Good to see Labour pursuing a private member’s bill to entrench the Maori seats. Mita Ririnui, who’s lodging the bill, says it
“will ensure that the Maori seats in Parliament will not be able to be abolished unless 75 per cent of MPs in any Parliament vote in favour of such a move.
‘The only other way the seats would be able to be abolished under the Bill, would be if a majority of Maori electors voted in a referendum to support such a step.
As No Right Turn points out the bill will require support from National if it’s going to pass its third reading by 75% – something that is very unlikely given National required the Maori Party to give up its efforts to entrench the seats as part of their supply and confidence deal.
But it does put entrenchment back on the agenda and it forces the Maori Party into a difficult choice. Will Sharples and Turia take a principled stand against National, or will they betray their own membership for short-term political power?
UPDATE: And the answer is… 500 words of waffle and obfuscation from the Maori Party. They’re seriously backing the party of Orewa over their own people on this, what a disgrace.
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