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Viewing cable 04WELLINGTON909, NEW ZEALAND'S NEW MAORI PARTY GAINS TRACTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
04WELLINGTON909 2004-11-01 02:41 2011-08-30 01:44 CONFIDENTIAL Embassy Wellington
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000909 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2014 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM NZ
SUBJECT: NEW ZEALAND'S NEW MAORI PARTY GAINS TRACTION 
 
REF: A. WELLINGTON 889 
 
     B. WELLINGTON 601 
     C. WELLINGTON 382 
 
Classified By: Principal Officer, Siria Lopez, Reason 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
(U) This cable originated from AmConGen Auckland. 
 
1.  (U)  Summary:  Approximately four months after its 
creation, the Maori Party has achieved more success than some 
observers may have initially expected, due largely to anger 
in Maori communities over the GoNZ's handling of proposed 
foreshore and seabed legislation.  For now, Labour seems to 
have an unexpected rival for the important Maori vote, which 
controls the outcome of seven Maori-designated Parliamentary 
seats.  Nonetheless, the Maori Party faces many serious 
longer-term challenges, including voter apathy, institutional 
support, funding and a strong Maori tradition of voting for 
Labour.  These challenges must overcome if it is to avoid 
becoming just one more failed Maori party experiment in New 
Zealand.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U)  Approximately four months after its creation, signs 
are that the Maori Party may not be the insignificant blip 
some observers may have initially expected. (Most 
prominently, Labour MP John Tamihere, a high-profile Maori, 
vented against the Party, accusing it of being nothing more 
than a brand name-- barbs that greatly aggravated Maori Party 
leaders.)  But it is not surprising that the Maori Party's 
birth has been greeted with caution or outright skepticism. 
Notwithstanding Maori disaffection, previous attempts at 
establishing Maori-based political parties in New Zealand 
have not been very successful.  The three other Maori-based 
political parties currently officially registered are 
electorally insignificant or barely perceptible.  Maori 
voters, traditionally, prefer to give their support to the 
Labour Party. 
 
MMP ) WHY MAORI VOTES MATTER 
---------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU)  Under New Zealand's system of mixed-member 
proportional voting, each voter has two votes ) one for an 
electorate candidate, and one for a party.  In addition, 
Maori can choose to vote either on the general roll, or on 
the Maori electoral roll, which votes on the seven 
constituencies specially designated for Maori.  The Maori 
Party will focus on these Maori electorate seats first. 
However, provided the Party retains Maori Party Co-Chairman 
Tariana Turia,s seat, it will receive additional list (i.e. 
Party) member seats in Parliament in relation to the 
proportion of the vote ) i.e. at current polling of two 
percent, the Maori Party could gain one or two additional 
seats.  Current polling for the 2005 election leaves neither 
major party with a clear majority, meaning that the presence 
of sympathetic coalition partners will be the deciding factor 
for any government.  The Maori Party is likely to vote 
closely with Labour on supply and confidence issues, and 
should the Maori Party win additional Maori seats and gain 
list seats, it will amplify their influence as a possible 
coalition partner. 
 
CURRENT PARTY STANDING 
---------------------- 
 
4.  (U)  What could make this latest attempt at establishing 
a Maori-based party different from past attempts is Maori 
anger over the seabed and foreshore issue (ref C).  At the 
end of April, Labour MP Tariana Turia bolted the party to 
protest the Labour Government's perceived reversal on the 
foreshore and seabed legislation.  (Proposed legislation 
grants Maori customary title versus full ownership, and has 
been called by some a modern-day land grab.)  In July Turia 
stood in a by-election as a Maori Party candidate and won, 
giving the new party parliamentary representation (ref A). 
Party membership now reportedly stands at 6000.  Recent polls 
have it enjoying 2 per cent national support (translating 
into 2 non-Maori seats if an election were held this month) 
and five percent support in Auckland where many of New 
Zealand's Maori live.  The Party may also have a decent shot 
at another Parliamentary slot if Tamihere, currently enmeshed 
in a financial scandal, is forced into a by-election to 
retain his Parliamentary seat (ref A.)  If so, it is expected 
that his Maori Party opponent, Dr. Pita Sharples, would give 
him a good run for his money. 
 
5.  (C)  If Maori disaffection over the foreshore and seabed 
can be sustained and if Maori are prepared to channel these 
negative feelings into positive support for their own 
political vehicle, then the Party is likely to increase its 
Parliamentary representation in the next general election. 
If the party can find good candidates, many already believe 
it is capable of taking all seven Parliamentary seats 
currently reserved for Maori.  Dr. Sharples, Maori Party 
co-leader, confirmed to Consul General that candidate 
selection is the Party's number one priority.  The Party is 
seeking out prominent persons, such as Maori Land Court Judge 
Caron Wickliffe, to offer them the opportunity to run as 
Party candidates (Note:  Judge Wickliffe declined Sharples' 
offer, however.) 
LONG-TERM PROSPECTS? 
-------------------- 
 
6.  (C)  Despite the initial traction the Maori Party has 
gained, there are some very daunting challenges to its 
longer-term viability.  Two obvious problems are funding and 
institutional support.  Maori are a minority population and 
their income levels are lower than those of non-Maori. 
Already an early Maori Party fund-raiser planned for the 
South Island had to be canceled due to lack of response. 
Asked about the South Island, Dr Sharples sighed and told 
Consul General it was "a mess."  The South Island Maori 
electorate, he noted, comprises Wellington with its Maori 
urban middle-class and the entire South Island with its 
non-urban, non-middle-class Maori.  The Party has found it 
difficult to establish branches there because of disparate 
constituencies, spread-out population and the lack of 
organizational discipline among Maori Party members.  (NB: 
The Maori seat boundaries are split to cover the entire 
country.  The South Island is home to only 10 percent of the 
Maori population.) 
 
7.  (U)  Maori political apathy is another significant 
challenge.  Maori feel less stake in the political process 
and have lower levels of political participation than other 
groups. At a political meeting on local elections in Manukau 
City, the city with the largest Maori population in New 
Zealand, Maori Party speakers noted that Manukau has the 
lowest vote turnout for local government elections in the 
country.  Voter turnout among Maori and Pacific Islanders, 
they said, was even lower. 
 
8.  (U)  Ultimately, however, the Maori Party's biggest 
challenge may be the Labour Party.  When Maori do vote they 
have traditionally voted for Labour. Maori have long 
identified Labour as the party most sympathetic to their 
concerns.  Notwithstanding Maori feelings of betrayal over 
Labour's position on the foreshore and seabed legislation, 
they believe Labour still better represents their overall 
interests than does, for example, the National Party.  Those 
more practical and realistic Maori question the value of 
giving the Maori Party their vote when, as one Maori academic 
put it, "the Governor General won't be asking them to form 
the next government." 
 
9.  (C) Dr. Sharples told Consul General that in order to 
address this problem, a Maori Party priority is to register 
those Maori who have never registered to vote before.  He 
explained that most of these are young persons who do not 
have a long history of supporting Labour.  Thus, they should 
be more easily persuaded to vote for the Maori Party. 
Sharples seemed acutely aware of the difficulty in coming up 
against the powerful Labour Party election machine.  He said 
he hopes Tamihere runs without Labour party backing if a 
by-election should come to pass in Tamihere's electorate. 
Under these circumstances, Sharples is confident he could 
wrest the seat from Tamihere.  Otherwise, "John may eat me up 
and spit me out."  "But," he added, "at least he'll get a 
battle." 
 
10.  (C)  Asked if the Maori Party plans to run candidates in 
non-reserved seats in the 2005 general elections, Sharples 
said yes but these are simply "ideas at this stage."  He 
indicated that the Party wants to focus on registering voters 
for Maori electorates, where it has its best electoral 
prospects.  But the Party would consider running in those 
general constituencies with large Maori populations. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
11.  (C)  Comment:  In addition to the challenges to Maori 
Party viability that are noted above, other potential 
pitfalls include pressure from Maori extremist elements (held 
at bay for now according to Sharples) and divisions along 
tribal lines (a greater worry).  Nonetheless, notwithstanding 
some well-justified doubts, the Maori Party has done 
respectably in a very short time.  It has also put Labour on 
notice that it may now have a rival for the Maori vote, a 
vote that is fundamentally important to Labour and one that 
has been long taken for granted.  So the Maori Party appears 
to have gotten off to a good start.  Now it must establish 
its significance and staying power as a rival to Labour for 
the Maori vote. 
Swindells