The language of biculturalism and multiculturalism has not been helpful because multiculturalism is often seen as a counter to biculturalism and seen as designed to undermine the aspirations of tangata whenua. Others have also argued that when the country had resolved its bicultural relationships, it would then turn to its multi cultural relationships. This strategy asks a culture to stay frozen until others are ready to negotiate its relationships with them.

In the meantime many cultures have established themselves in New Zealand and are already part of the cultural of New Zealand. As I said before, our cultural minorities are now more visible and they play significant roles in New Zealand society. We are all enriched by these diverse cultures. Rather than keeping them waiting, the multi ethnic agenda begins to celebrate the diversity that is already New Zealand.

The explicit development of a multi ethnic theme as part of our national identity would enhance the confident celebration of ethnicity diversity. In my observation and experience the increasing esteem accorded to Maori has had a positive effect in empowering ethnic communities to also explicitly celebrate their cultures. This is now happening even with very small ethnic communities that have arrived in the last decade.

These then are some of the matters that need to be taken into account as we develop an explicit national identity. If successfully concluded, it would enable each of our ethnic communities, as well as tangata whenua to contribute fully to the developing mosaic of New Zealand's cultural landscape.

In conclusion, I have only touched on some of the matters that New Zealand society needs to consider as it establishes an explicit population plan. As a country, we have yet to brand ourselves in terms of our national identity. It is in our interests to develop a work plan that could enable our citizens to participate fully in developing the strategy which will give each group a purchase of the eventual schema which will inform our inter group relations.

There is evidence to show that there are difficulties between ethnic groups. No one ethnic group is exempt from displaying negative attitudes and behaviours. At the present time all that can effect change in negative behaviours of some ethnic group members towards others is persuasion and information giving. The suggested strategic approach would assist in the development of a national "think" that would become the reference point for policies and practices. It would enable citizens to monitor themselves and each other and their guide would be an external but agreed set of principles. It is my belief that this will do more for the changing patterns of ethnicity in New Zealand and thereby develop a national identity which would be unique. I believe we should let our citizens come together in a planned process and develop such a reference point.

This conference touches on topics close to my heart and I'm delighted you have expressed your interest by attending. I sincerely hope our two days of discussions will stimulate wider interest in the community towards immigration and population issues.

Before I came here 23 years ago, New Zealanders to me were the exotic Maori people, who spent their days weaving and practising traditional arts and crafts, and I had the second misleading impression that the weather was balmy and tropical all year round - something akin to a South Seas Paradise.

New Zealand was relatively unknown in Asia in those days and the little we gleaned about this country came through tourism promotion. These focused on the indigenous people, and the images were of a people in harmony with the land, a strong and vibrant, living culture and a relaxed and peaceful way of life.

But when I arrived in the South Island, I came in for a big shock. Number one - there were not many Maori in the south, and Maori culture was far from a flourishing, integral part of New Zealand life, in that corner of the country. The reality in the South Island was that mostly European descendants sparsely peopled the land, and the weather could be challenging.

The only thing that rang true from the brochures was the slow and relaxed way of life. It's fair to say compared to Asia, the South Island appeared to me to belong to a different era altogether.

It puzzled me for a long time that the Maori identity of the country, the dominant image overseas, was anything but dominant in New Zealand.

I found myself drawn to books, absorbing the history of the country. I discovered that while Maori had outnumbered European settlers, a staggering 40 to 1, in the early stages of colonisation, this situation had rapidly changed.

The loss of land as a place on which to stand tall, a turangawaewae, had a much more profound impact on Maori than merely economic dispossession. Maori had been stripped of their assets and the land. While this hurt financially, the damage to Maori self-identity and mana was possibly worse.

Having an oral history Maori soon lost some of their stories, when the English language arrived with the early settlers and became the main trading medium. English also dominated the school system and Maori were rapidly penalised for using their language.

For all these reasons and many more, it appeared the Maori culture had been submerged by a tidal wave of European dominance and New Zealand, while having a Maori face internationally, was far from bi-cultural when I arrived here.

In contrast, the European people were dominant and had a stronghold on the local culture, and the way of doing things in New Zealand in the 1970s.

In those days we found people friendly, although they were not terribly interested in international affairs. New Zealanders appeared to possess a lot of skills, and were proud of the 'do it yourself' capability, which astounded me. In Hong Kong we had been encouraged to specialise in our skills, in a highly deregulated economy, and the thought that you could or had to know a little of everything seemed an impossible task.

The observation when I first arrived was that only Asians liked to shop. New Zealanders it appeared, liked sports and getting into the rugged outdoors for weekend relaxation.

But I soon found when weekend shopping was introduced, that retail therapy was not unique to Asians. New Zealanders fervently embraced shopping malls and weekend and night shopping with enthusiasm.

Over time I discovered to get along in this country, you had to be incredibly knowledgeable of local issues and sports. And this meant keeping my Chinese background and cultural and Asian interests to myself. I believe it has a lot to do with geographies that are remote from other places and the insular Government policies definitely also have an impact.

I'd now like to throw a little test at you.

I've outlined some of my experiences and thoughts on New Zealanders' identity arriving here as an immigrant 23 years ago. But what are your thoughts on what makes a Kiwi? Who and what is our national identity?

Let's have a look at this fellow (slide 1-natural Kiwi). Most of us will recognise him-he's one of us.

And this Kiwi (slide 2-Fred Dagg Kiwi) is probably familiar. He makes us laugh-he's one of our national icons.

But what about this Kiwi? (slide 3-Maori Kiwi) Yes-we know him, and he's pretty well known overseas, but do we relate to him?

And this Kiwi (slide 4-Pacific Island Kiwi) is probably not so familiar. But we've seen him around.

Then lastly there's this Kiwi (slide 5-Asian Kiwi). He looks a bit different-are we sure he's one of us?

The question is how do you view a Kiwi? Does he come in different shapes and sizes, colours and clothing? Or is he one-dimensional? My hope is we can see Kiwis in different shades, like the people that make up this country.

In conclusion I would say to you that National Identity is derived both through Government policy and through the development of society.

If the two are not moving in the same direction, in unison, an imbalance will develop and this is where we get problems.

Identity and culture flourish and endure through open, honest communication. This is communication of the written, educational and verbal kind.

My belief is where individual groups feel threatened, it's because they have insecurities. They then emphasise key aspects of their identity in a much more "overt" manner. For example, they may force their cultural outlook on to other Kiwis.

What we need to emphasise, and this message is for the Government as well as the community, is that the Kiwi as a national identity is big enough to embrace each and every one of us.

We need to respect each other and be open to all our differences, and make everyone feel that they can get a fair go in this country.

Trying to exert dominance as a group usually means that individuals within that group are feeling threatened, and in most cases there is no need for insecurity.

Hiding behind cultural protocols is equally a sign of feeling insecure.

I moved to New Zealand 23 years ago and was amazed to find that some Chinese customs were still being practised here, that had gone out of fashion in Hong Kong, or were customs that had evolved into new norms in Asia.

It appeared that many migrants arriving here at different times had frozen their culture, through worries that they would lose it.

But by trying to ensure they had some familiarity around them, they had in fact created a time capsule that in many ways had no relevance to their immediate or wider environment

Culture has to be a living, breathing thing to survive. To do this, it should reflect the environment and surroundings it is in.

Practising the protocols alone is not sufficient to hold onto a culture.

The community is the loser when it suppresses the heart of a people-for we lose the full contribution that group could make. When a language and culture is put down, economic linkages between different ethnic groups take longer to establish.

In my view, a mono-culture in this country has not worked as there are too many of us who look different, and we need to work together, not under one another. Bi-culturalism similarly sends the message of excluding contributions that others make.

In reality we are a multi-cultural society, and we should celebrate that. A society where no one feels threatened, and where we co-exist providing leadership to one another. It needs to be a true partnership approach between ethnic minorities and the dominant groups. It needs to be bottom up from every one of us, and top down from Parliament. For politicians, we must exercise leadership in being honest, bold and objective in conducting well-informed debates on race issues and values that are treasured by New Zealanders. We should champion policies that enhance our future generations' attitude to be proud New Zealanders and be inclusive in the process of deriving those policies.

Who are Kiwis? We are the ones that believe in One Nation, many People, Shared Values.

• There is a need for the development of a population policy which includes the required population size, the means by which this is achieved, the role of immigration (if any), a plan for the phased introduction of migrants, preparation of New Zealanders, and induction programmes for migrants.

• The current lack of clarity and wide interpretation of the term 'bi-culturalism' is problematic for public policy.

• There is a need for an intellectually honest and rigorous approach to Treaty responsibilities.

• We have become timid in discussions of race; all citizens should be involved.

• There is a need to move to a higher plateau in approach to national identity with respect to ethnic relationships.

• Three major challenges:

• challenge of the Treaty - Crown and iwi are responsible; education is required to make it a positive process for all;

• how to guarantee that cultures are respected, with a particular emphasis on indigenous peoples; and

• multi-ethnic challenge - need to be careful not to pose multiculturalism as an alternative to biculturalism.

• Conclusion: We can only move to a higher plateau when citizens come together with a set of principles.

Pansy Wong, Member of Parliament

• Images of New Zealand 20 years ago were quite different from the reality, particularly the image of a dominant Maori culture projected overseas that was strong here.

• National identity derives both from Government policy and the development of society, both of which need to develop in tandem.

• We need to realise that the concept of what it is to be a Kiwi is broad enough to embrace everyone and accommodate differences.

• Conclusion: we are "one nation, many people, shared values".

Pauline Winter, CEO, Workbridge New Zealand

• People with d1isabilities are emerging as a new culture in their own right, face similar issues and need to be taken into account when considering national identity.

• A key factor in getting it right will be the Treaty and settling claims, as a commitment to partnership will pave the way for others and lead to new values of tolerance and respect.

Professor James Belich, Department of History, Auckland University

• There is a need to recognise that there has always been ethnic diversity in New Zealand and homogeneity among mainstream New Zealand is a myth.

• The past is camouflaged pluralism; if we recognise this, we will have less fear of pluralism in the future.

• We are currently in a period of cultural decolonisation which generates a sense of difference; we will cope with the future much better, if we recognise this.