We can do better for Ma¯ ori
‘To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.” That quote, by the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero, was used by Nga¯ i Tahu historian Michael Stevens in his Waitangi Day address last year when reflecting on the quality of political debate in New Zealand — especially in regards to race relations.
Too often, there’s a tendency to ignore the parts of our history we don’t like and ignore the damaging legacy of colonisation, alienation and discrimination.
That tendency was on full display this week with Act’s promise to abolish the Ministry of Ma¯ ori Development and Te Arawhiti, the office for Crown-Ma¯ ori relations.
This fits in with an argument Act has been making for months against the Government’s proposed Ma¯ ori Health Authority, and other policies aimed specifically at turning around poor outcomes for Maori.
From life expectancy to education to incomes to health outcomes, Ma¯ ori find themselves on the wrong end of every social statistic you can think of.
They also find themselves poorly served by mainstream services.
The question is, should we have specific policies and plans to target these issues?
Act, and those on what former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson this week called the “sour right”, make a pretty simple argument against policies aimed specifically at Ma¯ ori.
They argue that the State should be radically egalitarian — treating every citizen exactly the same.
They argue that any policy targeted at one group of citizens, especially one ethnic or racial group, is inherently discriminatory. And how, they ask, can more discrimination be the answer to discrimination that has happened in the past?
As Seymour himself puts it, “No society in history has succeeded by having different political rights based on birth. Many New Zealanders came here to escape class and caste and apartheid.”
Act claims that those pushing for policies to target the particular disadvantages of Ma¯ ori are abandoning equality of opportunity and instead demanding equality of outcomes.
What could be fairer, they argue, what better guarantee of equality of opportunity than a government that treats everyone the same? The answer, as Cicero reminds us, is history.
As Minister for Ma¯ ori-Crown Relations Kelvin Davis argued in a speech in Parliament this week — “as most of us are a product of our upbringing, the lack of equality through the generations has led to gross inequity”.
More than a century and a half of alienation, discrimination and land theft means that many Ma¯ ori do not start out with the same opportunities the rest of us have.
That’s why the statistics are as they are. It isn’t magic. It’s history.
And it’s not just our history — every group of colonised people around the world finds themselves at the bottom of the social heap.
Act’s argument summons the spectre of a world in which one group of New Zealanders is perpetually advantaged over another.
A world in which people are held back because of the circumstances of their birth and where ongoing discrimination removes any hope of equality of opportunity.
Well, if you’re worried about such a world, I have bad news for you. Look outside, we’re living in it.
We’ve been living in it for a long time. We’ll keep living in it unless we do something about it.
And the good news is that our recent experience shows that we can make these things better.
During the vaccination campaign last year, the Ministry of Health was inarguably failing Ma¯ ori — vaccination rates in Ma¯ ori communities were well below the wider population. Once again, the mainstream system was failing Ma¯ ori.
So, the Government took the vaccination roll-out off the Ministry and passed funds to specific Ma¯ ori health providers who did outstanding work getting vaccines rolled out — much faster and more effectively than the Ministry did.
That experience is the strong argument for the Ma¯ ori Health Authority and the devolution of more services to Ma¯ ori.
It’s about doing what works, and about targeting focus on unmet needs.
It’s about dropping the childish notion that discrimination hasn’t happened and doesn’t need to be addressed. It’s about looking honestly at our history, accepting the parts we don’t like, and working to remedy them for the future.
From life expectancy, to education, to incomes, to health outcomes, Ma¯ ori find themselves on the wrong end of every social statistic you can think of.
●Hayden Munro was the campaign manager for Labour’s successful 2020 election win. He now works in corporate PR for Wellington-based firm Capital Communications and Government Relations.