Richard Prebble’s The Letter
LABOUR’S MAORI CAUCUS SPLIT The daily humiliation for Labour as Parekura Horomia demonstrates his total unfitness for
the office, exposes a deep split in Labour’s Maori caucus. As the ninth floor claims Parekura’s job is safe, his Maori
ministerial colleagues leak details of the Minister of Maori Affairs’ poor health and John Tamihere makes a proxy attack
on Maori’s traditional leadership.
RATANA WAS ANTI-TRIBAL The Labour Party captured the Maori seats with an alliance with the Ratana movement. It is a core
Ratana belief that tribalism holds back Maori, and Ratana is a pan-Maori movement. Ratana set out to represent the
Morehu – the landless ones. Just as a few Maori are descendents of chiefs, many more are descendents of slaves or low
caste Maori whose chiefs sold their land. Labour’s Minister of Maori Affairs in the Lange government, Koro Wetere, was
the first high class Maori Labour MP and as the Maori Queen’s advisor, believed in tribalism and his tribe. Wetere made
treaty settlements tribal and tribal leaders wealthy. The treaty settlements have done nothing for Morehu or “urban
Maori”.
LABOUR HAS LOST The Morehu versus the “aristocrats” has hit Labour’s Maori seats before. Winston Peters, in his 2002
pre-election speech said, “The Treaty Industry has brought the mass majority of Maori nothing. Not a snapper, not an
inch of land, not a dollar in value.” Helen Clark is very conscious that she is the first Labour leader to lose a Maori
seat, and fears she will do so again. Tamihere is an anathema to tribal Maori – so Clark feels she cannot replace
Parekura with him.
ACROSS THE TASMAN Consumer confidence is at a ten-year high, despite the drought, SARS, the Iraq war etc. John Howard is
at record popularity and Labor has just had a damaging leadership challenge. Interest rates are at historic lows. There
is a school of thought that says government popularity is more affected by people’s mortgages than any other factor. The
Liberal government in Australia and the Labour government in NZ have taken diametrically different stances on Iraq. Both
countries have been hit by drought (serious in Australia) and SARS. But in both countries tens of thousands of
homeowners have received letters from their banks saying their interest rates have been lowered, giving in effect a
tax-free pay rise. The fact that rates are lower because both Reserve Banks see harder times is ignored. People feel
better which is the real explanation for both government’s high polling.
RAIL Toll Holdings has demonstrated why NZ companies fail in Australia, and vice versa – they do not understand the
culture. Michael Cullen thought he had an agreement with Toll only to see Toll stand in the market against the NZ
government. Clearly Toll’s Paul Little thinks that NZ is a state like Tasmania and can be easily beaten. But Dr Cullen
has many more weapons – the government writes the rules. He has said if Toll wins – the government won’t subsidise the
track. And Toll is going to need overseas investment commission approval. Then there is the Commerce Commission, which
has for years wanted to have a crack at rail’s control of the interisland ferries. Labour can blow Toll’s offer out of
the water at any time it likes. Paul Little is about to discover that Australia and NZ are not the same.
RAIL REGULATIONS VITAL It’s not possible to run a railway without government co-operation. Three government decisions
hit Tranz Rail. First, cabotage – the ability of foreign ships to pick up local cargo. Rail lost the Comalco contract –
vital South to North cargo. Second, the speed restrictions in the Marlborough Sounds – lowered the ferry’s profitability
and rail delivery times. And then the king hit – speed restrictions when it was hot – played havoc with rail timetables.
(The buckling of lines has never been a problem in NZ – an equivalent ruling would be that because heavy trucks can
aquaplane in rain, when it’s raining truck speed be limited to 40 km.) Any government safety inspector could stop rail
at any time just by citing “safety” at the hundreds of uncontrolled level crossings.
PROSTITUTION BILL The Prostitution Reform Bill is parliament at its worst - a private members bill and a free vote. The
Bill is poorly drafted; even worse are the amendments. Even the Bill’s founder, Tim Barnett, is alarmed by the result.
The Bill was misnamed from the outset. Prostitution in NZ is not illegal and never has been. What is illegal is
soliciting, pimping and brothel keeping. Parliament realises that massage parlours are brothels and the Massage Parlours
Act already sets stringent rules. The police and local bodies said in evidence that they have no significant problems
with parlours, only street prostitution. The Bill seeks to regulate prostitution and introduce the OSH Act into brothels
but by legalising soliciting the Bill encourages prostitution on to the more dangerous street scene. The Bill’s
protagonists have so misstated the legislation’s reality that some liberals are for the fire.