Category: Democracy
Congratulations to the All Blacks for a wonderfully successful Rugby World Cup campaign – they did us proud! But now the Webb Ellis trophy is safely back home, it’s time to turn our attention to domestic affairs - in particular, the control of fresh water.
There is absolutely no legal, moral or common sense justification for any Maori claim to fresh water. The legal situation is that no-one owns water, and no-one ever has. This was the situation at common law, and the Water and Soil Conservation Act 1967 and now the Resource Management Act 1991 start off from the same assumption.
The announcement earlier this month that the biggest free-trade deal in history - the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement - has finally been concluded, is a remarkable accomplishment and very good news for New Zealand.
After six years of negotiations, a final Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement has been reached in Atlanta. Check your pacemakers, trade policy wonks. This is about as exciting as it gets in our world.
Ten years ago this week, we established the New Zealand Centre for Political Research. We thought a new public policy think tank could strengthen New Zealand’s future by helping to better inform voters about the dangers of socialism.
Leadership is held up as a virtuous concept. It most certainly is not. The existence of a leader implies by definition the existence of followers. We are constantly told we need good leaders. It is so very wrong.
There is an old saying that ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance’. In a democratic society like New Zealand, that means being on constant guard against those who seek control through unelected power. Right now Iwi Leaders are demanding the ownership and control of New Zealand’s freshwater. That is their new agenda.
Judicial activism is indeed a serious problem in New Zealand. In 2003, the Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias caused a constitutional crisis by overturning the established common law principle of Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed through a Supreme Court ruling that some customary title may still exist and that the Maori Land Court had the jurisdiction to determine such cases.
Last Thursday, the legislation clearing the way for the referenda on changing New Zealand’s flag was passed by Parliament. The government has adopted a non-partisan approach to the flag consideration project, by involving a cross-party committee of MPs, who helped refine Cabinet’s initial proposals for the new law.
Patriotism. Where has that been in all this debate? Is it an outdated concept now? The love of ones country. I think patriotism is a step beyond our self-conscious and self-important talk of ‘identity’. It is love for something else, not the quest for self-discovery. It is certainly far more than the ‘branding’ which the Prime Minister regularly speaks of.
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