Waitangi waits for Dr Brash

By RUTH BERRY, political reporter




National leader Don Brash heads to Waitangi today, buoyed by a lift in poll ratings but uncertain of his reception on the marae.

Dr Brash will be accompanied by at least five National MPs and yesterday maintained he had no fears for his safety and no reason to be made to feel unwelcome.

But MPs nevertheless appeared concerned about the reaction Dr Brash, who has taken a hard-line stance on race relations, may get at Waitangi.

The issue was the subject of a number of slightly nervous jokes.

Several prominent local Maori have warned him to reconsider his initial plans to attend Te Tii Marae this morning, while others have advised not to turn the event into a political platform.

Taumatua Kaumatua o Ngapuhi Nui-Tonu (the council of Ngapuhi elders) member Bruce Gregory has warned that Dr Brash's safety could not be guaranteed if he tried to "fuel the fire".

Dr Brash has considered using the partial media ban to further highlight his "one law" campaign - which could involve his "snubbing" the event.

But he may find the issue less black and white if some Maori journalists and media organisations are also banned.

Dr Brash originally said yesterday that uncertainty over both the media ban and whether politicians would be welcome at Te Tii meant it was too early to outline his specific plans. But later he said he would definitely not go on the marae if there was a ban on non-Maori news organisations.

The party's sole Maori MP, Georgina te Heuheu, has still to decide whether to attend Waitangi.

Deputy leader Gerry Brownlee, the man who has been given the shadow portfolios she was this week stripped of, has prior engagements in the South Island.

But Dr Brash will be accompanied by National's Constitutional and Treaty Affairs spokesman Wayne Mapp, who will co-ordinate a fresh assault by the party on the Government's foreshore and seabed plans, set to be launched next week.

The campaign will include newspaper advertisements, a new website and possibly billboards.

While MPs remain happy with the party's increased profile and Dr Brash said the caucus was fully supportive of the plans he outlined, at least several MPs are quietly believed to harbour reservations that he has - perhaps unwittingly - gone too far.

They believe the plans to axe what he calls "race-based" funding and to remove "race-based" references to the Treaty of Waitangi in legislation would be near impossible to implement.

There are also concerns Mrs te Heuheu was handled too brutally in a caucus which already lacks proper Maori representation and already retains two Brash casualties on the front bench - former leader Bill English and short-term deputy leader Nick Smith.

Dr Smith, the party's conservation spokesman, was already qualifying Dr Brash's position yesterday, saying only treaty references in some legislation - such as the Resource Management Act and the Local Government Act would be removed.

Treaty references would not be removed from legislation protecting the Maori language and some others which protect aspects of culture, such as those governing the establishment of Te Papa, he said.

Dr Brash, with labour and industrial relations spokesman Roger Sowry, meanwhile said yesterday that proposed Employment Relations Act amendments would be overturned by a National Government.

Mr Sowry said proposals to fine employers up to $10,000 if they failed to act in "good faith" in wage round negotiations would "rock the confidence" of small businesses.

TALKING TOUGH

"I wouldn't be surprised that someone would bare their arse at Brash up at Waitangi." - Professor Ranginui Walker

"I can cope with bared Maori buttocks, it won't throw me into any kind of panic." - Don Brash

"There have been adverse comments ... I am not going to be personally offended. My door is open and I am keen to talk." - National's new Maori Affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee

"I've never run into Gerry Brownlee at any Maori functions I've attended."

- Sir Graham Latimer