National leader lacked agility for politics

Former National Party Maori vice president Sir Graham Latimer says Don Brash never developed the agility needed for politics.

Dr Brash stepped down today as National leader, but says he will remain a list MP if offered a senior position.

Sir Graham has worked closely with National leaders stretching back to Sir Keith Holyoake, but says he had little to do with the former Reserve Bank governor.

He says Dr Brash's late entry into the political realm counted against him, because he had not built up the experience needed for the top job.

“It takes a long to understand and educate yourself towards politics. And you’ve got to have the patience of Job and hang on. I feel sorry but that’s politics, what goes around comes around,” Sir Graham says.

He says National is not as right wing a party as Dr Brash tried to make it, and his successor will need to know the party well.

BRASH GOOD RIDDANCE FROM JONES

Labour list MP Shane Jones says Don Brash had no place in the country's political leadership.

Mr Jones says Dr Brash made his mark with his first Orewa speech on race relations, and that tainted his time at the top of National.

“I think Don Brash courted disaster the moment he declared war on race relations harmony and sought to stigmatise the Maori personality, both locally and nationally, so I shed not one tear for his passing,” Jones says.

He says Don Brash was a great disappointment to many kaumatua around the country, who remembered the close friendships his father enjoyed with Maori.

TREATY POLICY CHANGES JUST FOR SHOW

Rotorua lawyer Annette Sykes says treaty claimants don't believe the Crown is serious about improving its claim settlement processes.

Ms Sykes says at yesterday's Waitangi Tribunal judicial conference, Crown lawyers tried to present the agreement to settle Ngati Whatua o Orakei's Auckland claims as an improvement on previous processes.

The judicial conference was sparked by concern from other tribes with an interest in central Auckland that their claims would be taken off the table, and it broadened to encompass all claimants with gripes about the settlement process.

Ms Sykes, who represents Bay of Plenty hapu Ngati Makino, says the Crown isn't listening.

“The overwhelming feeling by the claimants and many of their representatives is that we’ve heard this all before. The policy still means that the control about how the policy is implemented remains with the crown, and that is certainly not what the treaty contemplated and not working towards settlement,” Sykes says.

BRASH DEPARTURE GOOD FOR PARTY

National party List Mp Georgina te heu Heu says Don Brash had to go for the good of the party.

Dr Brash resigned today and a new leader will be chosen on Monday.

One of Dr Brash's first acts as leader was to remove Mrs Te Heuheu as the party's Maori affairs spokesperson, after she refused to endorse his comments on race relations made to the Orewa Rotary Club.

Mrs Te Heuheu says Dr Brash wasn't showing National in its best colours.

“He was continuously in the public eye for a whole raft of reasons and in the end although it’s one individual, it’s our party, the National Party, that’s in the public eye. We want to be in the public eye for good things, and we want to be there because we look like a viable alternative to the current government,” te Heuheu says.

MAORI PARTY AWAITS NEW TORY STORY

Maori Party president Whatarangi Winiata says the party is looking forward to talking with the new leader of the National Party.

Professor Winiata says he wishes the best for Don Brash, who resigned today.

He says while Maori were upset at many of Dr Brash's public statements, including his Orewa speech on race relations and his comments on Maori blood, in politics it is necessary to keep lines of communication open people holding different views.

“There are no bridges to be built and no sense that it will be easier to talk with National now. He was a good fellow to talk to, a very good mind and very willing to discuss and debate issues,” Winiata says.

He says Don Brash will be remembered for rebuilding National's electoral support after its hammering in the 2002 election.

DRUG SPECULATION ANGERS MP

Greens’ Maori Affairs spokesperson Metiria Turei has taken offence at comments by the director of the National Addiction Centre on Maori addiction rates.

Professor Doug Sellman yesterday told Waatea News there could be a correlation between Maori sociability and sporting success with research that they are twice as likely to have substance abuse problems.

Meteria Turei says it’s a gross generalisation to claim some genetic basis to addiction.

“I find that completely offensive. It’s so frustrating that because we might suffer from some of these negative statistics, it’s immediately attributed to our ethnicity. It’s abut being Maori that the problem is, and no these other things that are happening to us,” Turei says.