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Judicial review of water ownership rejected

Written By: - Date published: 9:53 pm, December 11th, 2012 - 17 comments

A win for the Nats, a loss for the country. The Maori Council’s request for a judicial review of water rights has been rejected.

Shitcast

Written By: - Date published: 6:48 am, December 11th, 2012 - 10 comments

Auckland City Council is developing a computational model of the predicted sewage-related pollution at its beaches. A forecast for sewage, a Shitcast if you will. I’m not protesting the idea of forecasting pollution. I’m protesting the sad fact that it is necessary in “100% Pure” NZ. I think John Key needs to find himself some different advisors to tell him it isn’t so.

A National attack on the environment

Written By: - Date published: 11:34 am, November 29th, 2012 - 14 comments

Anthony has already mentioned the amazing record of us winning both first and second prize in the first Fossil of the Day awards at the Doha climate talks – quite a remarkable achievement, particularly for a nation that trades on its “100% Pure” environmental credentials. Over at Pundit Claire Browning has an extensive list of […]

NRT: National’s tyranny

Written By: - Date published: 1:55 pm, October 30th, 2012 - 43 comments

No Right Turn on the overthrow of local democracy in Canterbury…

Mighty River sale on hold

Written By: - Date published: 2:32 pm, October 23rd, 2012 - 28 comments

As expected, the High Court advised today that the government should hold off sale of Mighty River Power. The government is complying.

Asset sales grind on

Written By: - Date published: 5:50 pm, October 15th, 2012 - 37 comments

Amidst all the current scandal and chaos, the Nats’ privatisation agenda grinds on.

Nats say: land owned collectively

Written By: - Date published: 12:31 pm, September 20th, 2012 - 30 comments

Anyone notice that the Right’s arguments against ownership of water – apart from being a willful confusion of ownership in rights to water, which is what iwi are actually inserting and which are clearly enjoyed by a range of people under our law at present, and ownership of water itself (something, apparently, limited to bottled water sellers) – would apply equally to land?

Iwi want no part of sham talks

Written By: - Date published: 9:51 am, September 19th, 2012 - 16 comments


Only 12 people turned up to Key’s first sham talks with iwi. He might have gotten a better turnout if he had come with cupcakes or, you know, a genuine intention to negotiate in good faith.

Asset Sales, Water & Maori claims – an ‘elegant solution’

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, September 18th, 2012 - 14 comments

It seems that whenever a matter arises that involves some claim of collective ownership or control by Maori, John Key comes up with what he describes as an ‘elegant solution’. If Key can come up with a string of such solutions I thought maybe I could give it a try. Therefore, this is my attempt at developing an ‘elegant solution’ to the matter of Maori claims to the ownership of water.

Sham consultation begins

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, September 18th, 2012 - 13 comments

The Nats are beginning their sham consultation with a handful of tame ‘Iwi Leaders’ today. The hui will be by invitation and will not include the Maori Council, which iwi have appointed to lead for them on the water rights issue. Of course, National doesn’t want a real debate. It won’t genuinely discuss shares plus. This is a fake process. And it will all end up in court next year.

Maori unity and aspirations

Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, September 14th, 2012 - 126 comments

Yesterday’s national hui on water rights has resulted in the best possible outcome for Maori, a decision to present a unified front in the face of National’s divide and rule tactics.

The Canterbury dictatorship

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, September 13th, 2012 - 15 comments

Puddleglum at The Political Scientist has written an encyclopedic  and scathing critique of the Nats’ dictatorship in Canterbury.

NRT: Extended

Written By: - Date published: 9:14 am, September 8th, 2012 - 25 comments

No Right Turn on the Nats’ continuing contempt for democracy in Canterbury.

Water rights hui

Written By: - Date published: 8:37 am, September 6th, 2012 - 115 comments

It’s easy to see why Key has forbidden National MPs from attending the national water rights hui – he’s playing divide and rule with Maori. More difficult to understand is the Maori Party’s craven decision to stay away. Hone Harawira condemns them in the strongest possible language.

Know when to fold ’em

Written By: - Date published: 1:34 pm, August 26th, 2012 - 26 comments

National’s asset sales programme is in crisis. Key has three options on asset sales – plow ahead, cut a deal with iwi, or call it quits. The smart thing to do, for the good of the country and for National’s own good, remains to drop the policy altogether. But they won’t. Instead, they’ll play the race card. But that old joker isn’t the trump it once was.

The illusion of consultation

Written By: - Date published: 9:40 am, August 4th, 2012 - 22 comments

For some reason the Nats are in a hurry to complete their privatisation programme within two years.  Anyone in any doubt as to how the process of consultation with Maori will play out might be informed by some recent history.

The luxury of an ethical opposition

Written By: - Date published: 11:05 am, August 2nd, 2012 - 38 comments

Although Key’s privatisation programme has hit plenty of problems with Maori water rights, his job is made a whole lot easier by the luxury of an ethical main opposition party.

Key’s rock and hard place

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, July 31st, 2012 - 17 comments

Does Key respect the Waitangi Tribunal’s call for a temporary halt to asset sales and its likely call for a further delay when it presents its full findings in September? If he does, he looks weak, gives the Keep Our Assets petition more time. If he doesn’t, he picks a fight with Maori, resulting in court injunctions, again delaying the sales, hurting the sale price, making him look weak.

Everyone hears what they want to hear

Written By: - Date published: 9:41 am, July 23rd, 2012 - 7 comments

Key has been giving different messages on the water rights issue to the Maori Party and to the wider public. No one knows what, if anything, his “promises” mean. Why isn’t the Maori Party (which has been burned before) seeking urgent clarification?

Two face

Written By: - Date published: 7:28 am, July 20th, 2012 - 76 comments

What does Key’s promise mean?

Written By: - Date published: 6:11 pm, July 19th, 2012 - 49 comments

Key is already qualifying a promise he’s made on Maori water rights.  Does the promise mean anything at all?

Welded to National

Written By: - Date published: 9:01 am, July 19th, 2012 - 41 comments

The meeting between Key and the Maori Party leaders last night reached it’s predictable conclusion.  From his point of view Key has played this brilliantly.

“Opportunistic”

Written By: - Date published: 8:23 am, July 18th, 2012 - 47 comments

I don’t know which is stranger, a currency-trading capitalist denigrating people for maximising their economic opportunities, or claims dating back to The Treaty being passed off as somehow superficial.

Asset sale delay likely

Written By: - Date published: 7:15 am, July 17th, 2012 - 62 comments

Even John Key is now admitting that the asset sale program is facing a serious legal challenge, and that delays in the sales are likely.  Any such delay would have several implications…

Don’t it make you sick?

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, July 15th, 2012 - 27 comments

Old rich man, Don Brash, arch-advocate of private property rights, arguing against the property rights of iwi because they’re Maori. He says we shouldn’t have race-based ownership. No-one’s arguing for that. Iwi are arguing for the contract they signed with the Crown to be honoured. You would think a rightwinger would be the first to support that.

Water ownership – first principles

Written By: - Date published: 3:35 pm, July 14th, 2012 - 104 comments

When you have the legal power to control aspects of how something is used, those are property rights, and when you have the legal power to exclude use of something by someone -for instance, by allocating exclusive usage rights to someone else – that’s ownership. The Crown allocates water rights, ipso facto, the Crown believes it owns the water.

Cute with semantics on water

Written By: - Date published: 7:22 am, July 13th, 2012 - 82 comments

John Key has been running round repeating that no one owns water. He’s just being cute with semantics. What is the effective difference between owning water, and owning water rights?

Dumb or dissing?

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, July 12th, 2012 - 46 comments

Some of the media reckon that Key slagging off the Waitangi Tribunal was an accident of honesty: he was just stating reality that the Tribunal’s findings aren’t binding, he didn’t realise it would provoke a firestorm of reaction. Others say he knew exactly what he was doing and provoked the firestorm to try to split the opposition to asset sales along racial lines.

Climate Change’s deadly twin

Written By: - Date published: 6:34 am, July 12th, 2012 - 57 comments

The oceans are doing their best to save us from climate change apparently… but just ending up dooming us in another way.

Key’s fight with Maori no accident

Written By: - Date published: 9:13 am, July 11th, 2012 - 145 comments

Just 32 hours after Key started running the line that the Government would ignore the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision on the Maori Council water rights claim if it didn’t go his way, the Maori Party reacted. Key is abusing the privilege of his office by trying to pre-empt a judicial body’s decision says Pita Sharples. Tariana Turia says they will talk about their ‘future’ with National.

Buyer beware

Written By: - Date published: 7:26 am, July 11th, 2012 - 70 comments

Are you keen to buy shares in Mighty River Power with a dividend return of 4% pre-tax? You can beat that in the bank, and paying off debt is a far better use of money. But say you’re still keen. What about the threat of Mighty River losing water rights or having to pay for them – will you buy in with that unresolved? Only nutters would take Key’s offer with that up in the air.

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