Maori being gagged in 'colonial' witch-hunt, Greens claim

1.00pm

Maori public servants are being gagged in a witch-hunt reeking of "colonial control", the Green Party says.

The party entered the row over Haami Piripi and Amokura Panoho with a warning there would be many vacancies to fill if the "vendetta" continued.

Mr Piripi's future is under discussion after the Maori Language Commission chief executive put in a submission to a select committee saying the country risked civil war because of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill.

Ms Panoho quit her job with the Labour Department after being questioned about her involvement with the new Maori Party.

The Greens' Maori affairs spokeswoman Metiria Turei said the Government was gagging Maori from speaking out on issues of crucial importance to them.

"The current witch-hunt against Maori public servants who dare to hold a political opinion reeks of old-time colonial control, when subject people were expected to 'know their place' in the white man's scheme of things," she said.

State Services Minister Trevor Mallard rejected the claim that Maori public servants are being gagged, claiming Panoho was trying to recruit other staff.

"She did resign. I think resigned after a discussion with her manager as to the inappropriateness of her pressuring her staff to attend (the Maori Party hui)," Mr Mallard told National Radio.

However, he could produce no evidence to back his claim.

"You should talk to people's employers. That would be the appropriate thing to do," he said.

It was important to be clear that people did not get fired for attending party meetings, Mr Mallard said.

He rejected a suggestion the Government would not have acted on Mr Piripi if he had been supportive of the Foreshore and Seabed Bill.

"No, quite the opposite. I think that's actually a more dangerous area where people who are either senior public servants or people who are chief executives of crown entities use their positions to be supportive of a particular government's policy," he said.

"What that means is that they then can't work with a potential alternative government."

- NZPA