Kaumatua says no to flying Maori flag

Matthew Martin | 4th February 2010

Plans to fly the controversial tino rangatiratanga flag in Rotorua have been scrapped.

The decision not to fly the flag atop the Rotorua District Council's Civic Centre on Waitangi Day was made yesterday at a meeting of the council's Te Arawa Standing Committee.

Committee members voted 3-2 against a recommendation put to them by the council's Maori research officer and policy analyst, Bella Tait.

Federation of Maori Authorities representative and Te Arawa kaumatua Jim Gray strongly opposed the recommendation the council fly the flag alongside the official New Zealand flag on Waitangi Day on Saturday.

Mr Gray said he felt it was a sign of disrespect for all those New Zealanders, Maori or Pakeha, who fought and died under the official New Zealand flag during the many conflicts the country had been involved in.

"For 22 years I served in the New Zealand armed forces under the one flag, the flag I swore loyalty to.

"I brought bodies out of Saigon back to Singapore that were covered with the New Zealand flag.

"This national Maori flag indicates to us that we are still a polarised nation - there's them and there's us.

"This emphasises the fact we are still a divided nation."

Mr Gray said he would support raising a different flag as long as it included all of New Zealand's cultures.

In support of the proposal were Rotorua Deputy Mayor Trevor Maxwell and iwi representative Rene Mitchell.

Mr Maxwell said the council should support the decision made by Prime Minister John Key to fly the flag on all Government buildings (including Parliament) and the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day.

"Our council is one of the leaders supporting tikanga Maori and we should show we are leaders rather than followers," he said.

Mrs Mitchell said the flag was a symbol of Maoridom.

"I don't see it as a protest flag ... if we don't fly it, it shows we don't support Maori ... it recognises the indigenous people of New Zealand," Mrs Mitchell said.

Mr Gray was supported by Te Pukenga Kaumatua o Te Arawa representative Piwiki Heke and councillor Bob Martin. Mr Martin said he felt the flag was a protest flag he'd first seen flown at a hikoi held by the Northland iwi of Ngapuhi, not Te Arawa, or Maori as a whole.

"As far as I'm concerned it's a Ngapuhi flag ...

"I would only support it if the Government passed a resolution that made us fly the flag," he said.

Mr Heke said he was against the flag being flown for the same reasons as Mr Gray but was prepared to accept the decision of the standing committee if it agreed to fly it.

Although the Te Arawa Standing Committee does not have the authority to enforce a formal decision, the council's chief executive Peter Guerin said the final decision would be made at a meeting of the council's finance committee tomorrow.

"If the finance committee does not support the recommendation from the standing committee then it would go back to a meeting of full council and be discussed again for 2011," Mr Guerin said.

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