NEW ZEALAND – The National Party has elected its first Maori leader, Simon Bridges. And to make it even more significant, deputy leader Paula Bennett is also Maori.

Bridges is also the first ever Maori leader of a major party. And he might well be New Zealand’s first Maori prime minister.

There are legitimate and complex questions about the significance of this achievement, including how important it is for Maori voters and for advancing Maori interests, and what impact it might have on politics.

Unfortunately, much of the questioning so far has been along the lines of – “how Maori is Simon Bridges really? Is he Maori enough?”

Most of the questioning of Bridge’s Maori “authenticity” has taken place on social media, especially by some on the political left.

Gwynn Compton suggests Bridges opponents are dogmatically obsessed with finding something to criticise the politician for – and are as bad as those who have criticised Jacinda Ardern, John Key and Helen Clark in a similarly petty way.

Compton hits back hard against those questioning Bridges’ Maori identity: “This absurd line of attack seems to draw on two equally as stupid measures – one being what percentage of Maori ancestry they have, and the other being whether they’re either fluent in te reo or able to recite a mihi.

“What makes these lines of argument absurd, and essentially racist, is that they completely ignore the fact that both Bridges and Bennett’s experience of being urban Maori are largely representative of urban Maori in general over the past century.

“The migration of Maori from rural New Zealand to urban centres over the past century, combined with backwards policies towards Maori culture for much of that time, saw many Maori separated from their cultural identity.” A response to Bridges’ ethnicity deniers comes from Ward Kamo, writing in the New Zealand Herald: “Unfortunately there is going to be a period where some will attempt to question ‘the Maoriness’ of these leaders.

“Winston Peters has already run that gauntlet and Bridges better get his running shoes on. Except that Bridges should just not run that race. It’s just insulting for that question to even be raised.

“As we say in Maori – his whakapapa is his whakapapa and no one can question that.

“And that’s my point. To be Maori is to have a whakapapa and a right to exercise that if it is your wish. You are not less Maori if you don’t go to the marae, if you don’t speak te reo, if you don’t fit ‘what a Maori is’.

“Your heritage is your heritage. All the leaders of Maori descent in Parliament have acknowledged their Maori whakapapa and it’s a beautiful thing.”

It’s not only Bridges’ leftwing opponents who are questioning Bridges’ Maori identity. Newstalk ZB’s political editor Barry Soper made similar arguments in his Herald column: “Bridges’ generational change then is about as solid as his claims to his Maori heritage and that of his deputy, neither of whom have made much of it in their rise up through the ranks

“Not altogether surprising considering their new leader is just three-sixteenths Maori and Bennett’s grandmother was half-Maori.

“They’re now fully fledged tangata whenua it seems and he’s pleading for the Maori vote which is unlikely to wash.”

And Audrey Young has pointed out that Bridges has referred to Maori in ways in which suggest he doesn’t identify as Maori himself, saying “although like Winston Peters he tends to describe Maori in terms of ‘they’ rather than ‘we’.”

But Maori TV’s Jessica Tyson reports Bridges as saying: “I think it’s definitely a part of who I am. It’s a part of what makes me and I hope Maori New Zealanders see that and are excited about that.

“It shows them that actually they can achieve and they can do interesting things with their lives and there’s a lot of opportunity in this country.”

And previously on Maori TV, Bridges has explained himself further: “I understand my whakapapa. As a minister, professionally, I’ve spent a lot of time with iwi. My first three years in Parliament I was in the Maori Affairs select committee.

“I hope I can be a drawcard to Maori, and to a wide cross-section of New Zealanders.”

Many Maori leaders and public figures have been far more accepting of Bridges.

For example, Labour’s Willie Jackson said: “Maori are looking at this very closely, and are surprised – but it is a big honour for him and for Ngati Maniapoto.”

Bridges has received strong endorsements from two former Maori politicians, Marama Fox and Tau Henare.

Fox said: “ I’m proud of him as he is, the person that he’s been. He’s come up through the ranks, he’s smart, he’s intelligent, he’s articulate and he’s Maori. Good on him.”

Annabelle Lee, the executive producer of TV Three’s The Hui, has been reported saying that: “Maori will be waiting to see if Mr Bridges lives up to his promises. Simon is strongly identifying through this leadership process as being Maori and in doing so there is a lot of expectation he will stand and deliver when it comes to kaupapa Maori issues.”

Many on social media have made much of Bridges’ inability to speak te reo Maori. Bridges has responded to questions about his language skills: “I’ve tried about four or five times.

- The Guardian