Category: Maori Issues
Without a doubt Sian Elias’ Ngati Apa judgement was unprecedented judicial activism. And that’s the problem with judicial activism – the public are left to pick up the pieces. So here we are, almost 20 years later, facing multiple tribal claims for the country’s entire coastline. The first ones will be heard this year...
That’s the tragedy of tribalism - vulnerable Maori families have become pawns in a complex revenue stream that relies on the number of people experiencing disadvantage increasing. Now the former Maori Party co-leader Dame Tariana Turia appears intent on using them to help her resurrect the fortunes of the party she founded.
In that spirit of unity Prime Minister Norman Kirk insisted that the day of celebration should be called New Zealand Day – a day for all New Zealanders to observe our different identities and the sense of nationhood that brought us together. He wanted to ensure the day was owned by everyone, irrespective of race or heritage.
"Colonisation by a nation of shopkeepers". So said Napoleon Bonaparte of the English, and as with many things he was close to the truth. He meant it as an insult of course but found to his dismay as did the Kaiser and Hitler that when poked with a big enough stick the shop keepers had a nasty bite.
The Prime Minister and the government coalition partners have opened the classroom door to vested interest groups to spread their propaganda. One of those groups is the Maori sovereignty movement. Another is the Greens.
2019 was to be the year of delivery for Labour. We were told this new government would be transformational, and their policies would have a wellbeing focus. Reality has not lived up to the expectations.
One of the “key outcomes” of the new prison strategy was to humanise and heal inmates, the Minister of Corrections Kelvin Davis said. “An important part of that involves staff treating people with respect and dignity to uphold their mana.”
A new radicalised narrative now claims that Maori have been oppressed since colonial times and their over-representation in disadvantage is the fault of the descendants of the colonisers. Meng Foon, Labour’s new Race Relations Commissioner is promoting this propaganda.
The Race Relations Commissioner demanded Andrew Hollis’s immediate resignation after posting on social media the Treaty is “a joke”. Point of Order sought clarification about the implications for the freedom of speech which should be cherished in a healthy democracy.
The question for the new council is whether they will revoke the anti-democratic decision their predecessors made - with no public consultation - that unelected and unaccountable iwi would sit at the council table with the same voting rights as elected councillors. With the committee the Ngai Tahu representatives joined dealing with the allocation of freshwater, their conflict of interest is plain to see.
Loading ...
