Category: Maori Issues

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Binding referenda - should we allow them

The New Zealand First Party has promised that if it is invited into a coalition government following the general election on the 23 September one of it's not negotiable policies will be to require the prospective coalition partner to agree to two binding referenda: One asking whether to retain the Maori seats, the other whether the number of Members of Parliament should be reduced to 100.


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The Water Debate

Fresh water is an election issue. The export of bottled water has become the focus of an emotional debate that is being relentlessly politicised and propagandised.


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Will water flow to Maori?

Calls to make freshwater rights an election issue have intensified. Critical to the discussion are whose rights are meant, how such rights are defined and what costs and benefits arise.


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Democracy Under Attack

Democracy has been described as a ‘fragile flower’. Indeed it is, and it's something we take for granted because our relatively young society has not yet experienced its collapse.


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The State of Democracy in New Zealand

Until the passing of the Resource Management Amendment Act 2017 the business of territorial local authorities was conducted by the elected representatives of the citizens living in the particular area. That is no longer the case.


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Major Election Policies Announced

The 2017 election campaign has well and truly started with both the Green Party and New Zealand First launching major policies last weekend.


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Politics, Property and the RMA

New Zealand First looks like the only stabilizing element in coalition governments that would otherwise fall under the extremist sway of either or both the Greens and the Maori Party.


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Next Steps in Coastal Claims

The parade welcoming home our winning Emirates Team New Zealand crew - and the America's Cup after a 14 year absence - was jubilant. Peter Burling and the rest of the sailors, cyclists, designers, boat builders and other stakeholders, did our country proud, and we congratulate them on their wonderful success.


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Our foreshore and seabed now massively at risk from tribal claims

The National Party’s desire to pander to the minor Maori Party led in March 2011, to the Marine and Coastal Area (MACA) Act. It gives major property and other rights to any Maori tribal group that can prove that it has “exclusively used and occupied an area of coast from 1840 to the present day”.


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Immigration Matters

The high levels of net migration are being driven by New Zealand’s strong economic growth. In addition, bureaucratic changes to New Zealand’s health and safety laws, forcing employers to drug test workers, are creating a growing demand for unskilled workers.