Category: Democracy
While no-one can own freshwater in New Zealand, iwi leaders are pushing the government for race-based rights akin to ownership. They know that control of water brings power. They also know that water is big business. The Ministry for the Environment puts the economic value of New Zealand’s water at $34.85 billion a year – iwi corporations want a permanent share.
One of the roles of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research public policy think tank is to keep an eye on the government’s legislative agenda and to remind readers of their opportunity to contribute to the law-making process.
The Northland by-election is a significant win for Winston Peters. In the short-term it takes away from National the luxury of being able to pass legislation without having to kowtow to Peter Dunne and the Maori Party.
The result of the Far North District Council’s referendum on the establishment Maori seats was released last week. Voters in Northland have said a resounding “No” to Maori seats on their local council, by a two to one margin.
The official British Government position concerning who exercised sovereignty over New Zealand at the beginning of the ninetieth century is summarised in the instructions given by Lord Normanby to his appointed Consul Captain William Hobson before he sailed for New Zealand on the 25th August 1839.
Noosa residents were deeply unhappy about the forced amalgamation and the removal of local democracy. They vowed to fight back, and in the lead up to the State Government elections in 2012, they, along with three other Queensland communities, won the right to de-amalgamate.
Local government performance and reorganisation have been popular topics of debate in recent years in New Zealand and Wellington is the latest region under the Local Government Commission’s scrutiny. In December last year, the Commission released its Draft Proposal for Reorganisation of Local Government in Wellington.
A couple of days before Waitangi Day I had a call from David Fisher of the “Herald” telling me that Dr Morgan would be going to the Orewa Rotary Club to give a speech criticising what he called “ignorant Brash-think” about the Treaty.
Apathy and indifference are major threats to our democracy, not only through low voter turnouts in elections, but more importantly, by leaving open a window of opportunity for extremist minority interest groups to impose their will on the majority.
To speak of the Waitangi Tribunal’s agenda is no exaggeration. It is now nothing but a grandly-titled taxpayer-funded Maori lobby group, whose continued existence is increasingly perilous to the country and indefensible on any rational grounds.
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