started recognising it. At the same time, Maori people need to recognise it too, that there is help out there for Maori.
"In my own experience a lot of Maori don't realise it's there. It's more than education in the sense of academically. When my daughter [now a teacher] wanted to further her education I had to go out there and find it.
"I thought, 'Hell, nobody did this for me, you just get a job'. I thought there must be something more for them.
"The majority that I know make it on their own. The majority that have applied for iwi money ... it's nothing. You're lucky if you get a scholarship."
Extra spending is justified in health. "You're going to end up paying out later anyway because health does not get better unless you fix it from the beginning.
"I have always worked. Me and my husband have always been workers, we don't know no different."
She thinks grants should be given in the last years of study, to encourage Maori to finish courses.
"Sadly, a lot of Maori don't understand what you have to do to get somewhere. When they struggle and struggle then quit, this is seen as another black mark against Maori."
Beverley Wilson Dee, 53, security guard, Browns Bay.
"I was brought up in the deep, dark Waikato, the oldest of 18 brothers and sisters. I helped to raise them, and the only people who extended a helping hand were Pakeha. We did it for ourselves. There weren't any Maori or kaumatua there to help - they were all too busy feeding their backsides.
"I see them now all walking around with their taiaha and walking sticks, zillions of hui going nowhere. Where were they when we were in trouble from bullying grown-ups all over the marae, trying to get into your sisters?
"It really was Once Were Warriors - getting drunk then trying to touch you up. A lot of Maori children were just abused. If they were taken into welfare at least they had the basics and safety.
"Maori need to face up to the facts instead of having two hands up, one in the Maori world and one in the Pakeha, seeking the best of both worlds.
"Maori need to look deep inside themselves, especially the brown-table Maori in control. Maori are the creators of their own difficulties. But they all jump up and down trying to blame Pakeha for it. If the truth was out there they would stop. It all starts in the home with the children and young people.
"Give the Maori a handup and they are not going to get anywhere. Take the scales away from our eyes, out of the cultural comfort zone.
"Other Maori are out there working and struggling to put food on the table like everyone else. Get a job, get a roof over your heads, get your kids educated as best you can - most people are just getting on with it and getting on quite well.
"We don't wait for handouts. I wouldn't go along for a scholarship just because I'm on the Tainui beneficiaries' roll. I don't want any of the crumbs - I just want to do it for myself.
"Everyone should be treated the same. Special treatment is a liability for Maori. All the work schemes you get disillusioned by. It's been Pakeha who have given my sons a chance to prove themselves.
"It's really good to know it's not just because of your colour, they gave us a chance. They've all worked their way up from the bottom and they all say it feels really good."
Herald Feature: Sharing a Country
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<i>Maori after Brash:</i> Ordinary Maori speak out in wake of race speech
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