By sheer chance, I was on a marae in the North Island of Aotearoa when the New Zealand election results were coming through last year. I was attending a gathering of Māori educators and unionists taking part in some cross-Tasman exchange, and during a meal break the television was on to witness where the chips fell.
The atmosphere among the whanau was tense. Some were over the moon that the Māori party had gained seats and felt this provided a needed sliver of hope in what was otherwise a concerning conservative turn. Many people expressed a fear of the mainstreaming agendas of the National party, the libertarian Act party and populist party New Zealand First, including what impacts these may have on Māori language and cultural practices, and, in particular, whether such a coalition government would adhere to any obligations under the Treaty of Waitangi at all.
Being an Arrernte woman from “across the ditch”, going over to Aotearoa has always been a real pleasure to me. The first time I went there – 20 years ago – I found the experience confronting, yet inspiring. Dual language use appeared to be everywhere, from street signs to cigarette packets. Pākehā spoke Māori and seemed comfortable with the use of ceremony and protocol at all events. The Māori also had their own royal family.
Coming from the enforced Australian monoculture, where there is a general public ignorance of anything Indigenous, Aotearoa comparatively had its stuff together. The young idealist in me felt perhaps it was their treaty, and the fact that the First Peoples and the Colonisers had come to the table to make this agreement, that made the difference. Something was in place to protect Māori rights (and, by extension, Pākehā inclusion) in a way that has never existed in Australia.
Since that first visit, I have gained a more nuanced view of the situation, thanks to the insight many Māori educators have given me. Regardless of any agreements, rights are always precarious, and Māori have had to continue fighting hard.
It’s now nine months from that election, and Guardian analysis unfortunately shows some of the fears expressed to me on marae have come to fruition. The conservative coalition has disestablished the Māori Health Authority, plans to remove the right to culturally appropriate care for children who become wards of the state, and is shifting the focus of historical education from Māori history in favour of more supposed “balance”. Public service names have to have their primary names displayed in English, and the use of te reo in everyday government communications is being diminished. The Treaty of Waitangi is under threat, and the outlook is grim.
The NZ coalition government argues that in order to best serve need, focus on “race” must be shifted. It is all very fine to argue this, but when you still have Māori being disproportionately impoverished, disproportionately incarcerated, and disproportionately impacted by chronic health issues, basic logic states that there is a need for culturally sound and appropriate programs to exist. Self-determination and redress is crucial for a more equitable society.
To my ear, these arguments and attacks sound chillingly familiar. Throughout the entire reign of John Howard’s Coalition government, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had to hear how our efforts to create a more educated and truthful Australia were promoting “black armband” views, while Howard reinforced his Anglo-Celtic nationalism. Specialised Indigenous employment programs offered through the Community Development and Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme were scrapped in favour of pushing everyone on to mainstream employment benefits. The government suspended the Racial Discrimination Act to move into Indigenous communities, force blanket bans on alcohol and pornography, and regulate how people spend their welfare payments via financial quarantining.
Indigenous-English bilingualism is almost nonexistent in this country. I can’t go a week without seeing some “proud Aussie” in a comment section proclaiming that they will be calling things by their “original names” rather than “Uluru” or “K’gari”. Bilingual programs at Indigenous community schools have been attacked repeatedly – by both sides of the parliament – in preference for only English teaching. Meanwhile, every time the annual Closing the Gap report is handed down, we are told that there have been few advances in Indigenous educational participation rates, few advances in Indigenous health outcomes, and our incarceration and criminalisation rates remain disproportionately high.
The rhetoric the NZ prime minister, Christopher Luxon, uses – one of “needs-based” rather than “race-based” programs – is a rhetoric that constantly gets wheeled out here. The Northern Territory Country Liberal party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price appears to be particularly fond of it, and conservative pundits will hold her views up as those of “real grassroots Aboriginal people”. But Price was elected to the Senate in 2022 thanks largely to suburban voters in Darwin and Alice Springs, not the remote communities she claims to represent. And despite Price being the face of the no campaign in last year’s voice referendum, remote Indigenous communities in the NT voted heavily in favour of yes. Price’s comments appear to be more a tactically placed dog-whistle to her conservative white support base; a bid to keep them validated in their assimilationist views, downplay Indigenous calls for land rights and autonomy, and thus retain her seat.
No country should look to Australia for inspiration with regards to Indigenous affairs. I find it deeply concerning that a country like NZ which, in so many ways, has long looked significantly more humane and evolved, appears to be doing just this. The more attacks on the treaty, the rights to land, language, culture and self-determination for Māori, the more disfranchised and discriminated against these communities will become. The very things that make Aotearoa such a rich and vibrant place to be, will slowly slip away to the point of it being another cookie-cutter colonial outpost.
From Australia’s perspective though, and particularly for those who care about the rights of Indigenous people here, we need to be keeping watch on what’s going on in Aotearoa, and preparing ourselves for a cross-Tasman fight. Every attack on the rights of Māori will give our own politicians here more justification for their actions, or lack thereof. Their fight is our fight. As deaths in custody continue without change, our suicide rates continue to be some of the highest in the world, and language and culture continue to be endangered, we simply cannot allow this to be the case.
Celeste Liddle is an Arrernte woman living in Melbourne. She is a freelance writer, social commentator and activist. Liddle was a Greens candidate for the seat of Cooper in the 2022 federal election. She left the party in February 2023
