Category: imported_weekly
The Waitangi Tribunal was established by the Kirk Labour Government in 1975 through the Treaty of Waitangi Act as a permanent commission of inquiry into alleged breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi by the Crown. In 1985, as a result of intense lobbying by the iwi elite, the Lange Labour Government extended its jurisdiction to cover historic claims going back to 1840.
Like it or not, the Maori Party’s constitutional review is providing the public with an opportunity to have a say on the future of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements and our democracy. This $4 million review of our constitution was part of their 2008 coalition deal with the National Party.
Whether we like it or not politics and politicians have an important influence on our lives. Not only do they shape the social agenda and impose regulations upon us, they control the purse strings to the state sector which represents more than a third of our economy. Their annual Budget reveals how well they are managing the economy.
Another country with wisdom to share is Singapore. In the sixties, Singapore was a very poor tropical island with few natural resources, a rapidly growing population, substandard housing, and on-going conflict between ethnic and religious groups. Thanks to the exceptional leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, the country was able to transform itself in just a generation, so that today it is one of the world’s highest ranked economies.
Last month the New Zealand Geographic Board announced that it was opening a public consultation process to change the names of the North and South Islands of New Zealand. If the change goes ahead, the main islands of New Zealand could be known by their existing names, their Maori names (Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waipounamu), or both.
In her final speech in the House of Commons on 22 November 1990, the former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher engaged in one of her more memorable exchanges with the Member from Southwark and Bermondsey, to explain that policies aimed at reducing the gap between rich and poor will result in everyone becoming poorer.
Irresponsible sabotage or keeping the market fully informed? As anyone who has followed politics closely will know, there is no doubt that the coincidentally timed announcement by the Labour and Green parties to nationalise the wholesale electricity industry was designed to materially impact on the sale of Mighty River Power shares.
One only needs look at the present to see what New Zealand will be like in the future. The North Island will be known as Te Ika a Maui, the South Island as Te Waipounamu, and New Zealand as Aotearoa. Those who use water for commercial purposes will be charged “storage” because lakes and rivers will be known as vessels owned by iwi...
According to a survey carried out in 2010, New Zealand ranked first equal with Australia as the world’s most charitable nation. The World Giving Index, published by the Charities Aid Foundation used a Gallup survey of 195,000 people in 153 nations to assess the extent of charitable activities. It showed that 68 percent of New Zealanders had given money to charity during the last month, 41 percent had volunteered time, and 63 percent had helped a stranger.
The banking crisis in Cyprus came as a sharp reminder to savers around the world that banks are not necessarily the safe havens they like to imagine. The plan to impose a 6.75 percent tax on savings up to €100,000 (NZ$153,000) and a 9.9 percent tax on savings above that was proposed by the Cyprus government as a way of raising the €5.8 billion they needed to find to qualify for a €10 billion International Monetary Fund bailout. However, politicians swiftly backed away from their plan to tax savings once they saw the depth of public fury.
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