Apirana And ACT: Real Solutions To Maori Problems

act-new-zealand

Tue Jul 19 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Apirana And ACT: Real Solutions To Maori Problems

Tuesday, 19 July 2011, 11:30 am
Press Release: ACT New Zealand

ACT New Zealand leader Dr Don Brash is bemused by suggestions that he has "stooped to an all-time low" in invoking the name of Sir Apirana Ngata as part of his campaign against Maori separatism.

Na Raihana, the Maori Party's Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate, says Dr Brash's conjecture that Sir Apirana would be an ACT supporter if he were still alive is "despicable."

"I'd be genuinely curious to hear from Mr Raihana why he thinks this," says Dr Brash.

"Ngata was a proud and fierce advocate for his people, for Ngati Porou in particular. But he was adamant that Maori should credit the saving of their race to the ceding of sovereignty to Queen Victoria in the Treaty of Waitangi, granting all New Zealanders the rights of British subjects. He was also adamant that once breaches of the Treaty had been rectified, those affected should look forward, working side by side with Pakeha and not treating them as colonial oppressors from whom they should ideally secede.

"He believed in individual achievement, self-reliance, and making the most of the opportunities afforded by education. Practising what he preached, he became the first Maori to earn a university degree. In the decades that followed, he consistently urged Maori to re-embrace the spirit of self-reliance and resist what he saw as the lethal trap of welfare dependency.

"In our current context, I'm confident he would feel his values were best embodied in the ACT Party's philosophy and policies. He surely would agree with me, for instance, that it's better to have young Maori, of whom 38% are currently unemployed, in the work force on low wages than languishing on the dole because they may not be employed at rates lower than the adult minimum wage.

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"Similarly, I strongly suspect he'd be enthusiastic about the benefits for Maori of ACT's education policy, which would fund children into schools of their parents' choice rather than the schools that happen to be handiest (and possibly lowest-achieving).

"Ngata was aspirational and inspirational. That's why, as Governor of the Reserve Bank, I had his image imprinted on $50 banknotes. No one called that stooping to an all-time low.

"I wholeheartedly commend the world view of Sir Apirana Ngata to the Maori Party's Ikaroa Rawhiti candidate. Should he become convinced of its merits, I look forward to welcoming him into the ACT Party," Dr Brash concludes.

ENDS

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