What's eating Pakeha

Pakeha New Zealanders are calling time on "special treatment" for Maori, ranging from targeted funding in health and education to Waitangi Tribunal settlements.

A Herald-DigiPoll survey of 642 Pakeha (New Zealanders of European descent) showing 75 per cent support for Don Brash's proposals to remove racial distinctions from Government services backs the reaction our own reporting team encountered this week when we asked: What's eating Pakeha?

Herald reporters took to the streets of Putaruru, in South Waikato, and Glenfield, on Auckland's North Shore, to find out why the issue has gained such traction since Dr Brash's "one rule for all" speech at the Orewa Rotary Club on January 28.

A substantial majority of the 150 people we spoke to believe Government funding should be on the basis of need, notrace.

While some could see the value of targeted assistance in education, housing and health to help to raise Maori living standards, most oppose special treatment on principle.

"We are all New Zealanders; we should all be treated the same," is the call from middle, European New Zealand.

There is broad support for an end to compensation claims under the Treaty of Waitangi - some even want the treaty replaced.

A Glenfield student summed up the views of many: "It's dragged on for too long. We're paying for something that our ancestors have done."

Paulette Harbison, 30, duty manager: "I think it's a historical thing, but we need to get over it really."

People complained that there seemed no end in sight to the settlement process, that payments were misspent and that new claims kept emerging, such as for the foreshore and seabed, the airwaves and oil and gas reserves.

Jill Sheppard, 59, housewife: "I think they're pushing it too far. We're one country and we should all just live together."

Jan Ballantyne, a 59-year-old general manager, wants assistance scaled back: "Some programmes in health and education are justified in order to increase their quality of life. [But] I don't imagine my grandchildren should have to answer these questions."

The DigiPoll survey, which has a 3.8 per cent margin of error, underscores the stance that Pakeha have taken: 69 per cent oppose special help for Maori to enter tertiary courses and 62 per cent oppose specialist Maori health services.

Only 16 per cent believe Maori have the right to special treatment and only 30 per cent want separate Maori seats in Parliament retained.

Opinion is evenly split on whether councils should consult Maori, and 41 per cent support specialist Maori schools.

Dr Brash's stand on race-based funding is credited with National's dramatic 17-point rise in the polls to leapfrog Labour and has forced the Government to re-examine policies designed to reduce disparities between Maori and Pakeha.

Helen Clark has maintained that the Government's programmes are based on needs, not race or privilege. But she said on Monday: "We can have a look through and assure ourselves that what we are doing is thoroughly based on need."

She later accused National's leader of trying to "pit white against brown and rich against poor" and of fostering a perception among Pakeha that Maori get special treatment.

"There is a ready market for perceptions which try to convey the impression that someone else is better off than you."

The Government may take some heart from the considerable gap between the perceptions of Pakeha voters and the true picture of state spending. When asked in which areas special treatment occurs, 36 per cent of respondents to the DigiPoll could not answer. In our street surveys, voters struggled to be specific. Education and health were the two areas that stood out; land claims, customary fishing rights, the foreshore, and resource consent consultation were also cited.

In the DigiPoll survey, 44 per cent said special treatment had "no effect" on them and 43 per cent said it had "little effect".

In figures prepared for the Herald, Social Services Minister Steve Maharey estimated that $195 million a year is targeted primarily at addressing Maori and Pacific Islander needs, out of total social sector spending of $27 billion.

Reducing Inequalities reports show that while Maori household incomes have improved and unemployment is below 10 per cent, gains made by the population at large continue to outstrip Maori.

Maori die on average 10 years earlier than non-Maori and have higher rates of cancer, diabetes and other conditions. By 2016 one in four New Zealanders will have a Maori or Pacific background.

In today's in-depth interview with the Herald, Dr Brash makes no apology for unleashing "a lot of emotions that have been building up over time" on race relations. The risk if these issues are not discussed is that they could erupt in a much more angry fashion in three to five years, he says.

Dr Brash says the treaty will always be "hugely important in our history but it isn't a constitution for the 21st century".

He is undecided on whether a National government would include a Minister of Maori Affairs or keep the Maori Development Ministry.

Read the results:
Herald DigiPoll: What's eating Pakeha? [PDF]

Herald Feature: Sharing a Country