The expected time to transfer the entire coast of New Zealand to small groups of people with Maori ancestry will reduce from 100 years to 30 years after Treaty Negotiations Minister Andrew Little caved in to pressure from the Waitangi Tribunal.

A two-year inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal predictably has found that the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 breaches the Treaty of Waitangi and prejudicially affects Maori.

The New Zealand Maori Council is talking up a possible bid to return to the High Court to get a sympathetic judge to declare that “Maori” indeed own all the water in New Zealand.

Royalty payments and allocations of water to “Maori” provide further evidence that the Waitangi Tribunal should go, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

The Waitangi Tribunal’s call for compensation for under-funding Maori health providers unfairly implies a systemic failure by health professionals and further excuses Maori from taking responsibility, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.  

Last Wednesday’s auction of possibly the only remaining printed copy of Governor William Hobson's original proclamation of British sovereignty over New Zealand is a reminder of exactly how Britain took control of New Zealand.

Mount Cook has become Aoraki and Mount Egmont, Taranaki. Now, as part of a Treaty settlement, the New Zealand Geographic Board is considering a proposal by the Maniapoto iwi to have Benneydale renamed “Te Maniaiti” after one of two hills there.

A flyer challenging Prime Minister Bill English’s record on a single standard of citizenship went out to 1.6 million households today. The flyer that calls on everyone to use their vote in this year’s election “to end National’s race-based policies” was distributed by equal rights group Hobson’s Pledge.

The total stupidity of the Waitangi Tribunal was full on display last week. I refer, of course, to the finding that Maori re-offending is a Treaty breach. It's bad enough that such reports are written let alone that we taxpayers must fund them.

Strategies used by Corrections to reduce re-offending should be carried out irrespective of ethnicity, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.