At his first press conference after being elected unopposed as Labour’s new leader, Chris Hipkins was caught out by a journalist for being unable to explain the three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
In this, he was following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Jacinda Ardern, who was also unable to explain the Treaty, when she first became Labour leader and New Zealand’s Prime Minister.
These faux pas are surprising given the degree to which Labour has embedded the Treaty within our society, and concerning in that they appear to have accepted the mantra of radical Maori, who are using fabricated claims about the Treaty to demand power and public resources.
Pushing the lie that Maori are in a ‘partnership’ with the Crown has, to date, been a highly successful strategy for the tribal elite. Their ‘Treaty partnership’ fallacy has led to co-governance arrangements now being embedded throughout our society.
Instead of admitting that the Treaty was a contract that established the Queen as our Sovereign, protected private property rights, and gave Maori the same rights and privileges of British citizenship as every other New Zealander, the tribal elite have misrepresented it to undermine democracy and elevate themselves into a ruling aristocracy.
As an ardent disciple of Marxism and identity politics, Jacinda Ardern’s ignorance about the true meaning of the Treaty led our former Prime Minister to embrace the tribal elite’s agenda, dividing New Zealanders by race and introducing Apartheid into the delivery of public services.
Former Labour Prime Ministers did not allow themselves to be deceived in that way.
Helen Clark was clear that as Prime Minister, she had to understand minority concerns, but govern for all New Zealanders: “We hear the concern being expressed but my method is that we must govern in the interests of all New Zealanders to get the fair balance we are striving for.”
As a result, in 2003, she rejected outright a Waitangi Tribunal finding that Maori had a claim over oil and gas reserves, stating that Crown ownership was in the public interest.
In 2004, she refused to meet with protestors marching on Parliament over her plan to restore Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed, branding them as “haters and wreckers”, and instead visiting with Shrek, the celebrity sheep from Central Otago, whom she claimed was “better company”.
Governing for all New Zealanders was also behind her 2005 decision to set a deadline for lodging historic Treaty claims: “Both Maori and Pakeha want us to complete treaty settlements so we can move forward together. Achieving that will need a closing off date for the lodging of claims to be set. The focus then can be forward looking.”
Helen Clark refused excessive Maori demands, knowing that her job was to govern in the wider interest of New Zealand.
Former Labour Prime Minister David Lange also governed for all New Zealanders, rejecting outright Maori demands for sovereignty: “Democratic government can accommodate Maori political aspiration in many ways. It can allocate resources in ways which reflect the particular interests of Maori people. It can delegate authority, and allow the exercise of degrees of Maori autonomy. What it cannot do is acknowledge the existence of a separate sovereignty. As soon as it does that, it isn’t a democracy. We can have a democratic form of government or we can have indigenous sovereignty. They can’t coexist and we can’t have them both.”
Former Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk also subscribed to this view, instituting “New Zealand Day” in 1974 as a national day of celebration to commemorate the signing of the Treaty and the establishment of New Zealand as a diverse nation bound together by common citizenship and a love of our country: “This is our nation, our opportunity to foster and encourage New Zealand nationhood that we mark with pride and gratitude… and resolve that for the future, together we work to build the society in New Zealand that gratifies us and becomes the envy of others.”
But while Jacinda Ardern in her 2020 election night victory speech claimed she would “govern for all New Zealanders”, her words were a deception, as she embarked on her secret and unmandated He Puapua agenda to empower the tribal elite through policies that privilege Maori over everyone else.
Whether Chris Hipkins will allow Jacinda Ardern’s Apartheid legacy to remain in place, or whether he will reject it and emulate other Labour Prime Ministers by governing for all New Zealanders, remains to be seen. But whichever direction he takes, it is imperative that he acquires a full understanding of the original meaning of the Treaty.
With that in mind, there is probably no better reference than the explanation of the Maori version of the Treaty that was written in 1922 by the great Maori leader Sir Apirana Ngata, long before the radicalised Maori sovereignty began re-inventing the Treaty. His simple explanation was published by the Maori Purposes Fund Board and distributed to all Maori families to clarify the exact meaning of the Treaty.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentary is Sir Apirana Ngata’s booklet, The Treaty of Waitangi, which clearly outlines the three articles of the Treaty:
“These are the words of the first article of the Treaty of Waitangi: The Chiefs assembled including Chiefs not present at the assembly hereby cede absolutely to the Queen of England for ever the government of all of their lands.
“This is the second article of the Treaty of Waitangi: The Queen of England confirms and guarantees to the Chiefs and Tribes and to all the people of New Zealand the full possession of their lands, their homes and all their possessions…
“This is the third article of the Treaty: In consideration thereof, Her Majesty the Queen of England extends to the Natives of New Zealand Her Royal Protection, and imparts to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects.”
Please note – Sir Apirana Ngata’s “The Treaty of Waitangi: an explanation” can be read on-line HERE.
In his introductory comments, Sir Apirana Ngata explained that the Queen wanted to establish a government to avert the danger to Maori and Europeans ‘living under no laws’ during these ‘cannibal times’ and ‘illiterate days’: “The Maori did not have any government when the European first came to these islands. There was no unified chiefly authority over man or land… Within one tribe there were many divisions into sub-tribes each under their own chief. How could such an organisation, as a Government, be established under Maori custom? There was without doubt Maori chieftainship, but it was limited in its scope to its subtribe, and even to only a family group. The Maori did not have authority or a government which could make laws to govern the whole of the Maori Race.
“These were the reasons for the direct approach by Governor Hobson to the Maori Chiefs and for arranging for copies of the Treaty to be taken from end to end of each island, seeking to obtain the concurrence of chief after chief… 512 Maori Chiefs subscribed their marks or their names to the Treaty of Waitangi.”
He also noted, “The Treaty made the one law for the Maori and Pakeha. If you think these things are wrong then blame our ancestors who gave away their rights in the days when they were powerful.”
We would urge you to read Sir Apirana Ngata’s booklet, and if you find it as enlightening as we do, please consider our Big Idea – we would love to publish sufficient copies of the booklet to distribute to every New Zealand household, so Kiwi families can properly understand the Treaty as it was written, not as it has been reinterpreted by activists. That of course requires funding and effort, so if you want to support this project, please click HERE. And if you know someone looking for a worthwhile legacy project, please tell them about out Big Idea, and ask them to get in touch!
Even though the Treaty is clear that Maori ceded sovereignty to the Queen – and that it is constitutionally impossible for a partnership to exist between the sovereign and the governed – the ‘Treaty partnership’ fabrication has flourished under Labour, enabling the tribal elite to secure ‘power-sharing’ positions and deliver special privileges for Maori.
Under Jacinda Ardern’s premiership, critical public services are now controlled by Maori. As a consequence of the health system being under the influence of the tribal elite, we now face the intolerable situation where health care is no longer being prioritised on the basis of clinical need, but by race. Indeed, warnings are now emerging from those working within the sector that some areas are in such a mess, they are in danger of collapse.
Then there’s the universally hated Three Waters scheme that not only confiscates services and infrastructure from councils, to put control firmly into the hands of Maori, but it forces ratepayers to underwrite the massive debts that these new mega agencies are expected to accumulate.
As a result, Chris Hipkins needs to understand that it’s not just co-governance that should be scrapped, but the whole scheme – including the devious Te Mana o te Wai provisions, which effectively give local Maori full authority over the management of water in each catchment area.
New Zealanders need to reject any cosmetic changes the PM is likely to introduce, and strengthen the call for Nanaia Mahuta’s entire scheme to be thrown out.
As the debate over co-governance and He Puapua has progressed throughout this term of government, it is clear that along with Labour, the Greens, the Maori Party, and apparently, some National MPs, most mainstream media journalists have swallowed the ‘Treaty partnership’ fabrication that’s being pushed by the iwi elite, without questioning their underlying agenda for control of the country.
Labour’s $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund has played a big part in corrupting the media by requiring anyone participating in the scheme to proactively promote the Treaty ‘partnership’ lie.
The only politicians to have rejected the partnership fabrication from the outset have been David Seymour and Winston Peters.
Meanwhile, comments from iwi leaders over Waitangi weekend indicated how desperate they are not to let the foothold in government they forged under Jacinda Ardern, slip away.
Former MP Tukoroirangi Morgan, the newly appointed co-chair of the Region One Three Waters Entity, stated in his typically menacing manner, “The challenge we’ve put to the prime minister today is will he succumb to the attack dogs of the National party and ACT as they fan the flames of racism and anti-Maori sentiments, and throw us under the bus for the sake of keeping alive three waters?”
In true Orwellian style, iwi leaders have the audacity to claim that those who want every New Zealander treated as equals are racists, while those who want the country divided by race, are not!
For most people, the concept of using their skin colour to determine their rights, is utterly abhorrent. Kiwis have never wanted to be divided by race, which is why on-going attempts to establish Maori seats in local government, failed in almost every referendum.
It is therefore unsurprising that the public objects to enforced racial categorisation. And that’s the bottom line – Kiwis want to be treated as equals, united as one people under one flag.
The reality is that New Zealand is one nation – a country of equal citizens, not a collection of competing tribes.
This is what Chris Hipkins needs to recognise if he is to succeed as our country’s leader. He must govern for all New Zealanders, if his party is to regain the confidence of middle New Zealand. Tinkering with policies will not be enough.
And that’s also what Christopher Luxon – and his National Party – needs to realise if he is to have any hope of one day becoming our Prime Minister. Governing for all New Zealanders is the only way to build a successful future.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Would removing co-governance make Three Waters acceptable, or does Nanaia Mahuta’s whole scheme need to be dumped?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Return to the Council-leadership that has always been in use! | David |
| Will destroy the one man one vote basis of democracy | Kevin |
| Everything about the concept included in the Three waters Is morally inappropriate for a country who has been “living as one”. | Murray |
| Yes SCRAP IT and also TOW, Maori Health System and all other racist maori setups. Indiginous my arse. LISTEN TO YOUR PEOPLE CHIPPY! | Brian |
| Maori are pushing pushing pushing. It has to be stopped. David Seymour will put an end to it | Ken |
| It’s been designed around co-governance. | malcolm |
| Dump the whole thing | Levonne |
| I don’t think that Mahuta was telling the truth to cabinet when she said that 3waters needed co-governance because of the treaty. If, she has been found to have been misleading government, then the information upon which 3 waters is based has to be scrapped and Mahuta forced to resign. We cannot have legislation based upon disinformation. NZ must hope that the case before the courts today will force the Crown Law to publish their entire advice to Mahuta ( which she has vehemently resisted disclosing). Roll on the whole truth and nothing but the truth. | Laura |
| Every New Zealander has equal rights regardless of skin colour | Margaret |
| PM Finlayson says they will have a look at it in consultation with ‘people with a Maori ancestor!!! National have said they will scape it but whatever they come up with there will be iwi involvement. | Judy |
| Co Governance in all its forms must go. 3 Waters is not acceptable at all. | Jan |
| As well as scrapping the whole Three Waters scheme the icing on the cake would be if Mahuta was also scrapped. | Gary |
| Tuku Morgan willie Jackson Kelvin Davis Mahuta and her family Maori party need to go they may fool some of the people some of the time, but do not fool all of the people all of the time | Dianne |
| The question begs the question! Dump the lot | Peter |
| Water is a human right and should not be controlled by any race entity or unelected governing body. | Jacqueline |
| Tribalism and Democracy are totally incompatible | Bryan |
| It’s treacherous and deceitful. | Dianne |
| There does need to be water standards but 3 Waters is not the answer. | Martin |
| the whole scheme needs to be dumped and co – governance stopped. Those who are re-inventing the treaty are saying they don’t accept the treaty. Are they not therefore dissidents? | bruce |
| A very expensive “dump” but it must go. | JS |
| Three (Five) Waters, plus or minus co-governance, is totally unacceptable. The fact that the new PM has not abolished this is a worry. Both are totally racist and therefore undemocratic. | Kevan |
| Dump this whole scheme and stop this talk of co governance as well | nola |
| we all agree something needs to be done Let the local bodies assess what each region requires in the next 25- 50 years develop a plan apply to the government for funding | Chris |
| This whole scheme must be dumped now if not Democracy in N Z is under threat | leo |
| Get rid of it , put the money to councils that need it. All councillers to be elected democratically and not by race | Chris |
| Dump Co-Governance as far too divisive | Maxwell |
| DUMP IT, never ever to be seen again. | Henk |
| just dump it, one country one people,maori are not inigenous,the lie has to stop | rodger |
| And the Maori health authority | Roy |
| Too much decite in this process and its time to wipe the slate clean , and involve us all . | Aidan |
| When the world first came to New Zealand and had found the Maori to be a friendly and smart lot instead of being of a strong bellicose nature, I wonder how different the situation might be in today’s world. The romantic notion of regaining the pride and privileges of pre-European times can never be. Thus while such expectations have looked to be granted under our current government it will not be tolerated by the public at large. Eventually the bulk of NZ citizens will know what to do and will put a stop to the return to a stone age tribal dictatorship. We don’t want that. Therefore all current and any future so called co-governance situations have to be extinguished. Never to see the light of day ever again. There should be no special differential racial law arrangements and the special political Maori seats should be dissolved. It has to be one vote for one citizen for one government. This can only start with the current woke government being reduced to a minor party status. | Garry. |
| The various Councils and ratepayers both own and administer the three waters. It is plain theft to have the Govt believe they own them by creating an Act when they have thee greatest number of seats in the House. The public should decide via referendum or it should be scrapped all together and another form of support system implemented to assist those Councils that need and require it. | John |
| The whole concept of Maori co-governance and ownership by stealth is abhorrent to everyone, themselves included. Are they incapable of helping themselves to get ahead in life, without helping themselves to to what others have earned? | Warren |
| There is so much wrong with this centralisation of management which will result in confusion for local councils so it will never work. I would be happy with standards to give councils guidance and some funding support to local bodies | Walter |
| Excellent water services are of prime importance. Consideration of the best way forward on this matter needs to be undertaken with a clean sheet unsullied by the baggage that attaches to the three waters fiasco. | David |
| There is too much corruption written into Three Waters – it is far too contaminated to unravel. Dump the whole damned thing and start with a clear objective at the outset of government must govern for ALL New Zealanders as one country, one sovereignty, one people. | Jin |
| Chuck out the whole mess lock stock and barrel, it might also be of some value to dump Mahuta herself as an example to other wreckers | Jeffrey |
| It is an appalling abuse of democracy and common sense, which has wasted a very large amount of tax payers money. | Gaire |
| Dump it now! | Glyn |
| Forced Centralising never works and it always costs far more than the estimates. | Peter |
| Waitangi Day is supposed to be for all Kiwis to celebrate. Yet we send our leaders to be threatened and pressured by less that 1/5 of our population who want to control all of us (and make us pay dearly for the privilege.) | Rose |
| They stole these assets from the ratepayers just like they stole NZ from the Mori Ori. Don’t let them get away with it again | Michael |
| Partial removal of the plan will not be sufficient and cause more disunity | Doris |
| Of course the whole scheme needs to be dumped. I have been worrying about this country ever since the Ardern government took office. Dr Newman has been doing an exceptional job of keeping us up to date on what is really going on and I thank her for her time and knowledge. I have been wondering over the last 5 years just how many Kiwis will decide to give up on this country because of all this nonsense and head for more stable shores overseas, these will probably be the skilled New Zealanders and the people we can’t afford to lose. God help New Zealand. | Paul |
| Co-governance is totally unacceptable. As is the Three Waters scheme. | Lois |
| Completely!! | Helen |
| It only takes one rotten apple in the barrel, what more needs to be said. | Sven |
| Get rid of it and sack Mahuta! | Neil |
| It is bad on every level:- financial [adding levels of cost], divisive, precedent setting and undemocratic. | Tony |
| Useless labour | Allan |
| the quicker the better dump it | barry |
| Making ratepayers liable for any default means that we the ratepayers retain ownership of those assets. Anything else is a sham | tony |
| sooner the better | tony |
| Properly funded what we have is sufficient. What I don’t like about co governance is as soon as you give Maori public funds “snouts dive into the trough”. This has been proven ever since the underpants saga. | Ralph |
| The Auditor-General’s criticism of deficient accountability would still hold. | Tom |
| Centralisation does not work and the probability of Maori actually controlling such an entity is in itself problematic as it takes away democracy at the level required by the people. | Murray |
| absolutely | Robin |
| The Labour Party needs to be kicked to the curb. Their lies and deception have rarely been equalled. What an utter disappointment. Go now! | Rob |
| Every council’s situation is very different. What is needed is each to have an assessment by central government, then a path to quality water established with appropriate time frames and funding made available. | Joanna |
| It’s a mess! | Neville |
| Along with her, her spouse and any other family members appointed to positions of influence without completely independent scrutiny. | Carol |
| My country is being torn apart by this. Can it. | Neil |
| I believe Maori supremacists have been playing into UNDRIP’s divide and conquer strategy. We should be getting out of the UN too. | Darag |
| Co-governance equals apartheid, in direct violation of the race relations act. Anything other than one set of rules for everyone will be a disaster for all. | Norm |
| As soon as possible | Sarah |
| A joke from start to finish. Invented purely to provide maori control over water. | Richard |
| This situation is very scary for the general community. We want a fair democratic society that does not discriminate based on race. almost everything happening now in government is designed to divide us. It is a threat that is so terrifying, there are many in my circle speaking of leaving NZ. These are hard working tax payers who do not deserve to be disadvantaged. We do not deserve to be call racist because we want a society that treats us all equally. The Human Rights Commission report on racism should be introduced to the population of NZ, not hidden away in a back cupboard like He Puapua. Both reports are an absolute disgrace. | Janette |
| no question we are one | Wiremu |
| No, even with the removal of the corrupt co-governance scam, the theft of the water resources from the taxpayers (nationalisation) shows the true Marxist roots of this government, particularly when the rate payers will still be liable for when they F’up | John |
| As does Nania… Dumped for the good of all in this nation of one people! | Graham |
| 3/5 waters has been sneaky and dishonest from the very start. First the opt in option but it changed to no opt out. Then rushed through under urgency with very small amount of time to make submissions. The 88,000 submissions were disregarded. The scariest thing was that within a few days of the bill being passed a huge pile of amendments were introduced. 800 odd pages. They didn’t think those up in a few days. Of course the taxpayer had no say regarding those even though they would have been disregarded. This govt is sleazy and cannot be trusted. 3 waters has to go. Completely. There are fish hooks everywhere. | Claire |
| Demonstrably & completely wrong, divisive and alien to our New Zealand democracy. It must be gone altogether and very soon!! | Frank |
| The Maori racist elite need to go. We do not need a divided country. Ardern has a lot to answer for. She jumped before she was pushed. All the backyard dealing she did has now come to the fore. She would be the worst prime minister we have ever had. Let’s scrap everything she did behind closed doors and get a prime minister who can lead a united country. How did Mahuta get so powerful. She is a racist of the worst kind. Scrap everything she has signed her name to and lets get a government who works for all New Zealanders | Dianne |
| The tea party Maori, the Waitangi Tribunal, and the Race-Relations Conciliator are all past their use-by date. | Kevan |
| As noted in my submission to the select committee, the Three Waters reforms are wrong on so many fronts. Multiple layers of bureaucracy, costs and delays. Discriminatory and anti-democratic. Removal of control from the owners of the assets. Illogical regional structures. No mandate. | Alister |
| leave the systems in place for ratepayers and their elected representatives | john |
| Absolutely, it’s so obviously going to be a disaster for New Zealand. Stay with what we have which is working so well. | william |
| Better if the whole scheme is ditched . | HaPe |
| dump the whole scheme as fast as can be done . | james |
| This Labour Administration is an absolute joke. | Murray |
| Hipkins needs to come out and fully disclose all 3 waters provisions, the public needs to understand Jacindas duplicity. Hipkins should then publicly denounce and dump them. | Iain |
| Dump the entire sham. There is no reason, nor excuse for aligning the regions on tribal boundaries unless the 3W sham is intended to line the tribes pockets with our money. What’s wrong with maintaining the current ownership and simply creating a formal audit and regulatory regime that ensures councils properly maintain 3W assets. Maori are already over-represented on government and councils so their os absolutely no reason for giving them additional and disproportional voting rights or other control over 3W. It’s high time we had a government that was prepared to stand up to the corrupt Maori elite who continue to pervert the meaning of the treaty and attempt to rewrite NZ history and history education to promote their racist agenda. Ardern should be jailed permanently for treason as should Mahuta. | Steve |
| DUMP IT It takes away local body control of their asset Strips from the public their asset And creates employment for political bludgers like Tuku Morgan and others be they Maori, Pakeha, or ET and his family The utter raving of this Labour Government’s socialist ideas driven by comrade Jacinda have torn NZ apart The Labour Party cant fix their credibility its to late Even if they look to return to the ethos of previous labour leaders. It’s too late for them New Zealanders will never again trust a labour government ever They will be come also rans swept from the political landscape by the people they promised the world too and then did nothing other than pander to the radical activists who think that tribalism trumps democracy The cry from the average New Zealander is TREASON Look long and hard at labour what are they, A party that was hijacked buy Maori under the stewardship of a raving communist. The YouTube clip of Jacinda addressing the youth communist convention in Hungary has all the hall marks of a raving dictator So dump 3 waters its inception came from a poisoned political party | Bruce |
| Add the word PERMANENTLY | Bruce |
| it’s an attempted takeover. | Christopher |
| The whole document is poison. Dump it | Martyn |
| As soon as possible – tomorrow! | Sylvia |
| The situation, where democracy is being replaced with ‘apartheid’, must be unwound if New Zealand is to have a decent future. | Chris |
| This instant. | Jasmine |
| Hipkins has always been at JA’s side and he is now merely tucking those intended laws out of sight until he can get into power. Then look out !! | Mauirce |
| The whole legislation is a travesty and a blight on each persons individual rights | Armand |
| Leave local government to sort their own water, if they need financial help then help | Fiona |
| dig a big hole ,dump the lot. | gaz |
| Dump the 3/5 waters, it was only dreamed up to allow maori power and control, a propaganda exercise. individual councils should be helped as required but all must be under rate payer control. | Sam |
| the sooner the better | graeme |
| The whole He Puapua scheme is abhorrent | Barry |
| They should never have seen the light of day. | DICK |
| Dump it as soon as possible, wake up NZ! | John |
| dump the entire thing – no place for this | Reggie |
| I don’t say that the present system is perfect but with agreed revisions it is still the best. Local councils should have control of the water/sewerage systems. | Denis |
| It’s just another idea of elite Maori elitist to steal and control what others have paid for and then tax the rest of us for using the facility. Let’s get rid of of this racist apartheid system and return to our past democracy of one man one vote and all being equal in law in New Zealand. | morrie |
| DEMOCRACY FIRST!!! | Roger |
| The economics of the scheme are flawed. Read the Catalia Consulting report. Also ratepayers should not have assets taken without recompense. Just another rort of taxpayers and ratepayers. | Chris |
| We must stop Aparthied coming to New Zealand. | John |
| Dump the lot. And do not vote for any one or any party supporting any part of this underhand outrageously expensive unneeded scheme.. | Graeme |
| Everything connected to racial inequality needs to be scrapped. The health system the justice system, the 3 oops 5 waters, the government… everything. Where a minority is being handed more control even though they are not entitled to, is injustice and inequality. We have all emmigrated here at some point in history. None of us are the indigenoeus people. | Kristene |
| She’d still rip us off! | Glenda |
| Knowledge built up over years cannot be replaced by an entity with no knowledge of the intricacies of each towns systems. The scheme is a disaster waiting to happen and the public will bear the brunt of eventual failure and the cost of government fiddling with what they do not understand. | John |
| Mahuta at one stage called Putin a bully but I suggested she look in the mirror herself regarding the 3 waters scheme | Logan |
| It is simple. Councils should not be able to spend one cent on anything until all water in their district is up to scratch. | Wayne |
| This Government needs to dump the three waters but that will not happen because they have gone to far by setting up offices and employing people to run them. There is no turning back for Labour and the Maori elite and the likes of Willie Jackson and co will not let it happen. | ken |
| The water infrastructure needs investment, but no this way | Philip |
| The 3 waters model is based on what was implemented in Scotland, which was found to be flawed. No need to repeat the same mistakes. | Gavin |
| It needs to be removed in its entirety. It’s a bit like cancer, if you leave a small piece behind it will grow again as will Three Waters. Put it in the rubbish bin not the recycle bin. | chris |
| A ridiculous scenario. | Tony |
| The scheme is ludicrous. Why should Marlborough for example, subsidise fixing Wellington’s water woes, simply because of the Wellington administration’s incompetence? | Tony |
| When are we going to stop this idiocy curtailing to the minority of the population that can’t even run their own lives let alone ours and stand up like sensible adults and through this co governance, co leadership and changing the county’s name out once and for all. Most of us have had enough now so we need to stand united as enough’s enough . | Garry |
| The whole thing needs to GO if it doesn’t Mr Hipkins will, , stand up grow some balls and do it, the i want it tribe (IWI) will cry for a while but if you don’t give in and just tell them to pull their heads in and they will get over it, you have one chance to stay DO IT or you are out. Govern this country the way in which it was intended one country one people no matter what race you are, we are all NEW ZEALANDERS not called anything else. | COLIN |
| Hell yes. | Fraser |
| We definitely need to improve and extend the infrastructure around water. three things are needed – a national set of standards to achieve, a national technical assistance resource (like the old farm advisory service), and a national level funding resource. What isnt needed is some Political agenda draped over the top. That is US style pork barrel politics of the worst sort, and its essentially corrupt. | Davidf |
| No Co-Governance whatsoever in New Zealand. We are all equal under the law & No tribal race based system has a place in NZ. | Derek |
| Mahuta is the most corrupt politician this country has ever seen. 3 Waters is all about lining her pockets and maori elites. | Jan |
| Five Waters is such a complicated, corrupt mess it needs to go. There are much better ways to fund and manage water infrastructure – i.e. without stealing ratepayer assets, removing democratic accountability and putting a single race in effective control of a vital national resource. | Wendy |
| this to me is a last ditch compromise | John |
| Let’s stick to the original Treaty. | Ernie |
| 3 or 5 or whatever waters need to be immediately scraped completely and forevermore along with all the rest of the separatist and decisive policies cooked up by this crazy socialist regime and furthermore the whole parliament who have stood behind the craziness of the last few year’s need to be ripped out root and branch and cast into the weeds. What an incredible shambles they have caused this poor little country to become. NEW ZEALAND for ever, never aotearoa which was never the name for NEW ZEALAND in any case. The true treaty booklet into every home in NEW ZEALAND is an excellent idea and I will be contributing even though I think the treaty in its entirety should be immediately scraped as to old and completely outmoded with no real application to NEW ZEALAND of today and while we are at it , get rid of the ridiculous ‘new’ history curriculum which is really a tissue of lies and half truths with a marxist socialist slant. | Flip |
| Current 3 Waters scheme is abhorrent . I do not trust Minister Mahuta and her colleagues. It MUST be abolished and any legislation should not be based on race. | Ranee |
| Councils need control and they need Government to underwrite the costs to fix infrastructure through out the country. If this had happened years ago councils would not have got into a situation where maintenance was hamstrung by budget and consequently let fall beyond acceptable levels. The cost of 3 waters (5) simply spends huge amounts of tax payer money to “Give” our assets to a private elitist maori company. All water belongs to the all New Zealanders. | Rita |
| It’s another very expensive Crock. I’m 78 and been drinking tap water all over NZ all my life and never once been sick. | John |
| An extremely critical year this will be. Hopefully we have a change of government on the horizon otherwise I will look at leaving the country. | Lawrie |
| Dump all of 3/5 waters. What we had before the blatant asset grab by the hater%u2019s and wreckers (Iwi Elite) was efficient but some regions needed tweaking. Under 5 Waters when ratepayers can%u2019t pay gang members will throw us out of our homes with our pets to form a third world country where animals die of mange and starvation in the streets just like we see in Bali, Fiji and Vanuwatu. Our anthem will change from God Defend NZ to IWI DESTROY NZ. | Brenda |
| Absolutely dumped | Evans |
| Maori elites have far too much of other people’s money to loose and can not be trusted, there is no halfway ALL OF 3 or is it 5 Waters has to be scrapped | David |
| One nation, one people | Peter |
| none of it is in the interests of new zealanders. | Ronmac |
| There’s so many things wrong with what is proposed – taking out the grossly offensive bit goes nowhere near fully addressing the issue. | Graham |
| And dump Mahuta with it | Russ |
| Ratepayers should not be responsible if the whole scheme turns out to be a disaster. | Mark |
| The water assets and services need to be kept in public ownership and. Not handed over to tribes so that all New Zealanders can benefit | Dorothy |
| It’s rubbish so reject it in my opinion. | Ray |
| The entire Labour caucus are obviously in support of this otherwise they would have opposed it. The scheme is a stealth attempt by Mahuta and Co to seize power and wealth for a select few of the Iwi elite. Stealing from the ratepayers and taxpayers in a grand display of greed beyond belief. Accusations of racism against opposition to this scheme are a clear indication that they are themselves the racists. I can’t believe we such AHs in positions of power – what are we as the New Zealand electorate thinking? Is this all we have to choose from or are we plain stupid? | Martin |
| New Zealanders abhor these racist ideas. Three waters is an abomination, a sleight of hand theft by Maori elites. | Stuart |
| Absolutely, the whole scheme needs to be dumped! | Robin |
| Still theft of ratepayer’s assets | Russell |
| Why do a few want to start a war they cannot win. Senseless. They need to stop hiding up north and show their faces in the south. | Samual |
| The solution to the water woes lies in funding. Government can provide the means for this but leave the management with local councils. | Philip |
| It is and always has been a can of worms, primarily to allow the Maori elite to get a foothold thru co-governance, control of all water, and the ratepayer of New Zealand footing the eye watering bills they will incur. No tinkering will ever make this acceptable. | Robyn |
| I read Sir Apirana Ngata’s booklet – wow! What an amazing insight into how far we have regressed! The whole rates of taxation is still being milked to advantage by Iwi trusts and Maraes. But to answer the question, especially after reading the booklet is dump it! Mahuta’s pet project is so far away from the Treaty premise and so structured toward Maori tribal rule it is frightening.. What a step backwards into the blood stained past it would be. Water services must be run by a body representing all NZers. That should be local councils methinks. That ratepayers would be underwriting a mega entity debt is just evil and needs to be made public somehow. | Pamela |
| And dump Nanaia and her co-governance co-conspirators. | Mark |
| Arrogant & stupid. | Rosemary |
| It is the most abhorrent scheme and should be dumped forthwith. | Ann |
| Unworkable untrustworthy untruthful racism | David |
| New Zealand. One nation One people. All equal under one flag | Judith |
| There is nothing good in it for the people of New Zealand. | Donald |
| The Red Queen let the Genie out of the Maori bottle and no government will get it back. The Maori radicals are hellbent on apartheid and equality is not their aim. THE COUNTRY IS STUFFED. Luxon has only fired blanks so far and doesn’t look likely to do any better, ACT have a bit of ginger but don’t have the numbers. GOD DEFEND NZ.. | Bruce |
| Labour does not understand the treaty. This is hardly surprising considering the present abysmal standard of the NZ education system. We are one people under one government. Let us keep it that way. | Paloma |
| nothing less will do | Robert |
| To know Labour have taken us down this road is abhorrent | Rod |
| The entire scheme is flawed. Read the Castalia report. Water rates will at least triple under the proposed scheme. Rent seeking iwi will also be in the trough for yet more rental from our natural assets provided by the Almighty to provide life on earth. These rent seekers must be stopped from implementing their racist agenda. | Chris |
| Surely if we want to get ahead we MUST not bring in apartheid.This Government seem to want separatism which will ruin the country | Tony |
| Not if we are left to catch the ball if all goes wrong. | Dennis |
| Leave any of it in place, and they’ll slide new paragraphs in. Vote for them, and they’ll resurrect the whole socialist agenda. | Bill |
| Dump all of it! | Jen |
| Including the dumping of Mahuta, would do a decent job. | Peter |
| No co-governance. | Angela |
| Status quo with councils owning and controlling water infrastructure. Taxes to top up upgrade costs | cherie |
| The system will fail to deliver | Tony |
| The current situation is fine, it just needs funding correctly. | Chris |
| We don’t need anymore bureaucratic money sinks. Unchecked burdens on the people. | Lee |
| dump the lot | Paula |
| The whole scheme needs to be dumped. | chris |
| The sooner, the better. | Erin |
| Co Governance is the main reason. However I have never seen any rational argument that persuades me any major re imagination of our water supplies is good. As far as I am concerned, I have paid good money into our water infrastructure and entrusted my local council to manage this. Any attempt by central government to take away the assets I have dunded is THEFT. Pure and simple THEFT. | Tony |
| The whole scheme is a Bureaucratic nightmare. One straight forward proposal would be to transfer control of three waters to Regional Councils if economy of scale is needed. | John |
| Equal rights for all New Zealanders, regardless of historic ancestry. | Greg |
| The money needed to implement Three Waters would be better spent financing Councils to upgrade the water, waste water and storm water systems that the individual Councils are familiar with. | Peter |
| Scrap the whole thing! | Elizabeth |
| Sick to death of policy being made by greedy corrupt individuals with their own agenda | Adele |
| no option other than to dump this racist nonsense | norman |
| Scrap the lot and the socialist Government and their minions — also get rid of the greens and all parties based on race, religion or gender. | Alan |
| All equal in New Zealand with Democracy first and foremost. | Margaret |
| Maori elite%u2019 claims are Bordering on treason | Chris |
| It doesn’t make any sense at all! | Rayward |
| The whole scheme is ill-conceived. | John |
| Mahuta’s illegal and dishonest scheme dreamed up before the last election and hidden until she could get it passed by the dictator Labour Government needs to be binned like all the other deceitful schemes forced through late at night by the elite Maori pressure group. The theft of council owned public water resources is dishonest and undemocratic. | CHRIS |
| Tribalism exacerbated with the power of imported muskets led to the frightful Maori death toll in the years prior to the Treaty, which was then seen as a way forward for inhabitants of this land to live together under one lawful governance. Co-governance will undo all of that and destroy the heart and intent of the Treaty and in this mult-ethnic land, fan the flames of a resurrected tribalism. | Alan |
| Also, the popular concept of Maori being “indigenous” needs to be corrected too! Look at Google or any other decent dictionary and it is obvious! | Ted |
| Yep dump the whole thing & her too | STAN |
| Dump 3 waters. nothing wrong with previous ways of handling water problem areas can be handled by local and central government as requires. | Neil |
| How much more racial disharmony are we going to have, we’re going in the wrong direction. Someone has to step up and fix this problem. | Murray |
| The money already spent on this fiasco could have given all councils a gold plated water treatment, sewage and storm water systems. It is plain to see current the 3 water system has very little to do with water quality and leans strongly to Tribal control with zero accountability. Basically a con job. | Gavin |
| Muriel sys it all | June |
| Why not print and deliver a copy of Ngata’s booklet to every house. Ask BNZ to sponsor it – it’ll be cheaper than renaming the bank BA. | Rodney |
| Is there such a thing as a thing as co-governance removal? | David |
| Finance is the issue. There is another way to finance and prioritize without bureaucracy and loss of ratepayers control and local voice | Paul |
| Useless labour | Allan |
| Remove co-governance would help but don’t trust mahuta so get rid of the lot | Carl |
| The whole concept is unworkable. It was designed primarily to allow the tribal elite to clip the ticket without challenge. Most cities and towns have very good infrastructure. If central government wishes to help then they should do that at the request of towns and cities that need help. | Mike |
| This is not good for the country (and ALL New Zealanders). | Richard |
| not tinkering – do it again if necessary | murray |
| Maori now only exist as a less tham 50% of blood and most less than 20% blood of any person so really no longer exist at all of a % of the Maori race (if there ever was one). They are now a minute part of the current NZ population but its most expensive part relying on ratepayers to exist. | Garry |
| Remove the whole scheme. We are one people under one flag and one law. | William Clive |
| Mahuta is more dangerous than Ardern. The sooner she is gone from politics the better. | Ken |
| Put the tribal leadership back on the same footing as the Maori rank and file and rest of us – fully fledged New Zealand citizen all with equal rights. | Shaun |
| The whole lot needs to go particularly the maori caucus and Mahuta! They see dollar signs and power, under a fake cloak of Maoridom! They offend their own people. | Peter |
| Mahuta’s scheme is treason, against our present lawful government. | Paul |
| It’s about time New Zealanders took back control of the country. This splitting people along race and colour, is straight out of the communist manual. get the people fighting each other, it’s never worked anywhere except under the barrel of a gun. Labour in all it’s disguises has to be disbanded, along with the universities who are teaching all this garbage. | Merryl |
| The scheme needs to be dumped and a fairer and more equitable scheme discussed. | Peter |
| Good riddance to this divisive scheme. | Rob |
| Of course anything pertaining to inequality should be dumped, and it is shocking to see how far things have gone in our now unequal and unjust country. People are leaving in droves to live in a better country, and not live under tribal rule. Will the last man turn off the lights, and shut down the taps. | Carol |
| Govern for all New Zealanders. | Tom |
| The scheme is divisive and racist in extreme. Mahuta’s thinly veiled attempt to try to entrench her legislation to make it difficult, if not impossible, for any future government to change anything in her bill, shows how devious the whole thing is. One nation, one people, one country under one flag and name. | Laurence |
| The whole scheme is socialist in its concept with centralisation of power being the basis AND THEREFORE NEEDS TO BE DUMPED | Robin |
| As far as I’m concerned I would not trust the Maori’s involvement in anything. As a very boy I overheard my late Aunties and my late Mum talking about a Maori woman stealing up in Auckland back in the late 1940s the washing off my Auntie washing cloths line in her back yard of their new home in Mount Eden Auckland, nothing changed I’m afraid. | Don |
| The whole scheme most definitely needs to be dumped. We do not want apartheid in this country. Wake up New Zealand because a coup is definitely well under way. | Helen |
| the whole scheme is a mess, local bodies need to remove partisan councilors and get on with core business | Stanley |
| Dump the whole scheme before it’s too late. | Chris |
| We’are one people irrespective of race. | Errol |
| Dump it, along with the Labour Party, Never in our history has so much damage been done to so many by so few | Bryan |
| As does co-governance | Norman |
| reject ALL separatism and become ONE people. Forget the outdated treaty, and look forward. | kabe |
| If we do not go forward as all New Zealanders then we shall fail as a country. Stop wasting time with the radical minority of whose past is nothing but greed !! | Ross |
| All radical bills need dumping | Colin |
| local asset, local control, govt subsidy for repairs | Poul-Erik |
| We need to get rid of racism and racist politics in this country We need to return to the basics principles of the treaty | Ihaia |
| It’s a crock of s*** | Keith |
| it’s madness to think otherwise | Mike |
| It has been a disaster from conception abort it | john |
| Too much Crown money has addled the brains of a select few who put themselves on pedestals of power. | Sharron |
| This whole scheme is a joke. If councils/water authorities need money to fund remedial and upgrade works, then the govt and where fair, ratepayers should provide it. I am thoroughly sick of this racist Bulls#!t. Are we to become the next Zimbabwe or descend into civil war for I fear that is where NZ is headed under these lunatics in power | Andrew |
| The whole scheme needs to be dumped and local control at council and community level be reinstated or introduced. | Paul |
| The people pushing all this stuff cannot be trusted. It all has to go | Charles |
| Get rid of this divisive rubbish | Michael |
| Applied monetary policy and prudent financial control is the only way to improve water infrastructure, not by racial based control. | BrianReed |
| Removed totally, stinks of Maori caucus contamination. Will never be cleansed of tribal racist stench. Labour the treasonous, corrupt, racist party must go never to return. | Kevin |
| it is a mess from start to finish dump the whole thing, keep it as it is, if there is more to be done than councils can budget for central govt can finance it. | NIGEL |
| In the SI N Mahuta had 63 meetings with iwi and none with ratepayers. She should be fired too. | Diana |
| It’s a total mess. Listen to the councils and the people for a change. | Andrew |
| We do not need co governance or racial division. | june |
| This divisive madness to divide and create disharmony among New Zealanders must not be proceeded with. | Karen |
| Totally undemocratic, against our constitution such as it is | Edgar W. |
| Great comment | David |
| One flag ,one people, one government by the people for the people . No cunning conniving games from the Maori spongers,they are not elites,they are destroyers. | john |
| The whole lot should be dumped, along with many other racist policies currently on the books. | Heather |
| I believe the govt. could quite simple resolve this by directing those (few) councils with water issues to fix them immediately. They could be assisted with a low interest govt loan. | Db |
| If the whole scheme is not dumped New Zealand will be dumped into history ! | Stuart |
| It is abundantly clear to all thinking New Zealanders that the Labour Party has set the country on the path to apartheid. | Keith |
| Take away EVERY opportunity for the elite Maori and MAHUTA type activist to get their hands on power | john |
| Total no-brainer-to keep this scheme only makes sense if you are stupid !!! | Henry |
| There is no doubt that local government incompetence is an issue needing to be resolved. Restoring democracy is a good start. 3/4 waters needs reengineering, not rebureacraticised | Raymond |
| Put this thing to bed. Once the dust has settled New Zealand needs to produce a long term plan for all its Infrastructure. Which will need to be confirmed and rarified by the voter | Frankie |
| The treaty has no place in daily life or Governance and should be archived permanently. I note that Ngapuhi claim they did not sign it and therefore have special rights ? It is absolute nonsense. They never were one people by their own admission. As New Zealanders, we all have the same rights individually through the law to be treated fairly and equally. I have the same right as a descendant of Maori. | Harvey |
| I want democracy back and government for all of us | Warren |
| Dump Mahuta along with all her evil policies | Heather |
| All of this Labour Govt’s racist policies need to be scrapped along with the Govt itself. They will never change and will continue to breed more criminals on our streets as they have been doing for the past 5 years. | Des |
| get rid of the anti-democratic rubbish | rusell |
| Nil tolerance to all race based schemes | Barras |
| Never n the history of NZ have we had a such a communistic PM leader Jacinda Adern who has conned, lied , & divided the people of NZ. | Ronald |
| It is bloody racist & gives a minority control over what was here before the first settlers arrived about 800 years ago. | Peter |
| No you don’t give these greedy Maori a bloody inch. They have got away with far too much already. Time for Chris Luxon to speak up bearing in mind that PM Hipkins is just the best of a bunch of traitors. | Tom |
| Removing the whole scheme is necessary. Government needs to fund councils properly in the usual council structure, so that necessary wastewater and other pipes and drains are replaced or improved. | Rosemary |
| The whole scheme needs to be dumped. The whole scheme was based on dubious data, costs, management and non-democratic governance structures, all of which disadvantaged the rate payer. Totally scrap it forever and start again. | Frank |
| council, plumbers and engineers will continue to control the water and do not need more bosses, | George |
| Any scheme to change the government of water resources must be within close geographical areas where the physical resources can be combined. | Les |
| These two Schemes are under the Same Agenda. Once again, these People that are behind this whole Agenda all need recognize at the implications of TREASON. And yes Judgement for it all will come. | Geoff |
| There are potentially dangerous aspects of the legislation proposals that would undermine achieving an acceptable democratic outcome – the whole Mahuta scheme needs to be dumped a.s.a.p. | Peter |
| This scheme has all sorts of “hooks”, is a complete shambles and the general public need to be properly informed and consulted before instigating any of this. | Carol |
| The whole three waters fiasco needs to be dumped and future Government’s must never try to interfere with what the elected Local Body representatives want | Murray |
| This scheme which constitutes theft from rate Payers was actually a criminal act and Mahuta should be prosecuted. | Henry |
| Labour and National are both weak parties, led by feeble leaders in Hipkins and Luxon. They will be manipulated by the maori elite to ensure tribal control of water. The tribes are so close to gaining total control of water they will not want to let the opportunity slip out of their grasp. The two major parties, along with the Greens and Maori Party, will tweak the wording to say co-governance has been removed but it will remain in disguised form. The entire Mahuta project needs to be scrapped and started anew. | Gavin |
| NO scheme based on racist ideology from the maoris will be implemented in New Zealand under our democracy rules. | mark |
| The whole scheme needs to be dumped in File 13 never to be heard of again. Good riddance. | Eric |
| Even removing the co-governance is not sufficient because it still removes the right for local councils to keep control of their assets paid for through local ratepayers. And why should local ratepayers be responsible for future debts over which they have no control. If all the millions of dollars are available for Three Waters, then why not redistribute the funds accordingly to councils like Wellington so each council can then carry out the necessary replacement updating and upgrading of pipework infrastructure as needed. | Mary |
| It only exists for the purpose of co governance so dump it all. | Evan |
| Remove all co governance from all government legislation and shut down three waters and the Maori control over health and any other area this toxic labour government has enacted | Kevin |
| New Zealand doesn’t want, need, or can afford to allow this bunch of racialist activists in the minority to have any say whatso ever, give them an inch and they want everything that’s not tied down. | laurie |
| Back up the bus and constructively seek out the areas of need around NZ and address them as required | Bruce |
| Dumped and councils who need hep targeted rather than having wellington/maori overlords | Bev |
| I would also draw NZCPR’s attention to the new RMA ‘reforms’ going through Parliament. They are the same as for Three/Five Waters but for how people can use their land and are totally unworkable. Would like to see a piece on that. | Brenton |
| and throw mahuta out of government. | Arthur |
| Remove the Labour party ASAP….they will always be ‘tarred’ with this attempted destruction of Democracy in New Zealand. | Chris |
| This has to be a NON Negotiable position of an existing and Future Government | Noel |
| New Zealander for ALL New Zealanders!! | Susan |
| Not only does the whole scheme need to be dumped but also the revised RMA which gives unprecedented consultation rights to Maori and not to every New Zealander. | Jacquetta |
| We have to end separatism and the special policies for Maori. We also need to abolish the favourtism which Maori get from seven separate seats in parliament and the designated positions on local government bodies. It should always be the best person for the job. Wellington voters opted for a Maori mayor because she was the best candidate. | Roger |
| Dump three waters and abolish Maori seats in parliament | Ken |
| What Jacinda has done is frightening to all New Zealanders – and I mean to ALL. The whole scheme does indeed need to be scrapped. I hope Chris Hipkins grows some cojones and stands up to racist Maori and governs for ALL New Zealanders | Kerin |
| Dump totally and Mahuta with it. | Ann |
| This ludicrous situation has gone far enough!!! Give Seymour & Peters the vote & Luxon if he can get his head out of the sand!!!! How much must the Nats now be regretting dumping Simon Bridges!!!! | Ron |
| Get rid of the lot. It is toxic. | Neville |
| Get rid of it all. We don’t need co-governance. | Kate |
| It is the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever put before Parliament. | Bruce |
| The only issue to be improved by Government is infrastructure funding to assist some Councils. The 3 Waters bureaucracy and introduction of unelected iwi are a blatant control agenda by Labour and especially by its Maori members. It is theft by stealth and the procedures should be stopped, now. | DAVID |
| the whole scheme was flawed from the start. The original claim was that central government would step in to improve delivery of clean drinking water. Where local government could not afford to upgrade existing systeme then the government would come to the party in the interest of redients health. The issue of upgrading water supplies could have been managed by the establishment of structure to monitor local water supplies and to assist financially the necessary upgrades. It appears that this has been abandoned in favour of making ratepayers responsible for borrowed funds. This is the case already. Why do we need a whole new beauracracy to manage it except for a control grb of all NZ waters. | Bryan |
| Dump multi-waters and all other Labour party introduced laws from the past 5.5 years. | Richard |
| NZ simply needs a national water standard, a thorough appraisal of current entities (councils) against that standard and a plan/infrastructure funded in the areas that do not meet the standard. Fixed. | Trent |
| three waters will simply load another massive layer of bureaucracy and cost onto New Zealanders. exactly what happened with the the Auckland super city amalgamation. | Malcolm |
| It’s undemocratic. | Jackie |
| There can be no mid-way position on this matter. Co-governance is a racist policy. | Marga |
| Dumped in total … end of subject. | Alan |
| No give them an inch and they take a mile. | Ron |
| definitely! | Giles |
| This booklet NEEDS to be published EVERYWHERE & the 3 articles in it NEED to be sent to ALL M.P.s, of ALL parties & put on social media (ALL of them) | Cindy |
| This is a blatant aim to put New Zealand on a RACIST footing. There are more differing cultures in New Zealand other than Maori and Europeans and ALL need to be equal. | Carl |
| Of course the whole “three waters” scheme needs to be dumped. How can anyone of any sense encourage New Zealanders to give ownership and control of water to the claimed members of one race and in the same breath argue that the rest of us (all New Zealanders) should pay for it. Wake up! The whole proposal is a laughably ridiculous con. | ROB |
| This article is the best summary of how far NZ has fallen under this Labour Government that I have read. | Carol |
| This should be the easiest policy decision Luzon has to make if he really wants to win the election by a big margin. | Ian |
| The Three Waters scheme is a scheme to deceive ratepayers with the ultimate aim to transfer water ownership and control to Maori Entities | Matthew |
| A blight upon our nation must be rejected | Terry |
| The scheme, as written, is so flawed that it should be dumped. After the election, anew government should in a bipartisan manner rewrite reform of 3 waters leaving control at local level but needs for investment being decided by engineers, not politicians. | Donald |
| This will be another disaster in the making similar to the Auckland super city debacle. | Gareth |
| The basis and justification for the scheme is flawed and needs to start again, not based on the Scottish model. | Ian |
| The whole scheme is rotten and designed to give empirical sovereignty to Maori interests, which is totally undemocratic. | Graham |
| While I acknowledge that the infrastructure within a lot of cities in NZ needs to be upgraded, I do not believe that we need to have a totally different scheme or entity to run this factor. | Sue |
| It is too divisive, and takes away control of cities water services, which rate payers have paid for. Gives control to a totally unconnected Authority, and one which does not seem to have any rules about members having technical or engineering knowledge in this area! | Hugh |
| It’s divided nzers | Ted |
| pyramid building, more cost, loss of accountability to everyone. eliteism | H |
| 3 Waters is a total disaster. The Maori control, the debt, the stupid large areas. Total disaster. | David |
| The whole Labour Government needs to be dumped | Graham |
| Dump it | John |
| Eight generations of my family have called NZ home and that does not include some who have Maori ancestry. Why should my grandchildren, two of whom are 128th Maori, have more rights than my those of my grandchildren who have no Maori ancestry. I consider all NZers must have of equal rights under the law, including those who have recently been sworn in as citizens. | catherine |
| All such laws need to be repealed for the Nats to have any traction | Jenny |
| This scheme was never about better provision of water services. From the start it was an attempt to introduce ‘co-governance’ by stealth, and that itself is seen by certain paatis as a stepping stone to full governance of a country that they lost once and will destroy utterly if they ever gain control of it. Wake up New Zealanders. Do you want your country to become Zimbabwe South? | TOBY |
| Dump the whole scheme and also Dump the bloody Labour party and its communist ideas before they completely ruin NEW ZEALAND | eric |
| There is a better way to help those councils that have neglected those infrastructers | Ian |
| Dump all of the one sided schemes, It’s all about the over all agenda, they are simply chipping away piece by piece. What we should also be worrying about is not having an official language, by not having one it will not be long before our country will be called Aotearoa and our cities, towns and probably streets renamed. | Owen |
| Yes, it was just a scheme of Mahuta to hand water to already non tax paying elite iwi. Scrap it entirely. | Laura |
| It was flawed from the start. Get rid of it!!!! | Wayne |
| Don’t just dump the scheme – dump the proponents of the scheme along with it! The whole sordid “co-governance” swindle should never have been allowed to reach this level of prominence. The fact that it has, proves yet again, that an overhaul of our electoral system is long overdue. This blatant attempt at asset seizure by a minority group of racist brown parasites must never be allowed to happen again! | Scott. |
| To get change of policies not just Labour Lite vote ACT. | Chuck |
| The treaty guaranteed to the chiefs and tribes and to all the people of NZ the full possession of their lands which includes water on the land. | Rae |
| The problem of waters needs to be addressed. Frank Newman outlined better ways in previous articles | Doug |
| Straight forward | Graham |
| It has been a rort underpinning a planned coup from the very beginning . The Maori Caucus ( together with their so called Maori elite ) have been running the Labour ship from the day Labour got , fraudulently, elected into power. Let’s hope those days of ideological obsession are gone forever and that we have seen the last of comrade Ardern’s Maorification agenda. Muriel , a truly outstanding commentary/ summation by you . Would that ALL New Zealanders could read it – but the sychophantic Marxist media will not enable that to happen. | Hugh |
| Only way | Clare |
| Mahuta, Jackson, Waititi, Packer, the entire toxic band of Maori racists need to be thrown out of office. The Maori party should not even be allowed to exist. Identity politics is a cancer on society. | John |
| It won’t work. It’s just a cover up to take control with more centralisation | DAVID |
| It is quite clear.Ban Hepuapua. | David |
| A house divided cannot stand. | Mick |
| Co-Governance along with The Five Waters scheme all need to abolished forever. Also all Maori seats in the NZ Parliament need to be scrapped. The whole scheme is stealth by Iwi racists eilte. | Wayne |
| Totally flawed right from the start, based on scare mongering, lies and an advertising program so blatantly incorrect just to promote a concept so heavily biased to a group of part Maori leaders and the continuous activities of the Waitangi Tribunal. | Barry |
| we are all one people! | Joan & Don |
| Maori want apartheid. They can never be trusted. And by the way, this country is New Zealand, not Aotearoa ! | Kevin |
| The scheme is extremely expensive and riddle with debt. There are other more economic approaches to solve any water quality issues. | John |
| Nuff said Glad to read Helen Clark on the race issues. | Gill |
| Three waters is theft, undemocratic, inefficient centralised communist nonsense and pointless. | John |
| The financial model is flawed, the requirement that ratepayers guarantee a debt that they had no part in creating, the iwi dominated governance model are all reasons that the whole concept is wrong for NZ. | Kerry |
| It’s theft | Janne |
| It o nothing less than a coup. | Kathryn |
| About time for the old Truth on the Treaty to prevail again! | Ian |
| If not, the radical minority will very soon claim water as belonging to just the minority. The thin edge of the wedge. | Ken |
| There is a water problem . We need to agree the problem and debate the options to resolve. Currently 3 waters is a political solution to a poorly defined issue. This is not accidental but rather deceitful | Mike |
| Regardless of who runs the system of water,we will still pay,ratepayers or taxpayers will still wear the cost. | Peter |
| immediately | Tom |
| The 3rd Labour Govt introduced Apartheid based on a LIE with the 1975 TOW Act, then the 4th Labour Govt of course made it worse by introducing Principles/Partnership BS, then National signed us up to UNDRIP and hence a tribalist takeover of our country is underway. ALL politician’s since 1975 are responsible for introducing and fanning the flames of Apartheid in this country. And here we are! | Neil |
| There is no need to change the supply of water services. There is only a need to make sure the current law is followed and implemented. | John |
| This will benefit ALL New Zealand’ers | Nick |
| There are a few greedy sociopaths in all “races”. Such people will grab as much power and resources as the rest of us allow them to. We don’t have to let them. | Sue |
| The whole of Three waters is a croc and needs to be dumped. there are many other ways to improve water services without giving power to unelected Maori. | Roger |
| Such a shambles. And racist. Needs to be dumped entirely. | Sheila |
| Leave the assets with the Councils. Each Council build its own business case to upgrade water infrastructure. Finance required to be supported by the Crown. | James |
| Dump it completely | Teresa |
| Dump the lot. Damn fool idea from day one. | Robbie |
| Our water, air and soils belong to the life force of ALL living entities and must be managed with wisdom, skill and utmost care by all human residents of our lovely land. We are ALL caretakers. | susan |
| The Three waters scheme is just the start of a complete Maori takeover. How long will it be before the Maori flag is flying over the beehive if we let this sort of racist behaviour take hold? | Douglas |
| Maori dominance is wrong. Still stealing local assets Financial management has no sound business case | John |
| Some Councils need funding to help with infrastructure projects. NOT more layers of administration. Councils just want to do a GOOD job. | RICHard |
| Water is a gift from the sky. It is owned by no-one. Access to potable water for every person, animal and organism requiring it to sustain life is a divine right when you are born, and remains so for all your lifetime. In the case of Urban and some Rural areas it is a necessity to combine resources to manage an infrastructure to allow access to this water for everyone. This has always been carried out by local people in the form of Councils as they understand the peculiarities of their own district better than any Central Government can. Central Government has no role in local body infrastructure. The local people know what best works in their area and can be left alone to manage it. Has worked just fine historically, and will be just fine going forwards. Remember, water in all its forms is a natural resource freely available to everyone and everything that needs it. No group or interested people have any right to the control of water on our planet for their benefit. | Max |
| Actually any/all apartheid schemes must be dumped . Toying around with co-goverence just allows the maori mafia to further use lies ,bullshit claims and ,greed based agendas to flourish .The worst think Chippy can do is put 3 waters on hold because the intellectually challenged voters will automatically think oh dear Labour must be ok (duh) and if they win will burn rubber reinstating all these divisive policies . Whilst kiwis continue to buy corrupt based newspapers ie Herald.Press and TV Guide .Honesty will not prevail ,sadly . | Ray |
| councils with water supply problems should be separately treated by long term Government loans. | Nev |
| 3 Waters is the epitome of racial preference and the intended foundation of co-governance | Bob |
| Councils need to prioritise their spending and not waste it on sports stadiums etc. | steven |
| Equality for all. | Janet |
| Central bloated bureaucracies can never meet local needs as efficiently or effectively as focused local entities | Frank |
| The ratepayers over the years own all water infrastructure. Taking it off councils – who manage on behalf of ratepayers – is shocking only to saddle ratepayers with the horrendous borrowing that the four entities will take on is even worse. Ratepayers end up paying double or triple for what they once owned. | Michele |
| One Law for all united as one one people under one Flag and one nation. | Don |
| It was working perfectly well. Local councils had it under control why change something that is working. | Andrew |
| The financial promises just don’t add up and the whole organisation is hugely bureaucratic. Councils MUST retain real ownership of water assets and Maori should NOT be entitled to any special say over their management. The whole idea needs to be binned then incinerated. Labour are useless when it comes to major reform and especially when its from a racist perspective. | Derek |
| No brainer! Start again. | Arthur |
| Everything about this scheme is wrong, appalling even to the point of evil. No one owns the water. It is lifeblood in God’s cosmic creation. Ownership of water systems should always remain local utilities and never be commercialised. Government’s role should only be supportive. To assume bigger is better is wrong, more often a bigger failure, and more costly. This Nazism must stop, as must apartheid encroachment. | Jack |
| Removing co-governance won’t be enough. MPs don’t even understand what it means and have allowed the pushing through of the maori elite agenda. The whole thing needs to be scrapped. The money already wasted could have been given to councils to bring their water infrastructure up to scratch after submitting legitimate and properly costed plans. I’m angry at the complete waste of money that has been given away by this reckless and devious government with no accountability. | Heather |
| Anything promoting any form of APARTHEID in NZ needs to be dumped. That includes 3 waters and He Puapua. Separate Maori seats in parliament should go as well. | Geoff |
| Three Waters is undemocratic neoMarxist Racist theft – nothing less | Hylton |
| The whole scheme and the whole scheming labour cult need to be dumped. Ardern, by resigning has admitted that she was completely wrong in every aspiration refused to give up her communist ideology and desire for apartheid. Now we need the rest of the corrupt maori caucus to leave and take with them their racism, nepotism and incompetence. Hipkins best solution would be to call for an early election as they do not have mandates for the remaining period as he was not elected as pm. | Terry M |
| This is so blatantly wrong, hard to see why it hasn’t been dumped from the outset | Peter |
| We don’t want to be ‘us and them’, we want to be united, treated equally, and live in a democratic society. NZ is no place for apartheid. | Mel |
| Co-governance and 3 Waters both need to be assigned to the scrap heap of fake history. | Dennis |
| This is not democratic and it will not do anything to improve our water or infrastructure ,it must go | Gayle |
| It is widely accepted that some councils will require extra funding to get their infrastructure up to date, but a better government funding will be the answer not tribal control | Peter |
| It is a disgrace..,Shame on all who want to divide this once beautiful peaceful country | Carole |
| I don’t believe dumping co governance is the answer, Three waters needs to go in its entirety. | Sheryl |
| along with mahoota | grant |
| Definitely dump this scheme. Certainly there needs to be a long term government/regional council plan to finance the water infrastructure that does not financially impact all New Zealanders. Maori do not have any special knowledge of modern water infrastructure and their mythical taniwhas etc have no place in modern New Zealand. | Darryl |
| 3 Waters is a farce, it is owned by Ratepayers and maintained by councils | Warren |
| The very notion that ratepayers will be liable for a debt they don’t incur, for upgrading infrastructure that has been confiscated, is abhorrent. | Kevin |
| Not only 3 waters but this Labour govt needs to go | Geoff |
| There needs to be some rationalisation on our water(s), whether this is the currant Three Waters I am not sure. | Grant |
| No need | Phil |
| Definitely dumped . | Barbara |
| 3/5/AllWaters is a rort and should be dumped. | pdm |
| Our Govt needs to get rid of any policy that separates us all. One nation which is New Zealand not Aotearoa. | Barbara |
| Anything that gives maori control should never be allowed or considered. Furthermore the maori seats should be abolished, and maori’s PLACED on local govt.Councils should be removed | Peter |
| To the dump to the dump to the dump tidily ump dump dump. | David |
| The geographic boundaries of the entities are based on tribal influence, not water management needs, so the whole scheme must go and start again. PS in my 70 years of life in NZ, I have lived in 3 regions incl the largest city and small towns in both islands, and I have travelled extensively everywhere. I have never had to boil water from town supply. Sure there is always somewhere with a problem, but do we really have a water crisis? | John |
| The scheme is flawed and needs to go | Terry |
| Dump the whole lot. Rate payers do not nee or want a further noose around their necks | Gwenda |
| lets look at all things water again | Noel |
| Dump the lot it all stinks and of no use to NZ | Thomas |
| Dump this entire nonsense | Steve |
| IT’S RACIST!! ALL KIWIS ARE EQUAL WHATEVER THEIR BACKGROUND. IF WE WERE BORN IN NZ WE ARE “INDIGENOUS”. | Eric |
| This scheme clearly goes against our Treaty, which is to remain unified. | Jennifer |
| Stop this racist nonsense. No to Aotearoa as well. !! | Andrew |
| Get rid of apartheid | Mike |
| And DUMP Mahuta while you are at it!!! | David |
| First: This so called ‘ Co governance is nothing but a smoke screen and stands in reality for : we are running the show now!!! Second: This scheme does not justify this 3/5/9 waters hoodwink either. This devious scheme is designed to make a few of these Maori radicals stinking rich. | Michael |
| Nothing more than a big asset grab by Mahuta and her associates. Evil. | John |
| Treason otherwise. | Kevin |
| It was a stupid idea & yet another lie has been revealed when we found out not only is the Government determined to STEAL our asset, but WHEN it fails, they insist WE will pay for it | FloJo |
| It’s just a iwi money grab | Peter |
| NZ FOR ALL NEWZEALANDERS | Pierre |
| Assets must be returned to their owners, the ratepayers. Government should work with Councils on infrastructure issues. | Trevor |
| As well as Nanaia Mahuta. | Bev |
| Both need to be dumped not just deferred to after next election. | Kevin |
| Theft of community assets not acceptable | Grant |
| Enough is enough. Adverb should be charged with treason and locked up. A few more should also be charged. | Mike |
| The sooner, the better…. | John |
| The scheme is a financial time bomb, as well as a naked power grab by Mahuta and needs to be dumped. | Bernie |
| tossed in the bin along with Nania Mahuta and Willie Jackson | Erin |
| Instead of going down this proposed pathway. Maori as a race have far more important domestic issue concerning their Race, eg. Crime, health, education, housing to move them onto a comparable platform of civilised normality in the desired normals stated in the treaty As Sir Ngata stated. Not the dream list of self greed by radical maori elite’s desirous of power and self control of New Zealand as a Nation for all. Tidy their own house first. Then pay your way. Dont bludge and lie: | mike |
| It%u2019s unbelievable that things got to this stage a government that would even consider this should never have got a vote so much for complacent voters | Peter |
| Centralisation by socialists and communists is a failed concept worldwide. | Mike |
| The whole of the legislation is flawed beyond repair and needs to be dumped. The whole issue of water reticulation needs to be started again from scratch. | Rod |
| Co-governance is wrong. This is a democracy get voters approval via a referendum. | Doug |
| Needs to be controlled by local council | Martin |
| Any tinkering of the present scheme would not be at all acceptable. The whole thing is so contaminated that it all needs to be scrapped and started again. | Laraine |
| It’s got to completely | Peter |
| Some seriously underhand aspects have been exposed and who knows what more exists in legislation. | Stan |
| Every scheme that Mahuta comes up with should be dismissed completely. It’s obvious she’s got an agenda and cannot be trusted to be democratic. | Chris |
| For all the reasons Dr Muriel has described | Alan |
| The governance cannot be other than democratic, the scheme was poorly conceived with excessive and unsustainable debt loadings. The scheme, and its proponent, need to be dumped. | Peter |
| All that is needed is a law that bans the commercial export of NZ’s natural fresh water – one A4 Page!!! | Frederick |
| when I worked for the dept of health in the 70s – If the local authorities wanted to put a water or sewerage system in they applied to the dept of health with a proposal for a subsidy , If approved the funds were transferred to the local authority and the system was put in run by the Local authority , I cannot see why this type of programme could not be reinstated to day – owned and run by the LA and rate payers | Warwick |
| Local control and accountability only. | Angela |
| Dump the lot of them | Don |
| Racism | Greg |
| Each council area has different needs and they are best placed to work with ratepayers to address any corrective action. We do not need another beauracracy. Time to prune government departments. | Alan |
| It’s a thinly disguised plan to give in the orm of $$$ per litre of watera significant amount to maori | bill |
| Dumped along with Labour Government. | Jeff |
| Government set up of three waters will be run no more efficiently even less so than under councils. Cost will go up as if the ratepayers had deep pockets, costing all | Wade |
| Ratepayers built these assets and ownership should remain with them | Finlay |
| One NewZealand for all New Zealanders with no partnership separatist ideals. | Paul |
| Scrap the lot and look at a different funding model for smaller council that may be struggling to maintain water infrastructure assets | Rob |
| Every facet of 3Waters is unacceptable so it needs to be completely abandoned. The first aspect of the Bill strips ratepayers of their assets to be handed over to Maori Business iwi’s who unlike Councils know nothing about water. This is illegal as one cannot transfer assets without the owners permission. And this is just the start. Therefore the whole Bill must be abandoned, which is scarcely surprising as Nanaia Mahuta is its architect renowned for nepotism that only favours her family and Maori. | Alastair |
| Hmmm I’m beginning to think David Seymour and Winston Peters might be worth a second look! | Jude |
| This must be done now or @ the Next Election . | Michael |
| Dump it totally and start again | Dianne |
| Needs dumping immediately and for good | Sidwell |
| I’ve read of better, more cost-effective possibilities without Maori involvement. | Tony |
| 3 Waters appears to be a Ponzi scheme | Bryan |
| together with any reference to “the treaty” in any legislation as it has been amended. In fact all legislative amendments introduced by the current government should be bundled into a package and rescinded in one parcel. this would save the country huge amounts of parliamentary time and enormous amounts of ongoing and wasted compliance expenditure. | terrence |
| IWI = I WANT IT | chris |
| Water services are not a “one size fits all” matter hence regional ownership and management as currently exists is required. Government should desist from passing broad requirements for such as drinking water quality in response to isolated incidences as it is these requirements that have been used by vested interest groups as the reason for centralisation, and then co-governance bound by racial discrimination. | Bryan |
| The whole scheme is untenable. Centralisation has never really been a success and centralising water control would be a costly (for he user) failure. | Tony |
| There is nothing good about any of three waters except for the recognition that the infrastructure requires a better way of funding maintenance. | Alan |
| Clean slate needed | Nicola |
| I have a multi generational European heritage in my country New Zealand as well as the ‘first settlers’ – Maori | William |
| Every vestige of Apartheid, including Maori seats, Mahuta and her fellow treasonous travellers, need to be obliterated from our political system forever. | Paul |
| Dump it and then set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission based on South Africa’s 1996 Commission, where EVERYONE of every race, every Kiwi, is given the chance to speak their truth and be heard without judgement or condemnation for their views or opinions. | Brian |
| DUMPED !!! Those regions that require upgrades in their water system can apply for help to the Govt. A much better and efficient way to create clean water, waste disposal and have facilities that are 21st C. | Elizabeth |
| We do not need aparthied in NZ, we do not need the WEF or UN telling us what to do. We need to become a Sovereign nation of ONE people! | Alan |
| Get rid of it. Review water infrastructure without any racial bias or moari involvement. | Clive |
| it’s a scam by Maori elites and activists for Maori elite and activists. Stop funding Universities who promote these lies, starting with Massey University | mike |
| Stop this central government control It never works. | Michael |
| not worth the paper it is written on | Hans |
| its a con | muzza |
| Three waters and co-governance are, under our constitution, illegal. | Jules |
| It is sanctified racism. | Adrian |
| One country – One people | Dion |
| Just a blatant grab for control of New Zealand’s resources in order to be able to charge residents for the use of these resources | Geoff |
| Of course local councils should be able to trust their elected government in Wellington | Andy |
| Re-design the project with councils = without co-governance veto for Maori | mary |
| Three Waters is a misnomer as it is actually 5 waters with the inclusion of the sea and geothermal waterways. It is essentially privatisation of our water resources in their entirety. | Janet |
| Stealing is stealing no matter which way you cut it. | George |
| Labour and Greens need to be dumped also | Chris |
| Get rid | Ray |
| Local government ownership with govtadvisers and funding from a designated fund | Grace |
| Kill it off completely asap. | Peter |
| We now have APARTHEID in New Zealand. If nothing is done to remove this scourge next comes the Great Migration and the collapse into chaos. Look around with your eyes and ears open and you will see that the collapse has long begun! New Zealand has at most 5 years to radically correct this slide to chaos. | charles |
| The whole scheme needs to be dumped. Thats 3 waters and co-governance, and while we are at it bundle up the labour party maori caucus and kick them all the way to Texas. | Brian |
| why aren’t journalists in NZ doing what they are supposed to i.e. demanding proper answers from politicians? | marie |
| The whole thing is a disaster, fish hooks at every tern.nobody knows what we are getting except for Mahuta’s maori cartel. Remove them all and the lying pack of bastards in Labour. Worst govt in NZ history. | Allan |
| A totally racist concept by radical and elite Maori against all other New Zealanders!!! | Heather |
| The Te Mana O Wai statements are the worst aspect of 5 waters and of course ratepayers underwriting the entities debt. | Lynne |
| The whole scheme , was decided by the govt. where was the voice of the people??More and more this type of dictatorship is excluding the voice of the people! | David |
| If Labour want even a remote chance of re-election they have to scrap the whole racist 3/5 Waters scam. Hipkins must choose whether to continue stroking the Maori iwi elite or regain some credibility by tossing 3 Waters onto the bonfire. | Chris |
| The whole 3 waters is wrong. The government has to enable local authorities to manage water for their communities and back off forcing vanity projects on to councils. Three waters has to be universally dumped. | Willy |
| The whole scheme is about removing the assets of a Council (ratepayers) and giving it – with NO recompense- to an unelected and unaccountable entity with no right of return it is disgustingly appalling behaviour. THERE IS NO OTHER WORD FOR IT BUT THEFT on a grandiose scale. So No just removing co-governance (wherever did Maori get the idea that they are in a co-governance situation on anything. certainly not from the Treaty that’s for sure ) will not make any difference It must be DUMPED ASAP | Carolyn |
| Ditch it! Retain local control. | John |
| Yes the water/sewage/stormwater system needs to be overhauled but not as currently proposed. The only clean way to do this is drop it altogether, wait for a cooling off period, and start again | David |
| Disgusting, the minority must go | Gaz |
| Dump it. Dump the ersatz Labour Party crawling with commies. The old Labour leaders would not have put up with apartheid. In the last article a test of strength Merryl asked “It’s time for Jacinda to face the music, and pay for her mess, before she disappears, to live the life of luxury from her ill gotten gains.” Well it appears the only way to bring them to account is through a peoples or citizens court. Of course this would have a delicious irony marching commies into a peoples court to face the music in the tapestry of history. I guess the starters would be Ardern, Robertson, Hipkins, Little, Mahuta, Jackson and several other lesser individuals. Punishments to be decided of course by the people. | Terry |
| NZ water infrastructure is not broken and does not need total reform. The scaremongering of Labour is ridiculous and just shows how desperate Mahutagabe is to give power to tribal elite. A more pressing infrastructure is the crisis of our road network. | rick |
| The whole scheme needs to be dumped – it is a complete and utter dog! | Paul |
| What’s the bet that Hipkins will not remove co-governance completely. He is weak and will be manipulated by iwi leaders so they retain control over water. The whole scheme should go. | Lillian |
| I don’t trust Labour one little bit. They will ‘tweak’ it and claim they’ve removed co-governance but it will be left in there in a disguised form. | Harry |
| Dump the scheme – no ifs, no buts, no maybes!!! | Gay |
| What’s the bet that iwi leaders will not let the scheme be dumped. They are so close to gaining control of water, they will not want to to let it slip out of their grasp. | Andrew |