In the 1980s, Stead's writings about Māori rights and feminism became the subject of some criticism. For example, in an article published in the "London Review of Books" in December 1986, he wrote that the representation of New Zealand history by Witi Ihimaera in his novel "The Matriarch" (1986) was inaccurate "insofar as it ascribes conscious and malicious intent to the Pakeha and unwillingness to the Maori", and was highly critical of the novel. In consequence his editorship of the "Faber Book of Contemporary South Pacific Stories" was boycotted by some writers, including Keri Hulme, although Stead denied accusations of racism or being anti-Māori. Stead was active in protests against the 1981 protest against Springboks and was part of the crowd that occupied the field at a game in Hamilton causing its cancellation.