Category: Democracy
Not content with forcing a Maori Ward onto his district at the next local body election, New Plymouth’s Mayor, Andrew Judd, is now calling for a law change so that half of all councillors in New Zealand will be Maori.
Last week the Waitangi Tribunal released WAI 1040 – a report into the claim by Ngapuhi and other northern iwi that their chiefs did not cede sovereignty to the Crown when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi.
New Zealand’s 51st Parliament was officially opened last week. Members were sworn in, Select Committees were formed, and the Governor General gave the Speech from the Throne. Then the wrangling began - and it was business as usual for our new Parliament!
There can be few New Zealanders who have been following the news over the last few months, who do not know that there are persons out there, beyond our borders, who mean us ill. They have been variously described as ‘Islamic extremists’, ‘jihadists’, terrorists, ISIS militants, and, in the Middle East, they have been responsible for a positive tsunami of atrocity.
In the lead up to the 2014 General Election, a number of political parties were proposing changes to New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements. Many wanted to strengthen race-based rights and elevate them above the rights of other citizens.
What an extraordinary election! On Saturday, Prime Minister John Key's National Party won the election with 1,010,464 votes, giving him enough seats to govern alone - something that many people thought was virtually impossible under MMP.
The votes are in. While politicians spin the results, the numbers tell the story. So who won? Who lost? And why? National is celebrating an historic victory; Labour has the knives out for David Cunliffe; and Hone Harawira is still in a state of shock.
There are many issues of crucial importance to voters in election campaigns - particularly whether parties have the capability to manage the economy effectively. However, there is one matter that doesn’t rank highly in the polls, but is of such deep concern that it goes to the heart of who we are as New Zealanders - the issue of racial privilege and the Maori seats.
One of the most disturbing comments made by any politician in the election campaign so far was the comment by John Key when he said that, though abolition of separate Maori electorates is National Party policy, he had no plan to abolish them because such a move would provoke “hikois from hell”.
Dirty politics from the Left during the current New Zealand general election campaign obscures policy at a time when the issue of wealth or poverty and how to get there should be critical.
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