16 Nov 2008

Maori Party gains wide support for deal with National

7:21 am on 16 November 2008

The Maori Party said it has been surprised at the level of support across the country for a formal deal with the National Party.

Thirty hui have been held around New Zealand in the past three days to determine whether the Maori Party should support a National-led government on issues of confidence and supply.

The final hui was due to start in Tauranga on Sunday morning and the party's co-leader Tariana Turia says once it ends, the five MPs will have a phone conference to confirm their position.

Mrs Turia says supporters have been surprised the National Party has invited them into a formal arrangement, given it did not need their support to form a government.

At a hui with Ngati Whatua in Auckland on Saturday morning, the Party says it achieved total support for a potential deal with the incoming National government - 30 years after the iwi's occupation of Bastion Point.

The historic year-long occupation to prevent the land at Auckland's Orakei Marae being confiscated was under a National government.

It still lingers in the minds of some iwi members, whom the Maori Party says earlier urged caution, but a spokesperson for the iwi says times have changed.

The Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples met Ngati Whatua to outline a deal with National that is likely to be signed on Sunday.

Dr Sharples says the hui of about 40 people gave total support.

He said Maori Party MPs will meet incoming prime minister John Key in Wellington on Sunday, with a view to having a deal signed that evening.

Maori Party confident of independent voice

The party says it will be able to maintain an independent voice in Parliament if it enters an agreement with National.

MP Te Ururoa Flavell says he has seen overwhelming support among hui members for the deal.

Some are concerned the agreement would make the Maori Party a puppet of the new government, but Mr Flavell says the arrangement would still allow his party to vote against National, where appropriate.

The National and Maori parties appear to have reached a compromise on two key sticking points - the Foreshore and Seabed Act and Maori seats in Parliament.

Realistic view - Harawira

It is understood the parties have agreed to look at the future of the Maori seats in a wider review of constitutional arrangements.

National would stop talking about abolishing the seats in 2015, if the Maori Party agreed they would be included in a review of the whole parliamentary system.

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira says the party still wants the seats entrenched.

He says he is happy to compromise with National on the issue, because it could result in a greater voice for his people. However, he admits it does not give any guarantee that the Maori seats will not be abolished in the future.

Chairman of the New Zealand Maori Council, Sir Graeme Latimer, said the Maori Party should take the plunge and support National. He says it will be a political risk, but the alternative is for the Maori Party to spend another three years wailing in the political wilderness.