NZ does much better with its national day than Australia, UC expert says

New Zealand handles Waitangi Day much better than Australia does on Australia Day as far as indigenous people are concerned, a University of Canterbury (UC) professor Patrick McAllister said today.

Professor McAllister, who has just released a book on the issue, said indigenous Australians reject participation in Australia Day and stage alternative events that protest against their marginalised status and disadvantaged condition.

``Aboriginal people dub Australia Day Survival Day, Day of Mourning or Invasion Day. Instead of celebrating Australia, they try to develop and strengthen their identity as indigenous people who were subjected to genocide,’’ he said today.

``But nevertheless they managed to survive and they reach out to other Australians in an attempt to foster unity without having to celebrate invasion and dispossession. In New Zealand on the other hand Maori are full participants in Waitangi Day, which takes place in accordance with the Treaty of Waitangi principles, with the nature of the day’s events and meanings being negotiated by the treaty partners.

``Yes, there are often protests by Maori at Waitangi but this is in accordance with the nature of the treaty as something that is continually being negotiated.’’

Professor McAllister said the other important difference which affected both the indigenous attitude towards the national day and the question of local celebrations of the nation, concerned the amount of state control and prescription as to how the national day should be observed.

In Australia, the nature of Australia Day is managed and shaped by the federally funded National Australia Day Council, which had equivalent bodies in each state.

The council subtly influenced the way in which Australia Day was celebrated, so that local government bodies, while having certain amount of autonomy in how to organise Australia Day, were directly influenced by national political concerns and trends.

In New Zealand there was nothing equivalent to the Australia Day Council, and the state did not dictate the ways in which Waitangi Day ought to be commemorated at either national or local level.

``As the book says, this provides local communities, such as Okains Bay near Christchurch, with the freedom to organise Waitangi Day events as they see fit. In Okains Bay, where an annual Waitangi Day event has been taking place for over 30 years, the local community collaborates closely with the Ngai Tahu runanga (council) at Port Levy to organise a Waitangi Day event.

``It is similar in many ways to the annual events at Waitangi but is marked by a display of unity and co-operation between Maori and Pakeha as joint people of the land with a joint and mutually supportive interest in the Okains Bay area. This contrasts quite markedly with the annual displays of protest and antagonism between Pakeha and Maori at Waitangi itself.’’