Politics of Inclusion

Today, the Maori party are negotiating with National. Whatever happens at this meeting (and, knowing our Maori folk, it will be the start of a series of huis), the meeting itself is historic. There is still an enormous amount of distrust of National amongst the Maori people, much of it instilled by Labour’s fear-mongering to gain votes. It is very brave of the Maori party to go against that background and it graphically illustrates the huge Mana that Turia and Sharples have with their people, that they can risk this. It also illustrates how much more they are interested in their people’s well-being, rather than political gain, than is the average politician.

It has been interesting to read and hear the reactions of people to this meeting. It is amazing how much distrust people have of each other. I have read of calls from both sides of a particularly Kiwi divide, one “side” demonising National (and, by implication, all right wing Pakeha) and the other, the Maori Party (and, by implication, it’s peoples). And yet, my experience is that there is little of that divide in our society, which is why I see this as a peculiarly New Zealand thing. 

I am an ex-South African. I have had more than enough experience with naked racism to last me a life-time. One of the great things about New Zealand is the lack of racism in this country. Sure, we all have our prejudices (how comfortable do you feel sitting in a waiting room with a big guy with tattoos?), but I have rarely seen anyone judged solely on their skin colour and that is very refreshing.

But this makes our almost tribal political divide so odd – there is none of the equivalent social divide you see in other countries. We seem to get along quite well – except in politics. I like some colour to political debate, but much of it is not colourful or lively, it is rank and dripping with vitriol. You have only to read some of the recent comments in the blogosphere (left and right, but mostly left, understandably) or read through people’s opinions when asked if National can work with Maori. This level of partisanship is damaging to all concerned, as the Labour party found this weekend.

What most of these comments have missed is the fact the John Key is not working with the Maori party because he wants to, but because he must. No, not because the Maori party is kingmaker, but because they represent the best hope of any government to tackle the most pressing problem in New Zealand – the failure of the Maori people to prosper and thrive. 

You probably thought the most pressing problem was the economy. But the global credit crisis is just that – global. New Zealand can do little except batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. I am fairly confident that Key and English will do a reasonably competent job – we may flounder a bit, but I don’t see us capsizing. 

No, the real problem is the performance of the Maori people. Because, more so than the Native Americans and the Aboriginal people, Maori are an integral part of New Zealand society. They are not a “fringe” people. Their woes are our woes and their misfortunes, ours. Their poverty make us poorer. When Maori are dysfunctional, our society becomes dysfunctional, our prisons become full and our children die of disease and injury. And, unlike some countries do with”fringe” peoples, we cannot shut our eyes and ignore the problem – it is something we must fix.

Labour has tried fixing this. Their solution is to throw money at the problem, as if taking tax dollars from one person to give to another will ever truly address poverty. This type of solution is a temporary band-aid.

National has mostly stuck to the mythology of “one people” and their ideology has been to attempt to lift all of its “people” up at the same time, through improving the economy. Unfortunately, although New Zealand is indeed one society, it is not a single people. Clearly, there are things that need to be done differently amongst the Maori people. I don’t know what they are and, I’m betting, neither do National. It is possible that not even the Maori party knows what needs to be done. But they are by far and away our best option – hence Key will do everything in his power to include them. 

That’s a lot riding on the shoulders of five people.

So Tariana, Pita, Hone, Te Ururoa and Rahui – do a deal with National and get some wins on the board for your people.

And good luck – you will surely need it.

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