Howard a 'Racist Bastard' Says Maori MP

About time someone gave Howard what for.

An MP for New Zealand's Maori Party has labelled Australian Prime Minister John Howard a "racist bastard" for his radical intervention aimed at stopping child abuse in Aboriginal communities.

Hone Harawira's comments will screen on New Zealand television tonight.

"If I was an Aboriginal man in the Northern Territory I would feel like absolute shit right now," the Maori Party MP said today.

"I would have the leader of my country saying I am an alcoholic, I am into pornography, I am into sexual abuse. All I would want to do is go out and smash someone."

This is all due to Howard's crackdown on the Aboriginal community (recently raised by Germain Greer). This crackdown includes:

bans on alcohol and pornography, quarantining welfare payments, abolishing a permit system that limits access to remote communities, and mobilising extra police and troops to help address abuse and other problems.

Harawira also claimed that this was blatant electioneering by Howard:

"The report that he is basing his recommendations on is already 10 years old. Why didn't he do something about it back then?" he said.

"He never sat down with the land councils. He never said to them 'there is a problem here but we recognise that the best people to sort it out are yourselves, and here are all the resources'," he said.

No wonder Harawira added:

"I said John Howard is a racist bastard trying to impose racist policies on a people who can't fight back."

He won't get any argument from me.