Maori face a voting dilemma

Maoridom's 200,000 voters could decide who forms the next government. Picture / Kenny Rodger

Wiremu Witehira is unemployed. The terror of staring down the barrel of a shotgun during the hold-up of the petrol station where he worked drove him to quit. He now struggles on the dole rather than pumping gas, but the Whangarei father of two wants a better future for his boys.

He believes education and trade training will provide it. The political party pitching the best education and apprenticeship policy will win his vote at next month's election.

He favours Labour, and applauds Education Minister Trevor Mallard's move to cut funding of "silly tertiary courses", including "karaoke and golf".

During the past three weeks the Weekend Herald has canvassed 115 Maori electorate voters, from Rotorua to Kaitaia, to find out the issues that will win their support on September 17.

In an election where every vote looks set to count, the Maori electorate, encompassing more than 200,000 voters selecting seven parliamentary seats, could decide who forms the next government.

This election will be the first for the Maori Party, a party bringing a solely Maori flavour to the electoral ballot. Political commentators have tipped the party to win up to five of the Maori seats. Those seats would come at the expense of Labour.

Born of Maori disaffection over the Government's handling of the foreshore and seabed issue, the party believes it is time for a change. From the busy, tourist-laden streets of Rotorua to the in-no-particular-hurry locals of Kawakawa, Northland, Maori voters agree. But they have more immediate wants and needs.

Though the foreshore and seabed was important for some, education and employment figured as the most important issue for 40 per cent of those polled. They want more investment in education to ensure a better future for whanau and the creation of more and better-paying jobs.

Whatawhata kuia (elder) Kathy Beacham wants a better future for her mokopuna and believes education will provide it. "Education is the key issue. I am not worried about me, I am old. Our children are the future."

Manurewa's Faith Hereora wants more Maori in tertiary education. "Education keeps our kids moving up," she says.

Kaikohe nurse Blossom Wihongi agrees, and calls for greater support for students suffering under mounting debt. With two daughters completing doctorates, and another a bachelors degree, the political party offering the best deal for tertiary students will win her support.

Whangarei social worker Elsie Komene supports "what National are saying about scrapping the dole". She wants further initiatives to lower unemployment among her people and to provide better "education for our children".

Employment priorities vary between regions. In Northland, Maori want more jobs but in Auckland, where it is acknowledged there is now more work, voters bemoan a life of struggling on low wages against increasing living costs. SITTING at a bus-stop on Papakura's busy main street, housewife Debbie Harding awaits tax cuts and assistance for low and single-income households.

Though her town has enjoyed recent growth, with many formerly vacant shops again open for business, she believes there is a growing gap between the haves and have-nots.

"If you are a single-income household you struggle, you don't get to enjoy anything, it all goes on bills." Her friend points to recent hikes in petrol prices. Her car now costs $20 more to fill than it did two years ago.

While education and employment top people's wish lists, a lingering sense of betrayal exists over the foreshore and seabed issue, and what is seen by some as an overreaction by Labour in appeasing non-Maori voters after Don Brash's Orewa I speech.

This has been the driver for many who now support the Maori Party, with 40 per cent saying they will vote for the party on election day. Some simply will vote for "the Maori" to ensure their views and needs are recognised in Parliament.

Kaikohe resident Mohi Tito says he has always voted for "the Maori" and will at this election. "I am Maori. It doesn't take rocket science to work out why I support the Maori Party."

Another resident has always backed Labour, but this election she "will give them a miss and vote for the Maori. Time for them to pick it up and do something".

Whangarei mother Holly Smith while fearful her vote could be wasted, says she will support the Maori Party. She is unsure whether the party will win enough support to exert any influence in Parliament and believes they will be shunned by the major parties in coalition talks. But she will vote for them to ensure Maori Treaty of Waitangi rights are recognised.

"I want a greater voice for Maori in Parliament. Maori are getting unfairly treated. We need someone to stand up and defend these attacks by Winston Peters."

New Zealand First's treaty policy calls for a 10-year deadline on settlements. Peters has also called for the axing of all "token" Maori jobs from the public sector, and a review of the use of Maori protocol, including powhiri, for public service events. The party wants an end to race-based representation from local councils and health boards.

Kawakawa teacher Annette Wynyard also wants better Maori representation. She is waiting on more detailed Maori Party policy before deciding if it will win her support. She is still smarting from her experience of switching from Labour to New Zealand First in 1996, and won't "vote for the Maori Party just because I am Maori".

Wynyard's view is supported by many voters who, while frustrated at what they see as a "lack of spine" in Labour's Maori MPs, are uncertain whether the Maori Party will have any influence.

Many have fresh memories of the failed experiment that followed the wholesale shift to New Zealand First. The party won all the then five Maori electorate seats, emerging as kingmaker in forming the Government. Peters gave National the nod, and he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister.

For the next three years political fires erupted among many of the party's Maori caucus. Dirty Dog sunglasses and the antics of controversial MPs Tuku Morgan and one-term Maori Affairs minister Tau Henare infuriated and embarrassed many. In 1999, New Zealand First and the Maori electorate parted company. New Zealand First no longer stands candidates in Maori seats.

Hamilton-based journalist Te Ariki Poata has had enough of Labour, but will wait to see what the Maori Party policy is. "The Maori Party are the new boys on the block - I will see what they have to offer."

Poata's assessment is shared by many. The emotion of the foreshore and seabed issue has been replaced with caution. They want policy, and a better understanding of the viability of the new party.

Co-leader Tariana Turia is respected for her stance on the foreshore and seabed, but many are uncertain about the strength and unity of the party's leadership.

Some raise doubts about the political acumen and experience of co-leader, Maori educationalist Dr Pita Sharples. Mutterings are also being heard about the party's links to the "Maori radical underbelly", and the influence behind the scenes of controversial figures, including Northland leader, Maori Council chairman, Sir Graham Latimer, and lawyer Donna Hall.

The pair have been linked to the party, from recruiting members to helping draft its constitution. Sir Graham and party president Whatarangi Winiata are understood to have supported Hall as a candidate for the Waiariki seat. (Te Urureoa Flavel was eventually selected.)

Others, especially in the North, have reservations about Te Tai Tokerau candidate Hone Harawira. They talk of concern at the type of protest action he has been involved with, while others speak unflatteringly of his high-profile and equally outspoken mother Titewhai.

However concern is tempered by mutterings over the recent dalliances of sitting MP Dover Samuels. News reports he relieved himself in a hotel corridor raised serious doubts over his judgment.

MAORI voters want a voice: however, they are unsure whether any of those eager to stand up for them will speak the language they want heard. Many feel let down by Labour's Maori MPs, and many doubt they will defend their culture and needs when it matters.

Hamilton office worker, Grace Sullivan, said the only time she saw or heard from her MP was at election time. "I don't think I will bother voting, it doesn't seem to make any difference."

However, if there is disquiet about the performance of Labour, the prospect of a National government generates far greater concern among many.

National have vowed to scrap the Maori seats and, among other things, remove Treaty of Waitangi references from legislation and put a five-year deadline on treaty settlements. The party struck a non-Maori voter nerve at Orewa last year, when Don Brash called for one law for all.

Queuing for lunch at a take-away in Papatoetoe, Te Wananga O Aotearoa tutor in te reo Abe Rangi said fear would decide the Maori vote, and strategic voting was required.

"I have voted Labour since the 70s. The Maori Party will take time to build up. We need to concentrate on Labour so National doesn't get in."

At Clendon's shopping centre, sickness beneficiary Mike Bailey wants more employment and job security, and will vote for the Maori Party "because of the foreshore".

However Labour will get his party vote "because I don't want to see National in there. I don't trust them or like what they plan to do to Maori."

A warehouse worker in Papakura said he would probably vote for the Maori Party, because he had lost faith in Labour.

"There is not much money around. Everyone is heading overseas to earn more money."

He said there was general apathy among Maori voters and many felt alienated by the political system, an assessment supported by the high number of voters - more than one in four - who did not know, did not care, or were unfamiliar with what any party had to offer.

This is driven by a deafening silence from almost all political parties in pitching directly for the Maori vote. A bidding war has erupted among the main parties over ending Treaty of Waitangi settlements.

This week Prime Minister Helen Clark announced a 2008 deadline for lodging claims, with the aim of settling all claims by 2020. National has set the end of next year as the close-off, with settlement by 2010, a policy matched by United Future.

In June, Race Relations Minister Trevor Mallard moved to axe race-based polices and programmes worth more than $130 million. Closing the gaps is gone, as was reference to Maori in this year's budget.

Many resent being seen as politically expendable as politicians tripped over themselves to win "mainstream" support at their expense, a sentiment expressed in a National billboard, "National = kiwi. Labour = iwi". The difference has left many Maori confused and isolated.

However the Maori Party, the obvious winners from this fallout, have done little to alleviate concerns.

The party has waded in on issues that mean little to many Maori, while remaining sluggish in announcing policy. On its website only foreshore and seabed policy is available.

Northland kaumatua Te Ihi Tito says support is strong for the Maori Party, but it must get smarter if it hopes to convert it to votes on election day. "There is a definite shift to the Maori Party. I don't know what it is. The older ones don't like change and will stay with Labour, but many under-60s are changing."

He believes the party success will depend on how it campaigns and if it can avoid controversy before election day.

"Maori are fickle. If anything bad happens they may go 'stuff it' and swing back to Labour."

Hamilton barber Aurther Norris, agrees. He is interested in the party but believes infighting has soured its appeal.

Norris feels a sense of unease at the unknown, a view shared by many in the historically conservative Maori electorate. "I'm in two minds at the moment, we shall see, but I will probably stick with who I know."