Politics has been called the “dark art”. In an interview last year in the Telegraph, Lord Michael Dobbs, the former chief of staff of Baroness Margaret Thatcher and writer of the popular television series ‘The House of Cards’ about a politician’s struggle to the top, explained:
“Politics is not about honesty and openness and truth, it’s about getting things done. The reason why Margaret Thatcher was elected and re-elected again is not because she was warm and kind and cuddly. It’s because she had a pair of hob-nailed boots and she knew how to use them… Politics is much like life, sometimes you tell light lies for a greater need. In politics sometimes you tell dark lies for the same thing.”
One can endlessly debate how ‘dark’ the art of politics really is in New Zealand, but one thing is certain, and that is that some of our politicians are as good as the best at saying one thing, while meaning another.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, former National Party leader Dr Don Brash, describes an example of this at a government consultation meeting he attended last week on the future of fresh water management. He explains:
“On 22 March, I attended the single public meeting which the Government held to brief the people of Auckland on its proposals with regard to fresh water management. There were fewer than one hundred people present, no doubt in part because there had been little publicity about the meeting. It was addressed by Dr Nick Smith in his capacity as Minister for the Environment.
“The crucial issue is not so much who owns water but who gets to control its use. And what the Minister said didn’t entirely reconcile with what is stated in the consultation document which had been issued outlining Government’s intentions with respect to fresh water.
“His basic premise seemed to be that Maori interests in fresh water would not be protected if those were dependent on the wishes of the majority, though why Maori would have interests in fresh water which differ qualitatively from those of other New Zealanders is entirely unclear.
“But more ominously, the Minister’s assurance that the Government’s proposals won’t give iwi any decision-making role seems quite inconsistent with what the consultation document proposes.”
Dr Brash is referring to the Minister’s “Next steps for fresh water” consultation document, where the section on ‘Iwi rights and interests in fresh water’ starts with the proposition: “From the government’s perspective this means ensuring iwi and hapu are able to participate in decision- making about fresh water in their rohe”.
The Minister reinforced this in his speech launching the consultation process: “We are going to require councils to talk to local iwi to identify the rivers and lakes they connect with and the values of importance to iwi. Iwi will be able to initiate agreements with councils on how they can participate in decision-making on freshwater…”
Quite how Dr Smith can reconcile his extraordinary reassurance at the meeting that the Government’s proposals “won’t give iwi any decision-making role”, with the clear recommendations in his consultation paper and speech that they will, is hard to fathom. But it does demonstrate his single-minded determination to ensure the Maori sovereignty movement’s goal of tribal control of fresh water becomes law.
Back in 2014, when Iwi Leaders were pressuring the Government for tribal rights to water, the Prime Minister explained, “In the Supreme Court, we said in our statement … that we think there are legitimate rights and interests. We think there might be quite a gap between what some groups think those rights and interests are, but there are by catchment, in certain places, rights and interests.”
But making a statement in a Court is very different from a Court judgement, and since there are no court rulings to the effect that Maori have rights and interests in water greater than those of all other New Zealanders, the Government must be relying on other evidence such as that presented by the Waitangi Tribunal in their 2012 report on the National Freshwater and Geothermal Resources Claim.
In that report, the Tribunal outlined 12 “indicia” of customary ownership: The water resource has been relied upon as a source of food and textiles, for travel or trade. It has been used in rituals, has a mauri (life force), and is celebrated in waiata [songs] and whakatauki [proverbs]. People have identified taniwha [monsters] as residing in the water resource, and they have exercised kaitiakitanga [guardianship], mana [authority] or rangatiratanga [ownership] over it. Whakapapa [genealogy] identifies a cosmological connexion with the water resource. There is a claim to land or territory in which the resource is situated, and title has been maintained to some, if not all, of the land on (or below) which the water resource sits.
David Round, a lecturer in law at Canterbury University has examined the ‘evidence’, finding it does not prove ownership. He concludes, “The arguments of the Waitangi Tribunal are rubbish ~ a mixture of uncritical gullibility, mumbo-jumbo, racism and illogic, all fortified by inbuilt bias. These twelve ‘indicia’ are stupid. They establish beyond reasonable doubt the intellectual bankruptcy of the Tribunal. Yet this body of highly-paid Maori lobbyists masquerading as an impartial tribunal considers them adequate arguments.”
In other words, no Government should take the arguments presented by the Tribunal in favour of Maori having special ‘rights and interests’ in water seriously. And to date, none have.
National will be the first Government in New Zealand’s history to give credence to the repeated attempts by tribal leaders to lay claim to the country’s fresh water.
And we know why. It’s not because National has suddenly been persuaded by tribal leaders that their claims are legitimate. No, the reason is much more pragmatic – an appeasement deal was done with Maori leaders at the time of the partial privatisation of state owned power companies in 2012. In return for allowing the share float to continue unobstructed, National agreed to give tribes decision-making powers over fresh water.
But, as the Tribunal explains, this is likely to be just a first step:
“The Crown denies that the asset sales will inhibit its ability to provide rights recognition or redress in the future… its preferred option is an enhanced role for Maori in governance and management of water resources. But the Crown argues that if commercial redress or rights recognition is eventually shown to be appropriate, then it will still be able to provide it. It will be able to foster joint ventures, impose a levy or tax on water, create a royalties regime, or require shares (irrespective of the cost) for allocation to Maori, regardless of having partially privatised mixed ownership model companies.”
In other words, once tribes have secured a governance role in fresh water, commercial control will undoubtedly follow. And the glib assurances from the Minister at the public meeting attended by Dr Brash, that were clearly intended to reassure concerned New Zealanders that nothing will change if iwi control fresh water, are just hollow words.
It won’t stop there. It will only be a matter of time before iwi demand a royalty every time a tap is turned on.
The only way to stop this is people power.
If everyone reading this newsletter wrote even a short email submission opposing the race-based control of fresh water to watersubmissions@mfe.govt.nz, and sent it on to the Prime Minister and to National Party MPs (their email addresses are HERE), then you would be helping to ensure the government gets the clear message that New Zealanders are totally opposed to the race-based control of our nation’s fresh water resource.
If enough people did this, the Prime Minister would soon realise that New Zealanders are not prepared to tolerate National’s political manipulation of our country’s governance arrangements to appease the Maori Party and its supporters in this appalling way.
Their manipulation also involves the Resource Management Act. According to the Waitangi Tribunal, the RMA reforms have been designed to lead to commercial returns to tribes: “Crown counsel told us that ‘commercial opportunities’ would be provided for in ‘resource management policy development in which iwi/Maori and the Crown are endeavouring to collaborate’.”
Their collaboration has indeed led to the inclusion of Iwi Participation Agreements in the new the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill, as the mechanism by which tribes can become resource consenting authorities, controlling water and other natural resources in their areas.
It was these that Winston Peters spoke out against in his January State of the Nation address, when he opposed all laws that enshrine separatism in the Resource Management Act reform bill: “New Zealand First will move amendments to cut red tape and bring common sense to the RMA. We will do so on one condition, that National will drop ALL provisions in the bill that provide separate rights based on race.”
In his speech Mr Peters also outlined what Iwi Leaders really want with regards to fresh water: “Ownership of all Crown owned river and lake beds and the water column. Title in freshwater consistent with Waitangi Tribunal rulings. A $1b fund in to an Iwi approved entity to address capacity and capability including mechanisms to assist decision making, water quality and economic mechanisms.”
He then explained, “As we go about the different communities in this country, from North to South, East to West not a single New Zealander, non-Maori or Maori has come to us and said ‘Mr Peters, we need to give rights over water to Maori’ or ‘Mr Peters, we are too unified as a country, we need more separatism’.
“So why these changes? Well it gets back to what was said earlier. They are not listening to you. It reminds one of an old army saying, ‘it’s mind over matter’. ‘I don’t mind because you don’t matter.’ The two big parties don’t mind, because they think you don’t matter.”
Recent media speculation suggests that the former Labour Government Minister, Shane Jones, may be planning on standing for New Zealand First in the Whangarei electorate at next year’s general election. If that’s the case, the Party may benefit, not only from voters who feel disillusioned with National’s continued championing of the Maori sovereignty cause, but Labour voters as well.
In New Zealand, equality under the law is a latent political issue. From time to time, it awakes, as we saw clearly in 2004, when Don Brash delivered his Nationhood speech, questioning the sort of society we wanted to build: “A modern democratic society, embodying the essential notion of one rule for all in a single nation state – or a racially divided nation, with two sets of laws, and two standards of citizenship?”
By sending a clear message that under his leadership, National was prepared to uphold the principles of equal rights and one standard of citizenship, Don Brash increased Party support from 28 percent to 45 percent.
With National now in the process of betraying those principles, it is gifting a huge opportunity to New Zealand First to take a leadership role in promoting one rule for all in a single nation state. If they do, there is every likelihood that they will be the ones holding the balance of power after the next election.
Despite what Minister Smith may say, National’s proposals for fresh water are extremist and racist.
With the consultation process over the future of freshwater management well underway, New Zealanders need to know what is being planned. With the Government downplaying public consultation, we have drafted a public information advertisement HERE, and with your help, we would like to it publish in leading newspapers throughout the country to encourage as many New Zealanders as possible to send in submissions before the April 22nd deadline.
If you too believe it’s crucial that Kiwis are made aware of the Government’s proposals for the race-based control of the country’s fresh water, so they can have a say, then please support this advertising fundraiser HERE.
THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
Do you believe that Maori tribal demands for rights to water are about mana or money?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Talk about white man speaks with forked tongue. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. | Bryan |
| The 1st pass will be under a cloak of mana, but the end game will definitely be about control and money. | Laurie |
| It is always about money. | Ray |
| They have no more rights to what pours from the earth or drops from the sky than any other person in the world. | Maureen |
| Or just preparing to take over everything little by little and by sleath. | Deborah |
| Always about the money. | Lyn |
| is the national party tired of governing. isn;t it time for them to do democracy and stand for the majority. | John |
| The Maori are not indigenous as they make out. They signed a Treaty to be equal and be treated like their European counterpart. I am totally over the way we are being treated by this bunch of money grabbing tribal Iwi thieves. Time for the Govt to put the boot in and say enough is enough. NO ONE OWNS THE WATER AND THAT INCLUDES GOVT, AND LOCAL GOVT. | Wayne |
| I think that it may be fair to observe that through money comes mana, but mana alone will not deliver money. | Peter |
| It obviously is about money as they only have to turn on the tap if they want water. | Bill |
| As with every demand made under the TOW, this is yet another grab driven by power and money. The mumbo-jumbo, spiritualist nature of these grabs would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. What sort of FOOLS are we to entertain this this nonsense??? | Graeme |
| It is a National disgrace… | Donald |
| I have had enough of maori wanting far more say than their 15% of NZs population deserves.Ngati Tahu stating they should have first right to water from Asburton Council is typical. | Ian |
| No question that it’s about money! | Rex |
| Iwi increasingly means ” I want it…” And I don’t want to work for it…. | Ross |
| The underlying basis for any Maori interest in anything, is money. | Colin |
| Iwi always find a way to blackmail the government to screw them for more money. | Wally |
| What has mana got to do with water which is something we all need to survive? Nick Smith would be a master at the dark art of political lying. | Monica |
| Everything they do is about money. When are we going to get a clear definition of what is a Maori ? Iam sick of all these white Maoris that are on the gravy train . Do what they did in Hawaii years ago and state that unless you are 50% Hawaian you are not entitled to speak on Hawian matters .I note that they don’t have our part Maori problem . Surely after nearly 200 years of assimilation it it is time to call a halt to this Maori rubbish . | Hamilton |
| Once again this government seems intent to give give away more of the rights of the rest of New Zealanders to these radical Maori to give them more access to money and power. | Digby |
| All we hear is what they want never ends. | Marian |
| If this subject had come up within say, 10 years of the signing of the Treaty, when Maori were predominantly ‘full blood’, then perhaps there would have been credence regarding mana. But the boat has left. Intermarriage or interbreeding, whatever you want to call it, has resulted in a multi-racial society where all have equal rights and privelages. THAT is nationhood. | Victor |
| With maoris, its always about money and greed.The treaty never said anything about special treatment for savages. Don Brash is one of the very few who has ever had the balls to tell it like it is. Stay with it Don, I’m on your side all the way. | Des |
| Always! | Steve |
| All water belongs to all NZers. | Shirley |
| Access to water must not be based on ethnic grounds. | Gary |
| Definitely about money and not the good of all NZers. It is race based which equals CONTROL. | Anne |
| NZ citizenship takes priority over any ethnic association It is about time Political leaders showed some intestinal fortitude and put socially damaging ethnic demands to bed once and for all. Maori need to join todays world and stop trying to burn yesterdays ashes. | Kelvin |
| For Tribal Maori, mana = money. all they’re interested in, all they understand. | Dave |
| Down this racist path we travel if the National Party is allowed to implement this outrage idea. | Neville L |
| No one should have rights to water. | Errol |
| No other comment necessary, except just look at all past claims. | Rog |
| The Maori claim that just about everything in N.Z. belongs to them. | Roy |
| I clicked “Mana” as I believe this is another step closer to Constitutional Change, outlined at the Constitutional Meeting in Te Papa, Wellington on 02-02-2012 as something modelled on the Constitution of Bolivia. In Bolivia homes and cars were confiscated, put into the “Community” and if past owners wished to retain the use of same it is necessary to rent from the “Community”., rent split 50/50 between Government and indigenous people. Tribal law was also introduced, differing from tribe to tribe. Go to or copy and paste in your browser. http://www.radionz.co.nz/audio/national/ideas/2009/03/ideas_for_8_march_2009 | George |
| Its always money. They are never satisfied. They are not indigenous to n.z. They came here from other lands just like our forebears.. god help us if they gain control of our water and get co. governance. .Time for all new Zealanders to take a stand. Its not too late. | Dona |
| Money is the root of all evil. | Jim |
| One would have to be a fool to think otherwise. | John |
| It’s called apartheid, but who cares when it brings home the bacon. | Barend |
| Race based differential rights are inimical to our nationhood. | Guy |
| There is no way the government should even consider going down this track. | Robert |
| It’s just RACIST MOARI AVARICE…yet again. Enough is enough. | Mark |
| In fact I suspect it is about both. | Mo |
| Actually both. | Graeme |
| All about the Money. | Annie |
| Money is what this small group of money hungry New Zealanders are after.The settlement of land claims is about to end and they want their easy money coming in for ever.it is a pity we have such a lot of weak lot of political no hopers who give in to their dreaming of easy money..Roll on the next election so we can vote them OUT. | Carroll |
| More money for the Maori top brass and not for their own people what a rout this will effect all New Zealanders with added cost and conflict. | Ken |
| The descendants of Maori, who claim to be ‘guardians of their people’ are doing no more than taking advantage of an MMP system that gave them political clout beyond their wildest dreams. With a morally bankrupt major Party, who have not bothered to study history before acting upon it, the Waitangi Tribunal will continue to push the boundaries with their outrageous claims until the voting public wake up & support minor parties who promote one law for all. Why such faith & support was given to obviously Helen Clarks 3rd arm { Key } is beyond me. | A.G.R. |
| This is the exact reason why I got out of NZ 3 years ago. I had an absolute gutful of this ongoing crap. Maori are not indigenous but there is no going back. I was the last of my family to leave after my parents passed away. Successive Governments give them handouts and it will never end. I am living the good life on the Gold Coast, free from the stress this crap causes to the hard workers paying for all of this. The Flag issue and this nonsense are breaking the country up in more ways than one. | Chris |
| Stop pretending. We all know that money is at the root of every bright idea, or don’t we? | Mabel |
| Oh it’s always about the money!!! | Carole |
| There has been no downward distribution of money received so far just an amassing of money at the top. This will continue. | David |
| All Maori grievances are about MONEY. | Frank |
| I believe in Don Brash’s speech to the nation. We only need 1 set of rule to run the country. Two sets of rules are totally unnecessary and will form a major split in the country. | Allan |
| Money first – their “mana” is fast disappearing! This country would be a different place if only we had retained Mr. brash as our PM. The present one is weak, spineless, and a disgraceful rascist as he continually pa NZers to Maori GREED. Water is a life blood and belongs to ALL N Zers. | Carolyn |
| All things claimed by so-called Maori have a fiscal advantage element. This is no different. This claim is utterly unacceptable and must be rejected in Parliament. | John |
| Stuff the lot of them. | Graham |
| This is just another bit of nonsense that the National Party are doing to appease the Maori Party. Virtually everything they are doing and have done here is absolutely ridiculous. | Jane |
| It seems that Maori radicals want to milk the system so they can get rich off all the rest of us. | Terry |
| This is a prime example of gimme, gimme, gimme. To lend force to our voice of opposition may I suggest that Dr. Newman’s article be sent to every Member of Parliament, especially the National Cabinet, in the form of a ‘petition’ with the number of we supporters included to show the concern we feel over this control water grab by Maoris. | Chris |
| Most maori take approach that mana is the maori word for money. | Rob |
| The greed continues. | PB |
| It’s about Kaitiakitanga, : Colonisers have supported the degradation of water quality in favour of corporate profits since they arrived. | Jo |
| This is there usual way of fooling the gov, who are only in there to feather there nest also, so play along knowing full well what there next step will be. | Stan |
| Definitely money. | Donald |
| This is another step by the National government along the road to APARTHIED in NZ. | Ian |
| This must not be allowed to happen. | Ronald |
| NZ law should be the same for everyone. | Gareth |
| Primarily, where property is concerned it’s about POWER and CONTROL. | Don |
| That is all they are interested in. | Noela |
| Same old, same old, Once and for all. “All people are created equal” but it seems Maori think different “Give them an inch and they will take a mile!” | Ian |
| Mana is a strange word ideal for spreading propaganda. | David |
| With Maori claims it is always fundamentally about money – despite their denial. They are destroying the concept of NZ as a united p[population – they are separatists, and what we are seeing is Apartheid in reverse – make no mistake. | Hylton |
| As usual. I wonder if they were given the rights to fresh water they will pay for any future flooding damage and costs due to water????? | Kevin |
| They are actually about one other, and that is POWER. For what is the use of money without power? These whole claims and the Waitangi Tribunal are about holding our Government to what they signed up to namely:- %u201CThe United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.%u201D As below they now supersede the rights of any other ethnic group in this country… Article 26 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired. 2. Indigenous peoples have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources that they possess by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well as those which they have otherwise acquired. 3. States shall give legal recognition and protection to these lands, territories and resources. Such recognition shall be conducted with due respect to the customs, traditions and land tenure systems of the indigenous peoples concerned. Article 27 States shall establish and implement, in conjunction with indigenous peoples concerned, a fair, independent, impartial, open and transparent process, giving due recognition to indigenous peoples%u2019 laws, traditions, customs and land tenure systems, to recognize and adjudicate the rights of indigenous peoples pertaining to their lands, territories and resources, including those which were traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used. Indigenous peoples shall have the right to participate in this process. Article 28 1. Indigenous peoples have the right to redress, by means that can include restitution or, when this is not possible, just, fair and equitable compensation, for the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned or otherwise occupied or used, and which have been confiscated, taken, occupied, used or damaged without their free, prior and informed consent. Mr Key and National signed up to this Treaty which is a Constitutional Change of some magnitude, without giving the majority New Zealanders the right to vote for or against! | Brian |
| I haven’t seen 1 cent of treaty claim money go to those at the bottom of the iwi. All Ive seen is the executives driving Bentlys and wearing hand made Italian suits. This water money will give them Lear Jets to ponce around in if we let this crap go on. | Norman |
| The usual reason behind Maori demands. | Ann |
| Tribes now are masks for the political and financial opportunism of the cunning – they manipulate the system outrageously and reap the benefit because the structures are skewed in their favour by political correctness. | Chris |
| Of course its about money for the IWI head and their cronies. Not much gets down to the ordinary Maori in the streets. These greedy heads should be told to go to hell and as quickly as possible. | Colin |
| Pure greed. | Arthur |
| I say this to you all:Water is a 38 Billion Dollar pa business and that is why the Maori elite wants control over it. The reason why National ‘s J Key is letting this all happen is for one reason only . He is a wealthy person and a shrewd business man. and he and his cronies must have a secret deal with these tribal leaders to receive a substantial share in the profits made .This whole mana bullshit and these shonky arguments presented by this so called Waitangi Tribunal ( or better “The Goebbels Foundation”) are only a smoke screen to give this whole dodgy affair a sort of legitimate face.When this deal goes through we will face water charges at every turn and another massive shift towards segregation and discrimination in this country will have taken place.Control water and you have an entire nation by the throat. | Michael |
| Google view ; www.Skeletons in the cupboard tangatawhenua16.wix.com/the-first-ones-blog and get informed as to what decedents of Maori real status should be! | Rodney |
| Money of course . . . we didn’t come down with the last shower of rain! | Alan |
| Of course it is all about MONEY. The extortion about to hit New Zealand by these maori thugs is unthinkable. | Neil |
| What else, when are they going to become modern New Zealanders?. | Robert |
| All the Maori leaders/activists want is more and more and more – and so it goes on… Go Winston! | Laurence |
| The Maori spin merchants will claim it is “mana” but lets face facts… it is all about money. | Bruce |
| Let’s face it that is all this whole racial thing is about. Take take take. After all how many Maoris pee into our lakes and rivers? Go figure. | Peter |
| Either way, no one has any right to the control of water, be it salt, rain or creek. All Maori wants is the means to charge for every litre used. | Murray |
| Money is all corporate Maori are interested in, just ask the average Maori on the street what he has got from all the Waitangi settlements, zilch. | Bryon |
| Whether Mana or Money, I don’t really care. It’s racist and wrong. And I certainly don’t trust our government as I bet in the long run they will give it to them. | Eric |
| What Maori say is theirs is not.They stole the country from the Maoriori and now pretend it is theirs and selling it which is a criminal act to sell stolen property. | Theodorus |
| Money and power. What else ! ? | Don |
| As usual the Maori want lots of money plus the rights to the water It is sad that the rank and file Maori never see any thing of all these millions that the Govt through at the Maori. Why are they not audited by the Govt The Hon Nick Smith and the Hon Finlison are two traitors if they allow this to go through. | Russell |
| Maori have sucked the ‘gravy train’ at every opportunity. Until someone in power tells them ‘NO’ they will continue to demand everything they can, so long as the government’s keeps giving. It’s the Maori way! | Charlie |
| As usual they will surely Bankrupt the Country if they keep getting all they demand. | Laurel |
| Maori have no more rights to water than any other N.Z. citizen. Once again the Waitangi Tribunal is aiding and abetting these greedy power hungry activist racists. John Key and his members should take a good hard look at themselves and see what a disastrous community they are creating. Have voted National for years but if this goes ahead Winston will be getting my vote. | Mike |
| No natural resource should be controlled by virtue of race. It’s totally against natural justice. | Carol |
| They have a lot and they want more. Simple! | Peter |
| There is no doubt that the whole issue is about money and separatism. Instead of being a unified country we will be divided and become like the situation in South Africa – Apartheid. – split into Them and Us. This is not what we need or want. | Brian |
| Both, but with emphasis, as always, on the money. | Scott |
| This question hardly needed to be asked. The entire affair concerns nothing less than attempts by Maori to gain financial and political superiority, and ultimately to achieve racial superiority. | tony |
| Its about time the Government of NZ acted for all the people of NZ, not just the money hungry Maori minority who are always trying to get something for nothing. | David |
| With maori it is always about money. No matter how they try to disguise it, their motives are always Money. | David |
| It’s racist and traitorous….. | Peter |
| Dr Peter Buck & his cohorts including Sir Apirana Ngata would shun all this nonsense. | Doug |
| They’ll want control so they can charge all the rest of NZ. | Cherryl |
| It is time we drew a line to legally define who actually is Maori. Are 32nd,64th,128th Maori actually Maori or seeing there is money in it. | Don |
| Of course. | Wouter |
| Mana is nothing more than a device to drag more from the taxpayer. In most cases money given is frittered away and not used to benefit Maori responsibly. | Peter |
| Yes | Peter |
| There has to be a ‘kick-back’ for the politicians who rubber stamp this stuff. | Tony |
| Money. Only a fool would believe it’s about anything else. The majority of the population of NZ must be mad to put up with this but the fact is, they do. | John |
| So obvious. | Anthony |
| Its always about money, pure greed by a non-indigenous mixed race. Just look at all the repeat claims and subsequent pay-outs over the last century. | Dave |
| Sick of this Maori crap. | Kevin |
| Money for the greedy few, no doubt about it. | Ron |
| The basic demand is about the transfer of money (cash and other valuable considerations) to Maori as an attempt to assuage their supposed feelings that the general population should pay them for access to water and their loss of mana that they feel they have been denied of. | Neil |
| Cunning chiefs. | Frank |
| $$$$$$$….. | Mark |
| It has got beyond mana. | David |
| All NZers have equal rights to water that falls from our skies – not just Maori. | Keith |
| They wouldn’t know what mana meant. | Bill |
| They want both! | Richard |
| Winston Peters would appear to be the only voice of reason in political circles. We MUST have a country that is a true democracy with one rule for all in a single nation state. No separate racist seats in Parliament. Both John Key and Andrew Little are under the power of Maori tribal interests and can no longer be relied upon to act for the benefit of our nation as a whole. | Ernest |
| Quite frankly I think it is about Mana and about money .Can they be separated ? | Richard |
| I don’t believe maori have any rights over water. When will they realise that we are one people, one nation. | Dennis |
| I’m starting to sound like a repetitious old fool but again I will state the obvious … we are one people. There is no such thing as them and us. All Maori and all New Zealanders, are one. The politicians are trying to divide us which will only cause friction. The water belongs to ALL New Zealanders. | Diana |
| What is wrong with our media? Why are they not digging deep into what is going on and publicise it? When are they going to do their job??? | Maddi |
| How can a representative, who is 1/16 Maori deny 15/16 of the blood running in his veins? Forget mana, it is all to do with money, which the current Government gives them with almost gay abandon. It is a high price the taxpayer has to pay so the Government of the day can remain in power!. It is pure racism. | Kevan |
| It is easier than the alternative,…the motivation to work for a lifestyle. | R |
| It’s always about the money, it always has been…it’s just a huge bit gravy train …being paid for by New Zealanders and the ever growing immigrants which I am sure they are not aware of that they we will all be paying for for the rest of our lives…don’t be fooled it’s always about the money. | Audrey |
| They want Money & then NZ, they have no interst in any other people than themselves. | Geoff |
| They have no mana, just greed & laziness. They are just like stupid children, keeping asking for more until someone stands up to them. | Chris |
| Money, Money, and more money, That’s all the modern so called Maoris are all about, between the jails and Wins Maoris have NO mana left. | Athol |
| Another rort at the expense of non-Maori! National has no guts on this but on the other hand, MMP has forced them to pal up with the Maori Party. A great pity that the Maori seats were not done away with at the time MMP came in, as the commission recommended. | Allan |
| Money and Mana both start with the same letter. Another word also start with that letter. Give me MORE. Give not because I have earned it. Why do those stirrers have more rights that other New Zealanders. Winston Peters to run the country, let clean up our country. . | Johan |
| And separatism with special rights based on race, not acceptable in our democratic society!!! | Tony |
| Have not all claims now and in the past always been about money and how much. | Kevin |
| The relationship between NZ’s major political parties and greedy iwi is malignant and will well and truly screw over NZ. It’s not too different from the dependence of the US Government on Wall Street donors and their moral bankruptcy. | Fiona |
| Money – No doubt about it. Mana’s just the shroud. | Bruce |
| Historic events have established that, in the end, when it comes to Maori tribal demands, it’s always about money. | Les |
| They plan to eventually be able to clip the ticket on almost everything we use and every service we have. | Roger |
| Maori established long ago, what a bunch of suckers the Government are and as long as we let them, they’ll drain every financial source they can, for as long as they can. | John |
| Maori tribal demands always comes down to money. One gets sick of all this Maori bull shit. Governments have let things go to far. | Robert |
| Bloody unbelievable!! More pandering to the part-Maori elite. Further evidence of National participating in racism and separatism with democracy suffering.. | Tony |
| This is another way to devide the population on racial grounds and giveing income to a favoured few. Fresh water belongs to every one not just one race. | Colin |
| Of course it is money particularly as there are very few maori in this country who can claim even 50% ethnicity. | Graeme |
| I believe it is both money and mana. | Dianne |
| Of course. | Steve |
| We have heard the story about mana before when Maori have be granted a claim but if necessary that mana can be sold. The water has to stay controlled by Govt even if we do not always agree them. | Elizabeth |
| All the Maori tribes are blatantly demanding more & more money & our political masters are giving them everything they want. | Cyril |
| That is a no brainer. | Barbara |
| – – – and so APARTHEID persists in NZ. | Geoff |
| I fully support Winston Peters in his bid to rid this country of race based laws and regulations. We ARE one people. The National Govt is dividing us. | Graeme |
| More treachery from our Tory Govt, it’s just so tiresome. | Barry |
| It really is about power – that is power to create a huge monetary source for the Iwi Elite. | Bryan |
| I have now written twice to the NZ Herald in the hopes they would consider it their duty to inform the public about what is going on with water. Neither letter was published….and mine usually are! Nor did it push them to do some articles to inform of the meeting and what the govt is proposing. Is the government controlling the media too! I have also sent emails to Smith, Key and Murray McCully as my local MP. I did eventually get acknowledgment they received the meails but have had no further correspondence. So much for democracy, and MPs working for the betterment of New Zealanders. | Gail |
| Absolutely another money grab from a cabal of Maori Tribal Elite. Time to put a stop to reverse Apartheid. | Jeff |
| It is always about money: lots of money. Heeaps of money, but only for those few Maori mandarins calling the shots. | Geoffrey |
| Every thing Maori (part Maori) has done recently has had one goal in mind more of OUR money in THEIR pockets. This ties in with their expressed goal taking New Zealand back from the pakeha (immigrants). They convenientlu overlooked the fact that they are NOT the indigenous people of this country – they carried out a policy of what we now call genocide on the original (peaceful) Mori Ori who beat them to NZ by many moons. | John |
| Same thing to Maori. | Murray |
| Maori have no mana, but they have a hell of a lot of tax payers money, They are omly interested in fleecing you and I the tax payer for everything they can get, but the worst thing is our duly elected politicians seem hell bent on destoying this country and turning the tax payer into second class slaves that have to work their guts out to support the racist agenda. | Stevo |
| No Way! | Mark |
| Money, as usual. | Albie |
| Someone needs to rein in rampant More-ie (because they always want more) greed. | Lesley |
| Money is the new Mana. The corrupt Waitangi Tribunal ensures it is so. | Graeme |
| Water rights should remain as is and belong to ALL New Zealanders. | Bill |
| Get on the gravy train, eh boy! | Rob |
| No doubt it’s all about money. their demands are outrageous. | Pete |
| If control of decisions about water are shared between councils & iwi, it will delay decision making & add another cost layer to an already expensive process.Stop it now,race has no place in council decision making. | Donald |
| When has it been about anything else than Money. | John |
| Always is and always will be so. | Warren |
| What else is there? | Beryl |
| This endless brownmailing must stop! | Kevin |
| MONEY all the way. | Kevin |
| I do not want race based water rights. | Elsa |
| No race based deals for anyone. | John |
| The Government should not be acknowledging racist Maori claims. | Barry |
| But more than money: it’s about power. Maori want to change our nation from a democratic, multicultural one, into a Maori fiefdom. Despite their former chiefs having signed the Treaty of Waitangi, Maori activists and their non-Maori sympathisers want to rewrite history; they really believe that this land is “theirs” and they’ll do whatever it takes to secure control over the rest of us. Money is a secondary consideration, because when one has total control, there’s no need to buy power or influence, and one just takes whatever goods and property that one fancies: think of Zimbabwe. Am I being alarmist? Well, just look at the Maori track record to date. | Graham |
| That’s all the so called elite low life care about and key is happily bending over and taking it | Rowan |
| No one should ever own the water, it is something for all New Zealanders to have access to and definitely not to line one groups pockets. | Morrin |
| Nick Smith told me at the meeting in Auckland that he was not paving the way for cogovernance of fresh water. If what he says is true why is the govt putting legislation in place to allow it to happen. | Arthur |
| Maori do not have Mana anymore – just greed. | Folkert |
| As always. | Harry |
| This is simply more facist favouritism of a small ethnic minority of NZ taxpayers; where once again the interests of the majority are pushed to one side in favour of Maori. Water belongs to the ‘county’ to the ‘people’ – NOT Maori. It is simply another play to make money off something that does not belong to them. Like their fishing quotas, our water will be sold to the highest bidder. | Michelle |
| Is someone keeping a record of this government giving way tomaori requests and requirements.? | John |
| Of course its money thats all they care about and we as a nation are well and truely sick of it. | Peter |
| Maori have no morre right to water that any other New Zealander. That is in the treaty that all are equal New Zealanders. | Edward |
| Knowing how the Maori moaners operate it will be about both. Money first, but they will use both mana and money to get their way, knowing the government of the day will give in to their demands. | Frank |
| Unquestionably $$$$!!! and if “mana” means power, that too | Andrew |
| It is unbelievable the Gvt would even discuss this water like air belongs to everyone. | Clark |
| It is clear that the National Party is no longer Democratic it is racist for political power. | lance |
| The water belongs to all New Zealanders, and shame on the government if it favors the rights of one group over the majority of the people – it is ethically wrong! | Frances |
| I believe the question needs re-phrasing. Their interest is in anything that is or could be of financial value now or in the future. The longer Mr Smith is involved the more danger all real New Zealanders will face. | John |
| We’ve had a gut full of this M/ob. | Alan |
| When ‘encouraged’ time after time with so many payouts over time why not go for gold? “It’s my entitlement!” How do politicians retain their seat and thus power? They buy votes!! | Stuart |
| What else!, | Ken |
| More favoured racial poltically provoked division of NZ as a biracialy divided nation. | IAN |
| As usual. | Barry |
| What else, our so called government reads like Russians. | Robert |
| National’s position on water is a disgrace. They are putting the needs of the Maori sovereignty movement ahead of the good of the country. I just hope Winston Peters comes out strong on this so we all have someone to vote for! | Murray |
| Tribal control of water is just the first step. They want to be paid every time we turn our taps on. The whole thing is deeply distressing. I can hardly believe its happening under a National government. I used to trust them. | Margaret |
| The power of the Maori Party over National is unbelievable. It’s time John Key said enough is enough and stood up for all New Zealanders rather than a tribal elite. | Robert |
| This has made me totally disillusioned with politics. What’s next – the air we breathe? | Andrew |
| Roll on Winston Peters. He’s the country’s only hope to stop this dreadful slide into separatist control of the country. | Brian |