Ideas@TheCentre
How long for the Maori Party?
Curiously for a Western democracy, New Zealand is one of the few countries to have a race-based political party represented in Parliament. The Maori Party has been in Parliament since 2005 and holds five seats in the House of Representatives. It was formed in opposition to the then Labour government’s nationalising of the foreshore and seabed, an act that ruled out any possibility of establishing customary ownership through the courts.
Within one election cycle, the Maori Party has gone from breakaway group to partner in government with National and Act parties, complete with ministers of the Crown.
However, the party appears to be facing deep divisions over questions of policy direction and what sections of the Maori community they truly represent.
Leaving aside the question whether a race-based political party is really appropriate in the twenty-first century, the party was always going to come to this cross-road. After all, sharing the same race with someone does not mean sharing the same socio-economic status, education, political views or, indeed, world view.
In some ways, this division is a good thing as it shows the fallacy of formal race-based representation rather than values or views. This has always been the problem for the Maori Party: As a movement built on a mixture of activism and local electorate support, it has never worked out which Maori should vote for it, or why. This is particularly true for urban working class Maori with little real link to tribal iwi structures.
This story is also revealed in the numbers: Although local electors on the Maori electoral role like Maori party MPs as their local members, in every Maori Party-held electorate, Labour still dominates the important party vote. Though Maori have five seats in Parliament by virtue of local popularity in mandated Maori seats, their share of the national vote was only 2.39%.
Predicting what will happen to the Maori Party in the next decade is uncertain. What is certain is this: a Maori race-based political party will have a difficult future. Helping Maori might be a key commitment of any given party, but other guiding principles will have to come first.
After all, political parties represent values and interests, not skin colour. Representing 'All Maori' is like representing 'all New Zealanders.' Easy to say, impossible to do.
Luke Malpass is a Policy Analyst with The Centre’s New Zealand Policy Unit.
