I
see the Government has decided to give away 40% of something owned by all of us,
to one select group, and that the decision to do so is based purely on race. I
also note that this same ‘select group’ is now fighting over the division of
the loot. To mis-quote George Orwell, it would appear that
while all Maori are equal, some are more equal than others...
Let me just refresh the picture in your mind, so we all know what we’re
talking about. Of the total number of fish allowed to be commercially caught in
NZ, the Government has given Maori the right to catch 40% of that total. Maori
make up around 10% of the total number of New Zealanders. 10% of the population
has been given the exclusive right to take 40% of the total resource. As far as
recreational (private) fishing is concerned, your average Kiwi with a boat can
go fishing and is allowed to take no more than 9 snapper in one day. But.... if
you are a Maori (definition unsure) you can take as many snapper as you like -
as long as your tribal elder claims that you are ‘harvesting under a
traditional or customary right’ ie for a Tangi or a Hui. A Tangi is a provable
event, in that someone has to die, which is pretty evidential, but exactly what
is a Hui? It is described as a ‘meeting’, which probably can (and probably
will) be extended to mean a gathering at the local pub. I don’t mind being
called racist if it makes you happy - words don’t bother me, especially since
those who use that expression usually do so only when they have absolutely no
rational argument for their position, or are feeling guilty, defensive and
venting some understandable frustration - but I would prefer to be described
more accurately by using the term ‘equalist’, which is a word I made up to
describe someone who supports the view that the use of the resources owned by
all New Zealanders should be shared by all New Zealanders, not just a select
few. However, it is entirely understandable that those few who will benefit will
be strident in defending their case - wouldn’t you if you were about to get a
free windfall? - and they won’t stop at attacking the odd symbolic pine tree
or silver cup.
I
find myself wondering, with a certain amount of embarrassment, what the rest of
the world must think. I guess some of them will consider us very warm-hearted,
while the rest probably think we’re a bit thick, and have probably made notes
in their filofaxes not to invest money over here. Well, you wouldn’t, would
you. One likes to think that those
looking after our investments will be treating them with some degree of
responsibility, not giving away vast chunks without asking you, and based on
some pretty questionable claims.
I
also have some feeling for those that have worked hard to establish an income by
using the fishery resource - I haven’t met any that are filthy rich but maybe
I don’t move in the right circles - and I see the slog that has gone into it,
the ongoing fight to beat the mortgage, cover the costs, eke out a decidedly
ordinary lifestyle and maybe, possibly, create a small nest-egg to guard against
a bad season without which you can be so easily wiped out. These people - of all
racial backgrounds, united in being New Zealanders - have had to create their
own opportunity. Some have failed and lost more than they started with. Already
hit by over-fishing, operating in an environment with several key business
factors beyond your control (weather, fish stock patterns etc), I sometimes
wonder how these smaller operations survive at all. If I had worked my guts out
and risked everything I own to make my business survive against all those odds,
to see others being GIVEN the opportunity to benefit based purely on a murky
definition of racial heritage, where most of the beneficiaries of this
inexplicable generosity haven’t so much as lifted a little finger or expended
one calorie in terms of effort, and without having to risk anything, well, I
think I’d be feeling a bit sour on it....
Racist?
I have examined my soul and sincerely answer ‘no’. I have worked hard for
what I have, I’ve never won lotto or inherited anything, and I make no claim
on something that belongs to all of us, other than to share in its joint
ownership. I have a favourite book here, ‘Old New Zealand by a Pakeha Maori’
written in the 1920’s and
describing how intelligently cunning the Maori were as a race, back in the
1840’s.
It
would appear that, despite the ‘watering down’ effect of inter-tribal and
inter-racial marriages over time (resulting in a vagueness of what constitutes a
true Maori), they have lost none of those attributes over the generations, and I
stand in awed respect at what they have managed to do in their recent
negotiations with those officials who are supposed to be the guardians of the
resource we have placed in their care.....
However,
if you could read this same book, you would understand that the rest of us New
Zealanders should in fact feel very proud at what is happening, for it seems
that Maori culture (circa 1860) meant that the extent to which someone is
punished for some crime or offence reflected the esteem with which the person
being punished was regarded - those held in high regard were punished more
harshly than those held in little regard. The punishment, a form of legalised
and condoned robbery, coincidentally involved being stripped of one’s
possessions. A person of great significance would therefore lose everything they
owned, and were perversely pleased at being regarded so highly. The practice
(defined by the Maori word ‘muru’) was popular and widespread - best
described by a direct quote... “the
general effect was to keep personal property circulating from hand to hand
pretty briskly, or indeed to convert it to public property, for no man could say
who would be the owner of his canoe or blanket in a month’s time..... I have
often been paid the compliment of being robbed for little accidents occurring in
my family, and several times (from a feeling of politeness) robbed my Maori
friends, though I can’t say I was a great gainer by these transactions...”
40%
of the entire Nation’s fishery? Considering the old Maori custom of
‘muru’, I guess the rest of us New Zealanders should start to feel pretty
pleased at being regarded so highly. Based on the events so far, if there is any
racism going on here, it’s ‘the other 90%’ of New Zealanders who are the
victims.
(Quote
taken from “Old New Zealand” by A Pakeha Maori, pages 121 - 122, Whitcombe
& Tombs, Auckland, 1922)
Carpe
Diem
Steve Punter ANZIM,
Dip Bus (PMER), FHRINZ
Staff Training Associates Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand.
© Steve Punter 2001 All rights reserved by the author.