Maihi stands by petition as Jones drops defamation suit

Filmmaker Renae Maihi

Filmmaker Renae Maihi is closing her petition calling for Sir Robert Jones to be stripped of his knighthood, even though she still believes what was written.

Her decision comes in the wake of Jones’ deciding yesterday to discontinue defamation proceedings against her on the fifth day of a hearing at the High Court in Wellington.

In a statement issued later she said she welcomed his decision. ‘‘This has always been about highlighting the harm and impact that racist language has, both now and historically.’’

‘‘It is important for us all to remember that language and articles of this nature, whether intentional or not, can and do cause hurt.’’

She asked for people not to be rude about Jones when posting on social media about the case.

‘‘While I and many others strongly disagree with the language Sir Robert has used about Ma¯ ori, we can disagree with him without being rude about him as a person.’’

It was important that those on the receiving end of racism have a chance to express their feelings, she said.

‘‘This brings an end to a stressful period of my life but that said, I hope the conversation about racism in this country will continue, in the most dignified manner possible.

‘‘I have always believed and continue to believe in what was written in the petition. Given the outcome today, I intend to close the petition,’’ she said.

She thanked her lawyers, the 90,000 people who signed the petition, those who donated to her legal defence fund, and supported her.

Jones had earlier issued his own statement yesterday.

‘‘I filed these proceedings because I was deeply offended by Ms Maihi’s allegations. I am not a racist.

‘‘I now accept, however, Ms Maihi’s offence taking was a sincerely held opinion.

‘‘The parties may never align on what is acceptable humour, however, no malice was intended by either, thus it is sensible to put an end to proceedings,’’ he said.

He thanked his friends Dame Margaret Clark, Alan Duff, Dr Jon Johansson, and Ryan Wall for giving evidence on his behalf. He also thanked the hundreds of people who had written in support of him.

Jones had wanted the court to declare that Maihi defamed him, but he was not seeking damages.

Jones, 80, a property investor and writer, had written a column in February 2018 in the It suggested Waitangi Day be replaced with Ma¯ ori Gratitude Day.

‘‘I have in mind a public holiday where Ma¯ ori bring us breakfast in bed or weed our gardens, wash and polish our cars and so on out of gratitude for existing,’’ he wrote.

He originally said the column was satire, but in his evidence amended that to ‘‘comedic’’, and said it was ‘‘mickeytaking’’.

He did not understand how anyone could have taken it seriously.

However, removed it from its website, citing ‘‘inappropriate content’’.

He was suing Maihi over her online petition calling for him to be stripped of his knighthood. He said the article Maihi wrote with the petition was false and defamatory for saying he was racist, wrote hate speech and his knighthood should be revoked.

The petition was was not ultimately accepted for consideration.

Maihi defended her comments on several legal grounds and gave evidence on Thursday standing by what she wrote.

On January 16 an online appeal was launched to fund her legal costs.

Yesterday it stood at more than $47,000 and donations continued even after the discontinuance of the proceedings was announced.

As part of Jones’ case the court heard from several witnesses, including

author Alan Duff, who staunchly defended Jones’ for not being racist.

Jones had given financial and other support to many causes benefiting Ma¯ ori, although those were largely unpublicised.