Proposals for Maori self-rule overshadowed the Hikoi of Hope's message to Government last week. But the march leader tells Carrol du Chateau the main focus is still poverty.

When the Rt Rev. John Paterson, Anglican Bishop of Auckland and leader of the 38,000-strong Hikoi of Hope, stood in Jenny Shipley's office last week, he hoped for progress on ending poverty. What he and his 11-member delegation got instead was a courteous hearing and a mild rebuke from the Prime Minister, herself a Presbyterian minister's daughter.

"She was concerned about the principle of the Hikoi, says Bishop Paterson. She said it was quite unkind that church leaders were critical, of the Government that had done so many wonderful things. 'Could we expect some positive support from the Church for the wonderful things we've done?...

If that message (which suggests that Mrs Shipley and her team are not about to reconsider their economic and welfare policies) was not bad enough, Bishop Paterson's colleague, Professor Whatarangi Winiata, then gave the Government a heaven-sent opportunity to swerve away from the Hikoi's focus.

Professor Winiata presented a paper not previously circulated which suggested the best answer was to develop 'a two-culture partnership" which would enable Maori to take over the delivery of their own welfare needs. Plainly Politicians were delighted that the Anglicans had allowed their core message - prepared so painfully over thousands of kilometres of slog down the highways - to be diverted.

The Minister of Social Services, Roger Sowry, said most of the time with Hikoi leaders was spent discussing Maori sovereignty, a claim which march stalwart the Rev Charles Waldegrave, of Wellington, says is untrue. "The word sovereignty was never mentioned.'

So is this not the classic Anglican dilemma? That, by giving all tikanga cultural ways) - particularly the Maori and Pacific Island versions - equal status and the freedom to develop policy within the Church, nothing happens? That what Anglicans term 'the celebration of diversity' dilutes and confuses the message. Should not the bishop have taken control and presented just one discussion document?

Not so, says Mr Waldegrave, who put together the Hikoi's painstakingly developed main policy statement. "We intend to keep the pressure on. We got back to them two months after the Hikoi ended when they had had time to think about it, like we said we would, and we asked all the parties for their responses. That the Nats decided to duck and emphasise the Maori part of our request was plainly politics.'

Bishop Paterson himself, speaking from his elegant office opposite the Anglican cathedral in leafy St Stephens Ave, Parnell, is unequivocal. "I'm most unhappy. The Church is not advising a separate Maori Parliament ... it's very easy for us to get sidetracked away from the main issue. The proposal was offered by the Maori partner as being a long-term solution for Maori, but it doesn't solve the problems of poverty right across the nation ... What we require is a real shift in basic political and philosophical approach."

That the bishop chooses to advocate the proposals backed mainly by the Pakeha section of the Anglican Church is important. Throughout his distinguished career, softly-spoken 54-year-old Bishop Paterson has championed the Maori cause.

Back in the early 60s, before it was fashionable, he studied Maori at Auckland University and his fluency in the language propelled him into a job as the first Pakeha to lead the Maori parish of Waimate North. Next he spent a year as Maori missionary working under Sir Kingi Ihaka, followed by seven years as chaplain of Queen Victoria Maori Girls' School and six as administrative secretary of the Maori Church.

He became Bishop of Auckland three years ago and was elected Primate and Presiding Bishop of New Zealand in May this year. But now, when he sees the impact of the Hikoi in danger of sliding away, he puts his considerable influence behind Mr Waldegrave's principal recommendations.

If the Anglicans tripped up at all, it was in their conscientious efforts acknowledge not just the Pakeha recommendations, but those of the Maori and Pacific Island partnerships within the Church, too. "In England [such decisions] are traditionally left to the bishops because they're in the House of Lords," says Bishop Paterson. "Here it's quite different ... it's very hard to identify an official Anglican line on anything unless the general synod makes a statement."

He sits there in his short-sleeved purple bishop's shirt and white collar and smiles ruefully. "We take democracy to crazy limits, but so far it's worked very well for us."

So what are the Hikoi's principal demands, distilled, as he points out, from thousands of personal stories of poverty and hopelessness?

The modest, two-page document begins: "The Hikoi of Hope sought a change in present policy directions contributing to the gap between richer and poorer New Zealanders, and recognised that we have reached the point where more harm than good is already becoming apparent in the impact of current policy directions. "To change direction will take years and no one realistically expects instant solutions. Consultation about, and implementation of the following policy proposals would, however, indicate a recognition that 'enough is enough' and a willingness to start the process of change.'

From there the demands are broken into broad categories: the creation of real jobs; a health system people can trust (democratic again and non-commercial); benefit and wage levels that lift people out of poverty (need for food banks must be eliminated quickly); affordable housing; affordable and accessible education (tertiary education should not create debt burdens); removal of cultural bias in the provision of services.

Some of the ideas outlined do not clash with free-market ideology. The paper advocated value-added, high-technology strategies; innovative product and market development; and emphasis on new abilities, understanding, skills and professional development by management and staff.

The bishop says: 'Although we don't want to say to politicians 'it's your problem, you fix it, ... we contend that these problems are answerable by Politicians, because we elected them to make a better society. 'The Hikoi established that poverty exists. It cannot any longer be evaded, avoided or denied by politicians.

'Although political parties have some remarkable acts of economic management that made us good in the eyes of the world, there's been an enormous cost for our people?

'One of the things we're saying to Government is, maybe the need to balance the books every year at the cost of people may not be such a hugely important goal. "Right now the people at the bottom of the heap are carrying all the cost."

www.wairaka.net/ubinz/Hikoi/Herald19981218.html