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LoginFollow an astronaut and reach for the stars, Harawira tells Māori youth
Hone Harawira ... encouraging hope for the youth. Photo: PMC/Del Abcede
Pacific.Scoop
By Lucy Mullinger
Young Māori need to be encouraged and told to reach for the stars, says Māori Party MP Hone Harawira.
“If a Native American, born on a reservation, can become an astronaut, a kid from Kaikohe can be president of the United States,” he told a political issues seminar at the Māori Expo in Auckland today.
Harawira was referring to somebody he had met at a world indigenous conference in Hamilton who had appeared from behind to be dressed in a blue boiler suit.
He was so impressed with this astronaut he wanted to “grab him, haul him around in front of every young Māori, telling them if you want to reach the stars, meet the guy who’s already been there”.
Referred to as New Zealand’s “most famous hitchhiker” by panel convenor broadcaster Willie Jackson, Harawira is well known for his travels around the world to visit other indigenous cultures.
He has Māoridom close to his heart.
The main topic on the agenda was the need for Māori seats on the Auckland Super City Council.
Harawira believes they are important in all councils, including local councils.
“Those of us, particularly from rural areas, know only too well that local government controls everything.”
He finished his speech by saying: “The past is the past, we are where it’s at now”.
Pacific Islands Affairs Minister Georgina Te Heuheu was under friendly attack by other politicians on the all- Māori panel. However, she defended the reasoning behind National’s stance to not allow special seats for Māori people.
“We’re in government so we’re not going to give that away by saying, we’ll give those seats even though we don’t think that was the right thing to do.
Te Heuheu does not believe the seats on the super city council are as important as other problems New Zealand communities are suffering. She believes Māori should focus on the young people.
“Too many of our young people are going to head into prison. We need to address that in a big way,” she said.
Metiria Turei ... championing Maori council seats. Photo: PMC/Del Abcede
Green Party MP Metiria Turei said her party believed there should be Māori seats on the super city council and there had been overwhelming support for this from all cultures in New Zealand – “not just Māori”.
Turei referred to ACT’S Local Government Minister Rodney Hide’s threat to “throw his toys out of his cot”.
She asked the audience what it wanted for the future – “bloodshed or a peaceful treaty?”
“The alternative to a treaty the nation is built on is bloodshed and that is not what we want.”
Labour’s Māori affairs spokesman Parekura Horomia also mentioned Rodney Hide’s “toy throwing”, saying he wished Prime Minister John Key had “called his bluff”.
He was disappointed, saying this was “a real opportunity in modern times missed, it really does spell out for people in the country what the government is really about”.
He said this was the biggest issue Māori people had come across in 30 years – and Willie Jackson joked that Horomia must have a very short memory.
Horomia said: “The Māori are pretty frustrated; I have never seen so much frustration since the foreshore and seabed discussions.”
He hoped Māori would not be waiting “another 150 years” for Maori people to take a stand on the council and for it come to fruition.
Lucy Mullinger is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University.
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“If a Native American, born on a reservation, can become an astronaut, a kid from Kaikohe can be president of the United States”
Hone Harawira apparently doesn’t know that only US-born people can stand as Presidential candidates in the US.
Andrew – I guess the question should have been posed what did Hone mean by ‘from Kaikohe’. Did he mean born and raised? Or, perhaps he had someone in mind, who actually had one American parent and one New Zealand parent and perhaps this person from Kaikohe was born in the states. It is difficult when we are reading articles not to make assumptions ourselves and sometimes it is better to pose another question rather than make a statement based on assumptions we have made.
Hone would laso agree, that it would be great if a kid from Kaikohe, Kaitaia or the Kaipara to become the first Prime Minister of NZ.
The whole super city debate has exposed the importance of better human relationships between Maori and Pakeha.
With the abolition of Maori seats in the new Super City, which goes against the recommendations of the Royal Commission and the process of select committe.
It makes you wonder why there is a review or a commission in the first place – when Rodney Hide can hold the government to ransom.
NZ thinks we are the leaders for human relations across the world. When in reality, it’s still a case of Pakeha determining what is best for Maori – and calling it a democracy.
Maori are our unique point of differencefeature in the world. Visitors want to see Maori when they come to NZ (and not our colonial history) – they want to see, taste, hear and feel Maoritanga when they come to Aotearoa.
Governance is about people – and Maori (along with Pasifika, Asian) need to be at the decision-makiing table. Unfortunatley the Super City won’t see this happen.