Category: Guest Posts
A critical issue for universities throughout the Western world, has been an ideological shift away from institutional political neutrality, and a focus on teaching and research excellence, towards the critical social justice politics of diversity, equity, and inclusion. DEI agendas focus mostly on race and gender identity issues and have become oppressive and exclusionary.
Before MACA became law, Finlayson reassured critics that only around 2000km of New Zealand’s 20,000km coastline — or roughly 10 per cent — would end up being under the control of iwi and hapu via customary title. That promise looks to be hollow.
Censorship comes in many forms, some subtle and some not so but the overall effect is the same, some person, or group does not want you to exercise your freedom of choice and speech on a given topic.
Unfortunately yesterday was another example of there being almost no balance in the decision making – another example of New Zealand being handcuffed by unprecedented layers of bureaucracy and red tape.
It is crucial to the administration of justice that all judges approach the cases before them with open minds and setting aside all pre-conceived views and beliefs. Once that corner stone is eroded then our court system rapidly descends to one of patronage, and who you know.
Too often, New Zealand planners and engineers ignore the core requirement to select one of the opposing scenarios and ignore the rest. Instead, they bundle them all together and then base their analysis on the “worst case” of 8.5. Consequently, there is a better than 99% chance that their forecasts will turn out to be completely and expensively wrong.
Given that these partnership claims are devoid of principle, common sense, or any legal basis it is beyond time that our Parliamentarians stopped pandering to such blatant self-serving nonsense.
The chance for meaningful dialogue, communication and negotiation was effectively scuppered. The ‘good news’, ‘the positive development’ was cancelled. Major actors were humiliated and belittled. Most of the MSM undermined themselves as impartial journalists and along with the government were exposed as ‘bad faith’ actors with a pre-determined agenda.
Many are aware that there are two treaties, an 1840 treaty and a 1986 reinvention, and that people on both sides talking past each other when it comes to treaty politics. But beware of everyone who alleges the coalition government is “rewriting the treaty”. The treaty was quietly rewritten long ago and that rewritten treaty is behind the division that is on display at Waitangi today.
The Government will honour the Treaty. But unlike the Labour government, we will honour it without moving away from equal voting rights, without creating complex co-governance bodies and bureaucracies in Wellington to decide how central services should be delivered in the regions, and we will honour it while upholding the equality of all New Zealanders before the law.