Better Treaty partner arrangements a mistake

A Crown-Maori Partnership portfolio and a new agency to support the Crown to be a better Treaty partner, announced yesterday, is fraught with danger because it entrenches the notion that the Crown and Maori somehow exist as separate groups.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement in the Cabinet room with veteran activist Titewhai Harawira next to her.

Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who has consistently opposed such separatism, was conspicuously absent when Ms Ardern made the announcement.

Also present with Harawira, who was jailed in 1989 for assaulting a patient at a mental health unit she ran, was her grand-nephew Wikatana Popata, who is another activist who has also been convicted of assault.

Some must be scratching their heads seeing the Prime Minister and other Ministers fawning over such “Treaty partners”.

See https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12122568

Police show two laws after statue vandalised

When an activist from Huntly sprayed red paint on the statue of Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton, in Hamilton, two weeks ago, police issued a pre-charge warning and the Hamilton City Council said it would clean up the statue and repair the damage. See https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/106691019/captain-hamilton-statue-vandalised-in-hamiltons-main-square

This act of vandalism came after shots were fired at surfers at Taharoa near Otorohanga and despite a spokeswoman confirming that her “whanau” was involved, the police did nothing. See https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/106403119/access-to-break-where-surfers-shot-at-generally-by-invitation

Such limp reaction by authorities has the effect of condoning criminal activity.

It also confirms that New Zealand has two sets of laws and our Government and their agencies (including Police) are unwilling to act freely to enforce law equally.

Awaiting Winston on Maori seats entrenchment bill

A bill entrenching the Maori seats into New Zealand electoral law passed its first reading in Parliament on September 5 supported by New Zealand First, which opposes the Maori seats.

The Electoral (Entrenchment of Maori Seats) Amendment Bill in the name of Labour's Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene would require a 75 per cent majority of Parliament to get rid of them.

New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball said the party believed the issue of the Maori seats should be put to a binding referendum. An amendment requiring a referendum could be added at select committee stage.

National electoral spokesman Nick Smith said that an amendment to be put in the later stages by New Zealand First would not be accepted under the rules of the House because it is so far removed from the intent of the bill. See https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12119877

One scenario is that if NZ First fails to add a referendum his party would vote against the bill, ending the matter.

A petition to send Mr Peters a clear message that he needs to keep his promise on a referendum on Maori seats may be signed at https://www.democracyaction.org.nz/petition?utm_campaign=180906_da_petition_maori_seats&utm_medium=email&utm_source=democracyaction

Stop living in the past

The past doesn’t have to dictate the future. We can keep heading down the path of separatism in this country if we want, but all that is going to do is enrich a few lawyers and academics, according to Ryan Wood on Friday.

Commenting after the recent vandalism of the Captain Hamilton statue in the city that bears his name, Wood wrote that as a person with South Island Maori ancestry whose forebears were conquered by a North Island tribe, he feels no urge to get revenge by daubing graffiti on the Te Rauparaha Arena in Porirua.

“We could stop living in the past and start seeing each other as fellow humans, we could maybe even start addressing the real cause of inequality in our society,” he wrote.

His full comments may be read at https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/106877783/new-zealand-we-need-to-stop-living-in-the-past