PM tells Piripi to choose between public service and activism

1.00pm

Maori Language Commission chief executive Haami Piripi needs to decide whether he is a public servant or a political activist, says Prime Minister Helen Clark.

In a written submission to the select committee working on the foreshore and seabed legislation, Mr Piripi said Maori would never accept the legislation.

"This country could be brought to its knees by internal conflict and perhaps civil war over the coming decades as a direct result of this bill," the Sunday Star-Times quoted the submission as saying.

Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia said the submission was "nonsense" and he would call in the commission today to discuss it.

Mr Piripi's submission was made in his position as chief of the Northland community of Ahipara.

Helen Clark said today his comments and his submission were "quite inappropriate" for a public servant.

"It wouldn't matter what his submission said. It wouldn't matter if it had been euphorically in favour of the bill.

"It is not appropriate for someone in his position to be making that submission.

"You've got a choice... between whether you want to be a public servant or whether you want to be a politically activist. Make your choice. All governments would take that view, whether it was a National government that didn't want a Labour person making a submission. It just isn't on," Helen Clark said on Newstalk ZB.

As chief executive of the commission, Mr Piripi's job was to promote the speaking of te reo Maori.

"That's not politically advocacy," Helen Clark said.

Asked today whether he was surprised at the fuss over his views, Mr Piripi said he had made the submission on behalf of himself as a "concerned citizen" and as a leader of his Maori community in the Far North.

"I wouldn't have thought it would gain such prominence," he said.

He had told the commission's board he intended to make a submission but had not cleared its contents with them.

"I really didn't think it was that controversial," he told National Radio.

He said he had not suggested possible civil war.

"What I said was this country needed to come up with a solution to this problem, that enabled all of us to work together under one umbrella, if you like. And I felt that the way that the legislation had been developed and was being proposed was going to lead to division and eventually, over a period of decades, lead to some major unrest.

"And civil war's probably a bit out there but it was really placed in context, it was about the divisiveness of the bill and the ability it had to create dissension between Maori and non-Maori population.

Mr Piripi said he felt the legislation fell outside his work as chief executive of the commission.

The foreshore and seabed issue had been raised with him by his community and family, not through his work in the Maori language sector.

Mr Piripi, who has worked in the public service for 30 years, said he considered himself a "consummate" public servant.

"A good public servant in my view is an employee that makes his or her employer aware of all the risks that are facing government and all I've done, really, is said to government I believe there is some risk in this legislation."

He was happy to deal with the board over this matter, he said.

The state services commissioner had instructed public servants not join the hikoi but had said there were other processes New Zealanders could use to comment on the legislation.

Mr Piripi said he had taken that to mean he could follow due processes available to every New Zealand citizen.

State Services Minister Trevor Mallard said he believed it was not appropriate for Mr Piripi to make a submission to the select committee.

However, that was a matter for the commission's board which would then discuss the issue with the Maori Affairs Minister.

Mr Piripi could have raised his concerns about the bill in a less public way, for instance by writing a letter to the minister.

Mr Mallard said the rules were quite clear for public servants but were not quite as clear for people employed by crown entities, such as the Maori Language Commission.

Miss Clark said the Government had a bill before Parliament that gave the state services commissioner greater overview of public entities like the Maori Language Commission in order to see there was "a proper public service ethic and sense of standards" in these organisations.

- NZPA