B Johnson (SunLive, July 6) accuses the government of having a Maori-slanted agenda. In my view B Johnson has a Pakeha-slanted agenda, so that anything not Pakeha-slanted seems Maori-slanted to him.

He asks what other western government gives such special treatment as our government gives to Maori. Well, there about 150 other nations like us who have signed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples who grant indigenous peoples like Maori special respect.

Plus we have the Treaty of Waitangi which B Johnson seems to want to ignore. He seems to be yearning for a return to the days of the British Empire when colonised people were expected to adopt European culture and become dark-skinned Pakeha.

Those days are gone. Cultural differences worldwide are now respected, and not regarded as divisive. Any special government measures to support Maori as individuals are just an effort to make up for over a hundred years of government injustice, such as the wrongful confiscation of over $30 billion of Maori land with only about $3 billion of compensation paid.
P Dey, Welcome Bay.