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Maori Party/Nat breakup over GST?

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, February 11th, 2010 - 40 comments

Yesterday, Rahui Katene said the Maori Party could walk away from National if they didn’t adequately compensate low and middle income people for increasing GST. Do you think it will happen? No way. Do you Tariana Turia is going to give up her Crown car and the other baubles of office? Probably end up voting in favour […]

Not a good look

Written By: - Date published: 7:24 am, February 4th, 2010 - 22 comments

So, John Key and Pita Sharples put Hone Harawira in charge of deciding which flag will fly to represent Maori on government buildings on Waitangi Day. Only four options are put up: the New Zealand flag, the New Zealand ensign, the 1835 United Tribes flag, and Tino Rangatiratanga. It was always pretty obvious what the result […]

Speak up, Pita. We can’t hear you

Written By: - Date published: 8:04 am, February 2nd, 2010 - 20 comments

TVNZ reports: “Associate Education Minister Pita Sharples has labelled the National Standards policy as damaging to Maori but later refused to comment after being shut down by the Prime Minister.” Well, Pita, points for having your heart in the right place but how much longer will you put up with the indignity of being gagged […]

The danger of pre-writing your narrative

Written By: - Date published: 1:53 pm, January 25th, 2010 - 27 comments

It was clear that the Herald had decided how Ratana would play this year: eveyone loves Key, Goff gets the cold shoulder. It didn’t matter what actually happened, that was going to be the Herald’s narrative: Ratana pats Key on the back Labour gets icy reception at Ratana You would think those headlines had been […]

Nats offer Maori flags & baubles, not representation & jobs

Written By: - Date published: 11:13 pm, December 15th, 2009 - 12 comments

NZPA: The Maori Party has withdrawn its support for a government bill after its bid to have Maori members on polytechnic councils failed. The Maori Party put up an amendment which would have ensured that councils had at least three Maori members. The Government didn’t accept the amendment and it was defeated. The Maori Party […]

Maori flag, so what?

Written By: - Date published: 9:34 am, December 15th, 2009 - 46 comments

I’m fine with a flag representing Maori flying on Waitangi Day. Some argue there are constitutional concerns with flying a flag representing Maori self-determination next to the New Zealand flag. They say it implies (as Pita Sharples seems to believe) two separate sovereign powers in this country, the Government of New Zealand and Maoridom (represented […]

Sharples: ‘ETS short-sighted, that’s why we supported it’

Written By: - Date published: 1:00 pm, December 14th, 2009 - 27 comments

I could hardly believe my ears when I heard Waatea News on RNZ this morning. Pita Sharples admitted that the Maori Party knew supporting National’s ETS would mean worse environmental outcomes and would cost the country $110 billion in subsidies for polluters but they did it anyway to keep the price of fuel a bit […]

Hone back but Maori Party divisions laid bare

Written By: - Date published: 3:33 pm, December 3rd, 2009 - 8 comments

So Hone Harawira has been readmitted into the fold of the Maori Party. It’s hard to see how excluding him from Parliament until the end of the year is a punishment, given that he has repeatedly said he detests the place (and who can blame him?). It seems more like political convenience for the Maori […]

Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention

Written By: - Date published: 8:00 am, December 1st, 2009 - 10 comments

Everyone played their part in reacting to the Brash Report. Bosses uncritically applauded it. Unions forcefully rejected it. Labour and the Greens exposed it as a strawman. Key bravely slew the strawman. And the Maori Party, well: “One of the recommendations in the report promoted bridging the income gap between New Zealand and Australia, and […]

Stockholm Syndrome and leaky homes at the coast

Written By: - Date published: 4:12 pm, November 27th, 2009 - 47 comments

Bomber over at Tumeke has a good post up on Goff’s speech. Pointing out the Maori Party has Stockholm Syndrome is not race baiting That to me sums up Goff’s speech, far more eloquently than I could. He referred to Eddies earlier post…. ..ouch, did we read the same speech? I don’t think pointing out […]

Shame on you

Written By: - Date published: 12:30 pm, November 26th, 2009 - 77 comments

Never in the history of New Zealand politics has so much taxpayers’ money been hurled into the chasm with such contempt for the poor citizens who will pay billions out of their own dwindling pockets forever while rich polluters wreck the earth with impunity and bask in the profits. Never in the history of NZ […]

Maori Party meltdown

Written By: - Date published: 9:39 am, November 26th, 2009 - 12 comments

How long can the Maori Party survive before it collapses under the weight of its own contradictions? The idea of a single party to represent all Maori has always been a fallacy. When the Maori Party first appeared, I wished it well as a left-wing fellow traveller but since then, because of its impossible goal […]

Our word is our bond

Written By: - Date published: 8:30 am, November 26th, 2009 - 22 comments

Maori Party policy on the environment: We aspire to work together to make the economy great but not at the expense of our environment. Climate change affects us all and the biggest emitters must take responsibility to change the way they do business. Any cost they pass on to consumers must encourage environmentally responsible choices. […]

National / Maori ETS now law

Written By: - Date published: 7:31 pm, November 25th, 2009 - 32 comments

So, the National / Maori ETS is now law. Waiho mā te Whakamā e Patu. Shame on those who supported this appalling legislation and the anti-democratic process used to ram it in to law.

Sharples and the Maori Party revolt

Written By: - Date published: 3:40 pm, November 25th, 2009 - 9 comments

Via Newsroom [offline], Pita Sharples has confirmed reports of an internal revolt within the Maori Party over its support for National’s ETS. The Maori Party will honour its deal to back National’s emissions trading scheme despite many in the party being opposed to much of the ETS bill, co-leader Pita Sharples has said in a […]

A plague on both your houses

Written By: - Date published: 10:15 am, November 24th, 2009 - 35 comments

So, as far as National and Maori leaders are concerned, it’s a done deal: “Maori Party to support ETS – bill to become law in days”. Unless (as suggested by Eddie) some Maori Party MPs remember their principles and vote against it, National’s ETS will be forced through parliament under urgency. NRT weighs in with […]

Harawira and Katene to cross the floor?

Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, November 24th, 2009 - 14 comments

National wants to get its shambolic ETS through the House this week. It’s not quite clear what the hurry is; there’s no actual reason why it should be passed before the Copenhagen meeting in December, it’s just an artificial deadline that National have set themselves.   We already know the ETS will cost taxpayers hundreds […]

Key opens rich mates’ marina, slaps local Maori

Written By: - Date published: 8:59 am, November 22nd, 2009 - 45 comments

Unbelievable. John Key has opened the environmentally destructive Whangamata Marina. This was a battle between rich property developers, against the serious concerns of local Maori, surfers, and environmentalists. Key has come down firmly on the side of his rich mates. But not only that, he’s promised more marinas! The building of marinas along popular coastal areas […]

Maori Party shafts Maori workers

Written By: - Date published: 7:59 pm, November 16th, 2009 - 12 comments

The Maori Party says it will support John Key’s emissions trading scheme in exchange for a lucrative deal for the wealthiest Maori. According to TV3: Five of New Zealand’s richest iwi, who have already signed multi-million-dollar treaty settlements, will gain millions more in the deal. Basically, Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples don’t give a sh*t […]

Key’s loose government

Written By: - Date published: 10:31 am, November 16th, 2009 - 12 comments

Over the weekend r0b reckoned the shambles of the Key government would start to really hurt. I was sceptical. Winning the next election for the left is going to bloody hard. But Key’s cracks are showing. As the ever thoughtful Colin James noted in his Dom Post column this morning (currently offline): Too many distractions […]

Failures of leadership: English, Hide, and Harawira

Written By: - Date published: 1:57 pm, November 15th, 2009 - 66 comments

I know this point/counterpoint series of posts on Hone Harawira maybe getting a bit tiresome but I have to disagree with the assertion in a couple of recent ones that Harawira has been treated more harshly Bill English and Rodney Hide or, by implication, than a Pakeha in his situation would have. And I think that those […]

Iwi tuaroa is Maori for spine

Written By: - Date published: 8:41 am, November 15th, 2009 - 15 comments

Throughout the mana enhancing relationship between the National and Maori parties, we haven’t yet seen a lot of give and take. Well, I guess that’s only half true – we’ve seen a lot of taking for granted by National and a lot of giving concessions by the Maori Party, but none of the other way […]

Maori Party schism inevitable

Written By: - Date published: 3:22 pm, November 13th, 2009 - 39 comments

The Maori Party was never going to be a sustainable political vehicle. No political movement that tries to exist in defiance of the material conditions of its constituents can be, and the economic interests of the wealthy Maori elite and the Maori working class are simply incompatible. The Maori Party has to continually choose which […]

Ngapuhi embarrassed by Harawira

Written By: - Date published: 10:32 am, November 11th, 2009 - 19 comments

Check out this press release: Maori Leader Rejects Harawira Apology as “Embarrassing” and issues his own apology Ngapuhi Leader and senior relative to Hone Harawira, David Rankin, says he is embarrassed by the apology the MP has given. “Harawira has disgraced our iwi with his gutter language, and has casued more racial division in New […]

Yeah, nah, too far

Written By: - Date published: 12:46 pm, November 10th, 2009 - 81 comments

We all use language sometimes that’s too stong and we regret. Hone Harawira apologised today over his choice of words in the “white motherf**kers” email. Unfortunately, he followed that up by saying Phil Goff “should be lined up against the wall and shot” over the foreshore and seabed law. It looks to me like his […]

Hone to leave Maori Party?

Written By: - Date published: 8:50 am, November 7th, 2009 - 82 comments

The Dom Post reports that Hone Harawira is considering leaving the Maori Party. Hone told the Dom this before Hone’s offensive email hit the media later in the week. Firebrand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira under attack for an explosive email says he could quit at the next election over his party’s support for National. […]

Restoring the right to a day in court

Written By: - Date published: 7:41 am, November 3rd, 2009 - 49 comments

I see that repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act is finally a foregone conclusion. There’s going to be some dithering about what to put in its place but there shouldn’t be. Instead the Act should be repealed, nothing should be put in place and Maori should get their day in court. I’m not alone […]

Where’s Hone?

Written By: - Date published: 3:08 pm, October 23rd, 2009 - 57 comments

Heard an interesting piece of gossip last night. Word has it Hone Harawira’s gone awol from the Maori Party. Apparently he’s somewhere in Australia, buzz around the traps is he’s pissed off about the increasingly right-wing direction Tariana Turia is taking the Maori Party in and is thinking about quitting. The last straw was said […]

Turia on ACC

Written By: - Date published: 3:50 pm, October 21st, 2009 - 8 comments

Here’s Tariana Turia on Q&A last Sunday, responding to a question from Guyon Espiner about National’s plans for ACC: I’m very concerned and one of the reasons why I’m really concerned is that there’s been a lot of talk about privatising the work account. Now the face of it is that’s the only account that […]

Maori Party supports foreign business over working Maori

Written By: - Date published: 11:55 am, October 21st, 2009 - 26 comments

It is a reflection of the schizophrenic nature of the Maori Party that one day they’re professing to care about poor Maori who are apparently missing out on their ACC entitlements and the next day they’re backing privatisation of ACC, which would lead to even worse outcomes for those Maori, because it might be a […]

Another day, another sell-out

Written By: - Date published: 3:40 pm, October 20th, 2009 - 19 comments

The Maori Party has decided it will support National’s changes to ACC despite Tariana Turia just two days ago saying she was “very concerned” about those changes. Here’s their explanation for their latest flip-flop: “We know that Maori have consistently had less access to ACC entitlements than other groups, under existing legislation. While this Bill […]

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