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John Key - Source: ONE News -
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John Key has said sorry for a foot-in-mouth comment suggesting the Tuhoe people are cannibals.
The iwi is already upset that the Prime Minister has ruled out
giving it ownership of Urewera National Park as part of a Treaty
settlement.
Now it's wondering just how serious he is about making a deal.
At a tourism event in Auckland today, Key joked about enjoying a dinner at a Ngati Porou marae on the East Coast of the North Island this week.
"The good news is that I was having dinner with Ngati Porou as opposed to their neighbouring iwi which is Tuhoe, in which case I would have been dinner," Key said.
Tuhoe are the iwi who were told this week there's no chance of them getting a Treaty settlement that includes control of Urewera National Park.
Key decided that was a deal-breaker, the night before it was going to Cabinet.
Chief Tuhoe negotiator Tamati Kruger says he was astounded by Key's joke.
"I don't think that's very becoming of a Prime Minister. We deal with it very, very seriously - not light at all," says Kruger.
National's coalition partner, the Maori Party, agrees but thinks the bigger problem is the way Key derailed the settlement and how that may hamper others.
"After 18 months of discussions back and forth with his officials and his senior ministers, if he is able to do that for this settlement it means he is able to do it for any settlement and therefore it places the whole settlement process at risk," says Te Ururoa Flavell, Maori Party MP for Waiariki.
Tuhoe are in the midst of meetings to discuss what happens next and their chief negotiator says the consensus is clear that they want a fair and just settlement with the Crown. "That is the return of Te Urewera to Tuhoe," says Kruger.
That could threaten National's aim to settle all Treaty grievances by 2014.
"The government isn't prepared to do that at any cost, either financial or in terms of this case vesting of sole control," says Key.
But the Prime Minister is happy to say sorry over his cannibal comments.
"Look it was a light-hearted joke. It was a bit of self-deprecating humour but if anyone is offended then I deeply apologise," he says.
