AlterNative

Abstract

In September 2006 the National Political Party leader, Don Brash questioned whether New Zealand Mäori remained as a distinct indigenous group. Brash was responding to High Court Judge David Baragwanath’s comments where he raised the possibility that Maori may need separate legal treatment, and that there needed to be more Mäori lawyers. Brash stated that, ‘He [Baragwanath] continues to talk as if Maori remain a distinct indigenous people. There are clearly many New Zealanders who do see themselves as distinctly and distinctively Mäori – but it is also clear there are few, if any, fully Mäori left here [New Zealand]’. The comments were similar to those made by Brash in his 2004 Orewa speech where he had referred to anthropological studies that showed Maori were a diluted race and non-existent as a distinct group.