Maori protocol non-issue for region

17th January 2006

KATHY WEBB

Hawke's Bay fire services have not received any instructions from head office to observe special Maori protocol at crash sites.

Assistant regional commander Allan Bamber said he knew nothing about the written protocol signed recently by the brigade at Golden Bay, Nelson.

"We have instructions from our national commander to work closely with iwi, and that is what we do," he said.

The National Party's "political correctness eradicator", Wayne Mapp, is questioning the need for a written undertaking by fire services to respect Maori protocol at emergency scenes.

Golden Bay volunteer fire brigades made history on Sunday when they signed an agreement with local iwi, expected to set a precedent for brigades around the country.

Mr Mapp, whose mission is to discover and root out "PC" policies, said he did not think a written memorandum was necessary.

"I'm uneasy about the whole idea of a written protocol," he said.

"It feels divisive, it separates people as opposed to bringing them together. These things ought to be resolved through dialogue."

Mr Mapp said dialogue and sensitivity were "hugely important" and services such as the police and coroners offices had learned that.

"It has been an important part of building understanding, but to then formalise it ... that just doesn't feel right to me."

Takaka chief fire officer Philip Woolf said yesterday the signing at Onetahua Marae would formalise what was already in place with police.

The memorandum aimed to improve firefighters' understanding of Maori cultural beliefs surrounding death.

Fire Service national Maori adviser Piki Thomas said the agreement was likely to be adopted by all fire brigades.

Nelson Bays police iwi liaison officer Archdeacon Harvey Whakaruru said police had been contacting iwi to bless fatal accident sites since 1998 in an informal arrangement.

Along with emergency services, he was called to the scene of all fatal accidents, not just those of Maori, to bless the site.

Mr Woolf said an accident in Golden Bay six years ago had highlighted some cultural misunderstandings, such as when Ngati Tama leader Janice Manson and her aunt, Margaret Jackson, were killed in the crash in 2000.

"Mistakes were made in the way firefighters allowed members of the local Maori community access to the accident scene," she said.