Race Relations Set Back 100 Years - Sharples

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Race relations in New Zealand have been set back 100 years by police raids on Monday at alleged weapons-training camps in the Bay of Plenty, Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples has told an Australian audience.

Sharples also questioned yesterday whether New Zealand security agencies might resort to planting evidence to justify their actions.

His criticism came yesterday as a Rotorua District Court judge denied bail to Tuhoe activist Tame Iti, one of 17 people arrested. Sharples told a conference on restorative justice in Queensland that police had used "storm-trooper" tactics in raiding homes and making the arrests.

He said the justice system had "lashed out" at Maori. Maori sovereignty activists were among those arrested, as well as peace and environmental campaigners who police said were connected to the weapons-training camps found in rugged Bay of Plenty bush. They face firearms charges, but authorities are considering further charges under the 2002 Suppression of Terrorism Act.

"I can hardly believe that negative history is repeating itself," Sharples said. "What is the real reason for the use of the Terrorism Suppression Act in this orchestrated campaign against so-called activists? No charges have been laid under that Act since it was introduced in 2002, so what next? Are we going to see charges and trumped-up evidence to justify this very extreme police action? This action has violated the trust that has been developing between Maori and Pakeha and sets our race relations back 100 years."

Sharples said New Zealand invoked rulings of the United Nations only when it suited the Government. "But when it comes to supporting the rights of indigenous people as passed by the UN, then it turns its butt."

Elders in Ruatoki, in the Bay of Plenty, have rejected police responses on why their settlement was locked down by armed officers during the raids.

"The police have ulterior motives and are testing out the Suppression Terrorism Act on Tuhoe people. We want some answers to our questions," said Ruatoki executive member Paki Nikora. A hui at Otunuku Marae between kaumatua and police in Ruatoki on Tuesday had been unsatisfactory, he said.

Police have defended their actions, in which armed police stormed homes, executed search warrants and arrested several people suspected of being involved in a guerrilla camp in the valley beyond the township.

Nikora said police had been unable to say whether the actions, arrests, search warrants and road cordon in and out of the township on Monday were warranted.

The hui was called by Tuhoe elders over concerns about the police actions.

"They could neither confirm nor deny what their actions were based on. Their actions have traumatized our community, our families, the hapu," Nikora said. He said the "scars" would take a long time to heal.

"We are being branded as terrorists. The only terrorist activity in the valley this week has come from the police and the Armed Offenders Squad," he said. "There is a lot of hurt instilled on our community which will never go away."

The police Maori and Pacific ethnic services national manager, Superintendent Wally Haumaha, one of six iwi liaison officers to attend Tuesday's hui, said the operation was not targeting all residents and all the iwi and hapu of the Ruatoki area. "It was about certain individuals and of varying ethnicities right throughout the country."

Assistant Police Commissioner Jon White said police would be "thinking very hard" about residents' feedback. "The timing was such that we thought we needed to mitigate a reasonably serious risk," he said. "So we, on balance, believe the operation was conducted appropriately."