Dom Post on crime

The Dom Post editorial looks at the upcoming meeting on the causes of crime:

f the Government crime seminar next month is to be more than just a talkfest, rare honesty will be required of the participants. …

New Zealand likes to portray itself as a model of good race relations. For many, that is the reality. For some, it is not.

There is a burgeoning underclass in New Zealand, whose members prey upon their neighbours and accept no reciprocal obligation for the assistance they receive from their fellow citizens. A disproportionate number of the members of that underclass are Maori.

In recent times it has become fashionable to blame the over-representation of Maori in crime statistics on poverty, poor education and unemployment. The arguments have a degree of validity. Maori are over-represented in all three categories.

But poverty in this country is a relative concept. New Zealand’s poorest live like kings compared to the poor in Third World nations who do not have a welfare state to provide them with homes, meals and pay television.

Here poor education is not an inescapable reality, but a matter of choice. Every child is entitled to a subsidised education in a system that bends over backwards to acknowledge cultural differences. Those who fail to take advantage of it have only themselves, or their parents, to blame.

And, for those who have not noticed, the unemployment rate is low. That may be changing but, for the past few years, jobs have generally been available to all who want them.

It is indisputable that Maori were robbed of their lands and treasures by colonial settlers, but to continue blaming the ills of today on events that occurred 150 years ago is to perpetuate a way of thinking that is of no benefit to Maori or non-Maori.

In recent decades, governments have gone to great lengths to restore tribal mana and create an economic base for Maoridom by making recompense for Treaty breaches.

They have succeeded to an extent. Tribes that have settled claims are restoring tribal assets, investing in job-rich industries and the education of their young. A Maori elite is emerging.

But there is scant evidence that the process is having any impact on disaffected young Maori who are attracted to the loser culture of gangs.

If Mr Power’s conference is to succeed, it will require Maori leaders such as Dr Sharples and his co-leader Tariana Turia to take ownership of the problem. The solution is not to throw yet more money at those who believe they have an inalienable right to prey upon and sponge off their fellow citizens. It is to engage them in building a better future for themselves and their children.

I think the solution will take at least a generation, and will need greater intervention at an earlier age with dysfunctional families.