Spitting is nothing says Iti

By JON STOKES maori affairs reporter

Two days on from his defiant nasal evacuation on the steps of Parliament, Tame Iti is unrepentant.

For many the moko-wearing Tuhoe activist's actions were the closest Wednesday's emotional and generally peaceful 20,000-strong hikoi came to controversy.

However, Mr Iti believes his actions, which included spitting twice, and ejecting the contents of his nostrils at the feet of Labour's five Maori male MPs and a sombre deputy PM Michael Cullen, could have been worse.

"That was very passive. Spitting on the ground is nothing.

"I have every right to say what I want to say. They [the Crown] have to be challenged.

"We were not there as a haka party performing in front of tourists."

He said the spitting was unplanned but he was driven by the emotion of the moment.

"After two weeks of marching on the street and you go down there [Wellington] and the ending was bad.

"People are offended? I'm offended. Thirteen million acres of seabed are going to be stolen from us. Offended by a little snot? A little hupe?"

For the veteran protester there were other more extreme methods of demonstrating his frustration. "Of course I could have done that, but I didn't have any toilet paper. The Government are shitting on us every day, they are pissing on us every day."

Peter Love, a spokesman for the host iwi, Te Atiawa, disagrees with Mr Iti's action.

"Who does he represent? He is a renegade that comes in whenever such gatherings are [held], and his responses are predictable. And he's allowed to do that not by us, but by the people he comes in with.

"It certainly was unacceptable behaviour to all Maori. But we can't take offence because his remarks were addressed to the Crown and especially at the minister [Parekura Horomia].

"He called him a pokokohua, which is the worst description you could call anyone. Its literal translation is a devil."

Mr Love said the actions of Mr Iti were his, not those of Maori in general. "It's grandstanding. Who is doing it and what does he represent? He represents himself."