Size matters

No matter which way you look at it, there were a hell of a lot of people marching yesterday. While some are clearly trying to downplay it - witness the editor of the Independent on Holmes last night making the standard "it's only a tiny fraction of the population" noises - the fact is that this is the biggest protest march in Wellington in a decade, and rivaled the size of anything from the Springbok Tour. We're not in the habit of taking to the streets in New Zealand over politics - it's telling that the only thing bigger on the Herald's list was Peter Jackson's triumphant opening of The Return of the King.

I said a while ago that any real solution to the foreshore and seabed issue had to satisfy the vast majority of New Zealanders, including the vast majority of Maori, otherwise it would simply fester. I think yesterday shows that the government's policy is a failure on the Maori front - you don't get 15,000 people outside Parliament when the vast majority are happy. As a result, it's going to be endlessly relitigated, before the Waitangi Tribunal and various international human rights bodies, in the process damaging our international reputation. Worse, it's going to be re-litigated every time there is a change of government. Maori will keep advocating, in the hope that eventually a friendly government (perhaps dependent on a new Maori party for a Parliamentary majority) will give in.

So, this issue is going to rear its ugly head again and again until Maori are happy with the result. Those hoping they'll admit defeat and give up should look at the Treaty settlements process to see how patient Maori can be.