Mahuta weighs options after Government feels hikoi anger

By RUTH BERRY, JON STOKES and HELEN TUNNAH

Tainui MP Nanaia Mahuta was last night deciding whether to throw the already besieged Government deeper into crisis, hours after it faced the anger of the foreshore protest hikoi.

Ms Mahuta met iwi from the Tainui waka confederation late last night to discuss whether to resign from Labour.

She refused to comment after the meeting, but federation spokesman Harry Mikaere said, "Watch this space."

Her resignation would remove the Government's one-vote confidence and supply majority.

This would force it to try to beat her in a byelection, or seek support from another party so it could continue to govern.

Government MPs, including the Prime Minister, who refused to meet the hikoi, were grim-faced yesterday.

Helen Clark refused to discuss Ms Mahuta.

More than 20,000 people joined the peaceful march, believed to be the largest since the Springbok tour and homosexual law reform protests of the 1980s.

That those present, mainly Maori, were from a core Labour constituency underscored how wounded the Government is.

The hikoi was led into Parliament's grounds by the Ratana church band, a further slap in the face for Labour, as the church has had a long allegiance to the party.

Helen Clark, who came into power promising to close the gaps between Maori and non-Maori, maintained last night: "I have always been there for Maori."

A commitment from Ms Mahuta to stay a Labour MP would significantly alleviate the pressure today, but the Herald understands she may yet drag resolution of the issue out beyond today.

But protest is nevertheless likely to cloud the first vote on the foreshore legislation.

Maori - including a large contingent from Ms Mahuta's Tainui electorate - are expected to fill Parliament's public gallery in the House for the first reading of the bill.

Labour MP Georgina Beyer, who has been torn over whether to follow her heart or her Wairarapa electorate's desire for her to support the bill, was in tears as the hikoi arrived at Parliament yesterday.

While she has most recently pledged to vote with the Government, she refused to comment last night on her voting intentions today.

The Government's Maori MPs who are supporting the bill were solemn yesterday, in the face of repeated jeers and boos and calls for them to cross the floor.

Protest leader Hone Harawira and several iwi leaders called on Maori to turn their backs on Labour - as did the darling of the hikoi, resigned MP Tariana Turia, who said: "The next hikoi will be the one to the ballot box."

But Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia, who abandoned plans to speak to the hikoi after advice from host iwi Te Atiawa, was afterwards resolute.

"I won't be crossing the floor. People can turn their back but we know what we're doing in the sense of what our people need.

"And we're on about what's best for the future. Not a whole lot of prattle."

Associate Maori Affairs Minister John Tamihere said: "You have to do what you have to do. We went out, we faced the music.

"Once the information is out on the street, they can have a review of it. If we're wrong we go in 2005."

Later in Parliament he attacked National leader Don Brash, saying his attempts to erode race relations had fuelled the hikoi.

It hinted at deep frustration within Labour as it tries to placate voters backing National's "preferential treatment for Maori" campaign without alienating Maori.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen, who joined Maori MPs in welcoming the hikoi, said the Government would "rather not" be facing widespread Maori anger.

"But there is also another part of the population and what we do know from the polling is an overwhelming majority of New Zealanders support the Government [foreshore] policy."

Ms Mahuta said she believed the Government would be "surprised, anxious, intimidated" by the size of the turnout.

"There's been a way forward offered by the kaumatua today ... Let's talk. There's no harm in keeping talking until we come together."

Hauraki spokesman John McEnteer said: "This march is the death knell of this Government. If the Government passes this legislation it will cause irreparable harm and diminish New Zealand's reputation in international forums."

John Mitchell, from Te Tau Ihu tribes, whose Court of Appeal case sparked the foreshore furore, said Labour had only itself to blame. If it had taken a different approach to the issue from the beginning, the matter would have been resolved.