Bastion Point

The Bastion Point struggle, said Mr Hawke, was based on the legitimate right of the Maori people to call this land their own This right had been upset by more than a hundred years of Government blunders and now the Maoris were sick of supression at the hands of members of a society with differing life-styles and value systems from their own. He pointed out that court decisions often went against Maoris because the courts did not recognise the existence of differing values and made an attempt to do so. He told how, when an uncle of his had died and he needed time off work to attend the tangi, or funeral, all the boss could say was, "Christ, how many uncles have you got?"