Act pushes for early deadline on treaty

By Chris Daniels

Act promises a tough line on Maori issues and an end to Treaty of Waitangi claims.

Announcing the party's election policy on the treaty yesterday, leader Richard Prebble said a deadline of the end of next year should be imposed on all claims.

Speaking on One Tree Hill, in Auckland, scene of protest attacks by Maori separatists, he said present policies were a form of "apartheid" and Treaty Negotiations Minister Sir Douglas Graham had been acting without a mandate in recent settlements.

If Act MPs formed part of a government after the November general election, said Mr Prebble, the party would push National hard on its treaty policy.

"Let's say Act and National MPs have a majority - yes, this is something we would be saying to National: 'We want a change and a correction.'"

Mr Prebble signalled that any formal coalition with National could be dependent on its treaty policies.

If there was not enough agreement, Act would consider supporting National only on a case-by-case basis.

A big vote for Act would also allow National MPs in any new government to support an end to the Waitangi Tribunal and the settlements process, he said.

When National was elected in 1990, it had promised a timetable for settling treaty claims, yet this had not happened.

"Most National supporters have been astonished by the direction National has actually gone in."

Sir Douglas had been running a personal agenda, without a mandate from his National colleagues or the voters, said Mr Prebble.

Another Act policy announced as part of the treaty package was the abolition of "all laws that discriminate against any New Zealander on the basis of race, colour, ethnicity and national origin" by 2006.

"If someone was positively discriminated in favour, someone else must have been negatively discriminated against."

Act's treaty policy has been endorsed by the One New Zealand Foundation, a group set up to fight for "one law for all New Zealanders."

Its secretary, George Ferens, said the Act timeframe for an end to all treaty claims was too long, but he supported the direction the party was taking, as there were now a lot of "discriminatory laws."

"It has been proved there are no full-blooded Maori left.

"All people in New Zealand come from different races, and I think this would apply to Maori too."

The Waitangi Tribunal was now dominated by Maori or "Maori sympathisers," he alleged.

Mr Ferens said the Act policy would attract a lot of voters.