September 25, 2012
Key culturally ignorant
Opinion: John Key was quick to reject the suggestion the other day that he's "culturally ignorant". But, sadly for the Prime Minister, the cap fits. Snugly too.
He, like a long line of prime ministers before him, grew up in a world where it was natural for Pakeha to have little contact with Maori, and to know next to nothing about us.
That was especially true for him because he came from Christchurch where Maori were practically invisible – and then, when he launched into his career as a slick financial wheeler and dealer, he was even further removed from New Zealand's tangata whenua, our values, our views, our priorities, and the guarantees we were given in 1840.
You might argue that Mr Key has been on a sharp learning curve since he turned to politics, and you could point to his cosy link with the Maori Party, Pita Sharples in particular. And you could also point to his presence and his smiles at Waitangi and the Ratana Pa, and to his promotion of Hekia Parata and Paula Bennett.
But the evidence indicates that, if he's learning anything about Maori, he's doing so at about the same speed as John Banks has been embracing honesty and modesty.
The latest evidence, of course, is his ham-fisted handling of the whole business of water rights.
Clearly, he'd like to show us all that he's an economic wizard by balancing the books through selling off a slice of the shares of Mighty River Power, and then a few other companies after that.
To most Kiwis that now seems an utterly stupid idea, but Mr Key wouldn't be the first PM to cling to a retarded plan. So let's not bag him for that.
But the way he's gone about it is unsettling. He's playing the race card cashing in on ignorance. He knows he can count on most Pakeha being too ill-informed and too prejudiced to recognise that the Maori stance is honourable and sensible. We're simply saying that firstly we need to sort out what Maori rights are because, on the basis of the rangatiratanga guaranteed in the Treaty, those rights could be substantial. So let's have that discussion. Then let's see what bearing that has on asset sales.
Instead, Mr Key has been disparaging the Maori Council, the Waitangi Tribunal and King Tuheitia, ignoring the massive hui at Turangawaewae – and painting a picture of Maori opportunism and greed. And, right on cue, heaps of Pakeha are lapping that up. It's a sad sight. Predictable. Politically convenient for the Nats. But really sad.
Then to make it even more galling, he and Bill English are endlessly proclaiming that they're doing all this "in good faith". They've got a cheek.