Word: brashness
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Maori activists called Brash a "dirty racist" and mocked his "Ku Klux Klan speech." He'd "set out to be divisive," said Prime Minister Helen Clark. And succeeded: "For quite a long time there has been a consensus about how issues affecting Maoridom are dealt with," Clark said. "That consensus appears to be shattered." So does the one about next year's elections. Before Brash became leader, polls put National's support at just 27%, far behind Labour's 45%. Last week National had shot to 45% while Labour was behind for the first time in four years...
...hear Maori claims for redress, successive governments have invested the treaty with near-constitutional mystique. So far, of a thousand claims registered, only a quarter have been heard. The claims process has given rise to a wealthy Maori elite of lawyers, politicians and cultural consultants. Some have grown adept, Brash says, at interpreting the document to suit their own purposes. "This generation of New Zealanders recognized that there were wrongs in the past," says mayor Harrison, "and they wanted to set things right. But the claims have got more and more outrageous. Groups keep coming back for more. As that...
...stood on my own feet." For some New Zealanders, like Maori Affairs Minister Parekura Horomia, the treaty is more about standing side by side. It "created the partnership between two peoples of this country - one the colonizer, the other the first nation's people." Others, like Brash, say the treaty was about unity, not partnership: it laid the basis for a single nation in which all citizens have equal rights - including rights to preserve their culture and language. Since the late '80s, however, government and the courts have emphasized "biculturalism." Laws on development and conservation, research, education and the arts...
Talking of "one group of people called Maori and another called non-Maori" helps neither side, argues Brash. In any case, there's no clear dividing line. Of those who called themselves Maori in the last census, almost half ticked a "non-Maori" identity box as well. Half of Maori children have a non-Maori parent. Maori in need, Brash says, would be better helped as Kiwis than as members of a racial group. "The simple fact of being Maori doesn't necessarily mean people need assistance," whether it's financial aid or lower university entrance marks. In Tauranga, fireman...
Lawyer Greensill scoffs at the idea that Maori are just part of a multi-ethnic New Zealand. "The ideal under the Treaty was a partnership. Pakeha were welcome to come here to our country and share it. Mr. Brash wants us to become New Zealanders. But the British when they came here referred to Maori as New Zealanders. I'm sure he doesn't want everybody to become Maori. I personally don't want to be like him." Shop owner Wilson is more easygoing. She doesn't like Brash: "He's just trying to grab votes." But she thinks...