Impact of hikoi remains to be seen

By KEVIN NORQUAY

Jeered, abused and spat on when the hikoi reached Parliament today, Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia remained staunch on the foreshore and seabed legislation.

An estimated 10,000 marchers crammed into the forecourt of Parliament in a spectacular, colourful and noisy display of Maori solidarity over the foreshore.

If the purpose of a largely good-natured hikoi was to change Government minds on the Foreshore and Seabed Bill, then it appeared to have failed.

Prime Minister Helen Clark totally ignored the hikoi.

Government MPs who did attend did not say they would rethink support for a bill that will put the foreshore under Crown ownership.

But in terms of providing momentum to a new Maori party based around sacked minister Tariana Turia, the headline-hitting hikoi was a resounding success.

Conservative and radical stood shoulder-to-shoulder, united in the belief that the proposed foreshore legislation was simply a confiscation of Maori land.

Mr Horomia was in no mood for compromise after activist Tame Iti several times spat at him and his Labour Party colleagues, Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen among them.

"It's derogatory, it's disgusting and it's Tame at his best," Mr Horomia told NZPA.

"It's nonsense. Tame ... is dated. He is the old face of the Maori, there is a new face, a very buoyant, young, intelligent face, and you don't see many of them here today.

"Spitting at people is just bad manners, especially on other people's paepae (speaking platform)."

Maori MPs, who sat among the marchers when they reached Parliament, were accused of "lacking balls" and urged to cross the floor over the legislation.

"Of course we are under pressure," Mr Horomia said, saying the legislation had been misunderstood.

"Leadership is about making the right decisions.

"We are told that we have got no balls, or we are gutless -- that's part of the scene. At the end of the day you've got to be able to handle that.

"Most of our people (out here) don't even know what cross the floor means."

Mrs Turia was seen as a heroine by many marchers, after last week putting her political career on the line over the legislation by resigning from Labour.

She was treated like a rock superstar by the huge crowd, some of whom carried huge posters of her.

She used her captive audience to urge them to support her new party, saying it would allow Maori to sit across the negotiating table, rather than under it.

Mrs Turia called the hikoi "a ritual of healing and empowerment", working the crowd by talking of the blood of their ancestors.

"They did not die in vain ... this hikoi is for them and our future generations.

"We have been denied due process and we have been treated as second class citizens in our own land.

"I know that we can achieve real political autonomy, if we stand together united as we are (today).

"The next hikoi will be the one to the ballot box."

Cheers broke out as she finished her speech, and many of the marchers wept as she moved among them, embracing them and doing the hongi.

The hikoi arrived about 12.30pm, the white flag of the Dame Whina Cooper land march in 1975 and the purple uniforms of the Ratana band to the fore.

Marchers and those awaiting them greeted each other with a furious challenge.

Parliament Grounds echoed to the noise of a haka that stretched from the forecourt out to the main gates.

One protester scaled the statue of former premier Richard Seddon to raise the flag of Maori sovereignty, to the joy of the gathered masses.

Maori MPs took their place behind Maori elders wearing the raukura -- a white feather dating back to the 1881 occupation at Parihaka in Taranaki.

It is also a symbol of peace.

Lines of impassive police stood in front of Parliament buildings, in stark contrast to the seething mass of colour and movement in front of them.

Behind the cordon, MPs from New Zealand First, ACT and the Green Party were prominent on the front steps.

The Greens bore a banner reading "Honour Te Tiriti", Maori for "Honour The Treaty".

Maori protest leaders Pita Sharples, Mr Iti and Ken Mair were prominent as the hikoi, which began in the Far North, reached its final destination.

It was a spectacular arrival as feathered cloaks, flags, banners, flax skirts and Maori sovereignty flags mingled with the business suits of Parliament.

A blustery wind added to the atmosphere, sending chairs provided for the marchers scattering like skittles, and hammering banners.

One banner likened Prime Minister Helen Clark to Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean dictator who she has attacked for taking land from white settlers.

"Helen Mugabe, what she won't do for power," it read, rubbing in the message with a cartoon of a black Miss Clark.

Students from an iwi school in Mrs Turia's home city of Wanganui told NZPA they would stay in Wellington to see her vote against the legislation tomorrow.

"She's the woman," one Te Kura o Kokohuia student said.

An adult with the group told NZPA the students were on the hikoi to "support iwi initiatives".

- NZPA