$2m joke plastic waka won’t promote brand Maori   6 Apr 2011

$2m joke plastic waka won’t promote brand Maori

The Government’s $1.8 million subsidy of a giant plastic waka to go on show at ‘party central’ during the Rugby World Cup is a joke, says Labour’s Associate Maori Affairs (Economic Development) spokesperson Shane Jones.

“If the plan is to promote brand Maori during the RWC, it should have been done with authenticity and integrity,” Shanes Jones says. “This idea is simply out to lunch.”

Ngati Whatua o Orakei is creating the giant waka, which will be 60 metres long and almost 15 metres high.

“I find it difficult to understand why Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples is promoting this blow-up waka so enthusiastically,” Shane Jones said.

“The best explanation I can come up with is that Dr Sharples has belatedly concluded there should be a greater Maori element to the RWC, but this is just a panic-stricken stunt from the leader of a plastic party.

“In these times of austerity, this is a shallow, costly idea that should at least have been put out to tender if the Government decided it was such a marvellous concept,” Shane Jones said.

“How can Dr Sharples and Prime Minister John Key actually believe that this expensive indulgence is a positive advertisement for Maori? The truth is they don’t but they’re both working together in a desperate effort to keep the Maori Party afloat.

“The same amount of money could produce a fleet of beautiful waka, authentically handcrafted from kauri or totara,” Shane Jones said.

“The real Maori contribution to the RWC will come from Maori people themselves. Maori will feel far more pride at seeing Piri Weepu and Hosea Gear holding the cup aloft than they will at anything else. They certainly don’t want to be exposed to ridicule by this piece of idiocy.

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