Annette Sykes

Tu Tangata, Issue 22, 1 February 1985, Page 18

Annette Sykes

Damiane Rikihana

Kupu Whakamihi/Profile

There are not many proficient land lawyers here, nor many Maori women in the family and commercial area of law. I look at the isolated needs where Maori people most need help land, family and crime. I see every part of the legal system ripping off our people.”

Regardless of this, Annette Sykes does not specialise in any specific area of law, instead she sees areas of need in Maori terms. At 23, she will have completed her LLB-B Com complete with a vast range of experience here and abroad.

Educated in Kawerau she received her first taste of overseas travel at 14 when she travelled to Australia on a student exchange. Two years later she won a United World College scholarship and headed to Singapore to study, during which time she worked in refugee camps both there and in India. Following the end of her stay she continued on to Britain and Europe for a further 10 months.

On her return home in 1980 she attended Victoria University, and since then a transfer to Auckland lead to the completion of her law and commerce degree.

“My involvement in Te Reo Maori Society and my work for the N.Z. Council for Educational Research led to my interest in politics and my particular concern for the position of Maori people here in Aotearoa.”

Her desire to be closer to home and to her family will culminate in her return to Rotorua to work as one of the few Maori women lawyers in the Bay of Plenty area.

“Maori society suffers from a brain drain concentrated in urban areas. People forget the rural areas, consequently there are few services provided here for the needs of the people.”

With rising unemployment in the Rotorua area, she sees those most severely hit being young Maori women, where existing services create an expectation level of them, which is unnecessary and reinforces fears they already have of their ability to create and produce positively.

“There are 14 Maori lawyers in Rotorua, almost all of them are men. That’s neat, but we should be looking to providing services for Maori women, after all they do constitute the highest number unemployed, few Maori women hold key positions of responsibility in government departments nor are there any Maori women judges.”

For Annette Sykes being a lawyer is

just part of her makeup. She saw her decision to enter the law profession, stemming from the obvious need for greater representation for Maori people, while at the same time being a better option than accounting. Being a Maori women of Arawa descent is a positive element for her, unlike as she sees it, the tertiary system she and many others have come through.

“In university terms I’ve questioned the way we are taught and the sorts of examples held up to students by lecturers. Some of the examples they use are brutal, like the statement “that four Maori men raped a pakeha girl,” they build up scenarios which reinforce the stereotypes that people have of others. In many circumstance we must compromise our female stance for a maori stance. This is especially so when I find myself defending Maori males against this sort of bias, rather than the rape victim.

For her a more positive picture needs to be painted rather than a concentration on nagative aspects. “We should be focusing on things like maori achievements in the education and business field, taiaha training etc. Each Maori needs to be positive. Rather than focusing in on the negative aspects we should be looking at why we fail, and how the system fails us. Many Maori people have different ways of coping with personal traumas like rape and incest, we should be looking at the victims of these traumas and catering to their needs, rather than taking offence that the system doesn’t cater.

“We should be looking for the best system and the best approach, even if it means setting up a specialist system to cater for everyone’s needs. Only now maori alternatives are receiving recognition, though they have been in existence for hundreds of years like Maatua Whangai.

Seeking an adequate avenue through which to channel her work Annette sees maori language as one way of easing the transition for Maori people in the legal field.

“Beauty in expression isn’t available through the medium of english, for example when we say kia ora on the phone Maori people respond so warmly and comfortably, they know I’m there to help.”

Though her work has been hard hack, in some circumstances it has seen even more hassels coming from her own quarter. Family, friends and politicised groups have confronted her and her commitment in a white profession.

“You appear schizophrenic to many people, on the one hand speaking a legal language to government officials and the next speaking maori to your own.”

“You must constantly reassess your motives for doing things and also your actions. It’s much easier though if you’re involved with other Maori men and women of your own profession that’s how it’s overcome. You’ve got to be realistic and work within the system, because that’s where Maori people are, and that’s where the legal system is ripping them off”.