Labour policy Maori policy

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, October 23rd, 2010 - 20 comments
Categories: election 2011, labour, maori party - Tags:

Lost in all the fuss this week, this interesting press release:

Labour policy is Maori Party policy

Press Release: The Maori Party

Last weekend’s Labour Party policy announcements sounded so familiar that for a spilt second I thought a Maori Party conference was taking place without me. Their policy statements on families, foreign land ownership, Maori youth and GST off food made good audio but were nothing new. The Maori Party has been talking about these issues for years now.

In April this year the Party’s bill to remove GST from healthy foods was pulled from the ballot. The Bill received wide support from a number of quarters but unfortunately failed in the house.

The Maori Party drafted this Bill on the basis that it would help families to make better decisions about healthy food because it would be more affordable for them.

Another issue that received airplay was limiting foreign land ownership – a great idea and one that we introduced in July this year when we announced we would be drafting a Bill to ban the sale of land to foreigners.

Again nothing new except for the turnaround from a party that did nothing to address this issue while in Government and who actively promoted the sale of land to foreigners.

When announcing their policy on Maori youth the Maori trades training scheme was rolled out as another potential policy winner.

The Maori Party has long been calling for the return of the Maori trades training scheme. We believe that trade training is one tool that could address the rising number of unemployed Maori. …

And so on. Of course Turia has a deep seated dislike for Labour, which she also expressed:

I hope the Labour Party is genuine in wanting to advance these policies but I have grave doubts that this shift in their thinking is nothing more than a play for votes.

She’s entitled to her opinion of course, but I don’t think that anyone who was at conference shares her doubts, and I don’t know if Turia understands how much the changes signalled by Goff have delighted the activist base. This new direction for Labour is real.

The proof will be in the pudding and the Maori Party will be there holding them to their word.

The test is not for Labour, but for the parliamentary wing of the Maori Party. Will the major party that they support after the next election be dictated by their policies, Labour’s policies, as Turia describes above? Or will their support be dictated by other, non-policy factors?

The proof will be in the pudding, and the Maori Party base will be there holding them to their word.

20 comments on “Labour policy Maori policy ”

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  1. burt 1
    23 October 2010 at 10:59 am

    Turia understand Labour very very well.

    I hope the Labour Party is genuine in wanting to advance these policies but I have grave doubts that this shift in their thinking is nothing more than a play for votes.

    Of course it’s a play for votes, last cab off the rank and all that…

    • bbfloyd 1.1
      23 October 2010 at 11:01 am

      Burt… turia might,(understand labour) but you certainly don’t…

    • burt 1.2
      23 October 2010 at 11:06 am

      You might be right, I can’t understand how a once principled party with high values and strong ethics has become no more than a vote buying self serving centre hugging waste of space prepared to sell out it’s voters to advance the careers of it’s senior party members.

      • bbfloyd 1.2.1
        23 October 2010 at 11:36 am

        you’re confused again burt… here’s a hint,,, look up “transference”.. it might help you to stop making my point for me so easily…

  2. bbfloyd 2
    23 October 2010 at 10:59 am

    i can see labour and the maori party forming a symbiotic relationship that would be fruitful for both, and their constituents.. once turia is out of the picture.

    her history has shown an inability to accept the reality of working within the necessarily co-operative framework required for coalition administration..

    peta sharples, i feel, has the requisite skills to become the facilitator required to make the relationship work as it should.

    and i hope hone can be kept within the mp fold, as he has shown me, at least the courage of his convictions to be an advocate for poor and disadvantaged maori… they desperately need a voice down in wellington.

    • Colonial Viper 2.1
      23 October 2010 at 11:03 am

      Hope Labour is working hard as we speak, to build bridges with the MP in particular, and with the Maori consituency in general.

    • Vicky32 2.2
      24 October 2010 at 7:54 pm

      Past experience has shown that Tariana Turia is simply an obstacle to any kind of relationship. I worked with a friend of hers once, who was very keen on letting me know that “Aunty” won’t take any sh** from anyone. Unfortunately, that means that “Aunty” won’t tolerate anyone disagreeing with her, because she knows best. She then plays the victim card. I think it’s important to remember that half of her is American, with all the baggage *that* entails!
      Deb

      • Alwyn 2.2.1
        26 October 2010 at 2:09 pm

        My my. What a little racist bigot you appear to be. What does Tariana’s father, who I don’t believe she has ever met have to do with anything?
        If Paul Henry said something like this about the GG, say that he was of Indian descent, I suspect you would be leading the lynch mob.
        Still Americans are different. We are allowed to hate them aren’t we?.

        • Vicky32 2.2.1.1
          26 October 2010 at 7:06 pm

          Of course she has met him, he *is* American, she actually spent a lot of time there with him in the 90s. She shows American attitudes towards welfare and the like, probably because of the time she spent in the USA. As for hating Americans, no we’re not allowed to, but nevertheless, I do. That’d be because every American I have ever met has earned my loathing.
          I am amused that you scream “racist bigot” at me because I distrust Americans. On IMDB I had Americans screeching at me that “american is not a race” (never mind the context, as usual the Americans in question were completely bewildered about what the subject was! Poor babies…)
          Deb

        • Colonial Viper 2.2.1.2
          26 October 2010 at 7:13 pm

          See that you are following the formulaic playbook line by line Alwyn.

  3. smhead 3
    23 October 2010 at 11:39 am

    The Maori Party will go with whichever party gives them the best deal. It won’t help Labour’s interests in forming a government if they continue to sideline the Maori Party or allow Trevor Mallard and Shane Jones to carry out their plans to exterminate the Maori Party.

    Labour treated Winston better than they did the Maori Party. It isn’t up to the Maori Party to mend bridges with Labour. The Maori Party have never tried to exterminate the Labour Party. The Maori Party doesn’t NEED Labour to form a Government.

    If the Maori Party have a choice at some point in the future about going with National or Labour (and it won’t be 2011 because Labour won’t be in the running), then if they don’t go with Labour it will only be because of the terrible way Labour behaves towards them.

    Labour’s Maori MPs have always sided with the Labour Party over Maori interests whenever it has come to the crunch. Labour have taken the Maori vote for granted, and the only way they will form a government in the future is by treating Maori MPs and Maori voters with more respect.

    • bbfloyd 3.1
      23 October 2010 at 11:46 am

      still attempting to hide your lack of cognitive ability with a profusion of words sm? won’t work sorry… it’s still just a load of small minded rubbish.

  4. hateatea 4
    23 October 2010 at 4:32 pm

    The trouble with the Labour Party vis a vis Māori policy issues is that, when the going gets tough and Ngāti Redneckery raises their voices in opposition, the Labour Party backs down and their Māori MP’s, caught by collective responsibility, leave their constituency and stand with their party.

    The Māori Party owes their existence and their seats solely to Māori and are thus more sensitive to and aware of the wrath of their constituents. They don’t have to worry about big business or the other vested interests groups rolling out the vote against them but they do have to worry about the kuia and koroua giving them a tweak on the marae.

    Some of the former holders of Māori electorate seats learned to their chagrin that iwi can have long memories about being let down by their representative and have had to find other ways to earn their living. For many that I know, the Foreshore and Seabed legislation was the straw that broke the camel’s back, believing that their loyalty to the Labour Party was totally disrespected by the leadership.

    Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples may well take the Māori Party into coalition with the Labour Party in the future but they will never forget the betrayal that led to the formation of the party in the first instance.

    As for Labour adopting Māori Party policies – it is merely empty rhetoric unless they have a mandate to govern and thus implement those policies. I will observe with interest

  5. Tigger 5
    24 October 2010 at 7:12 am

    Turia’s paety’s propping up of the Nats has done little for Maori. She needs to look in the mirror before thinking she can hold anyone to account.

    And you don’t speak for ‘Maori’ Turia,, you speak for your voters.

  6. Carol 6
    24 October 2010 at 7:34 am

    There was an item on last night’s shortened TV3 early evening news (making more time for the live broadcast of the Christchurch quake concert BandTogether):
    http://www.3news.co.nz/Harawira-John-Key-has-stripped-our-partys-mana/tabid/423/articleID/182777/Default.aspx

    Sat, 23 Oct 2010 6:16p.m.

    By Jono Hutchison

    Maori Party MP Hone Harawira says John Key has stripped his party of “mana” over the foreshore and seabed issue.

    Speaking on The Nation this morning, he also denied leadership aspirations, saying he’s more comfortable as an “activist”.

    Mr Harawira doesn’t support the new foreshore and seabed legislation with recent events reinforcing that view.

    “I don’t think it’s being helped by the fact that John Key has publicly agreed with Rodney Hide to include something in this piece of legislation when he wouldn’t allow us to include what we wanted in the super city bill,” says Mr Harawira.

    He’s referring to the decision to have no Maori seats on the new Auckland council.

    But the Prime Minister has agreed to an ACT Party amendment which guarantees free public access to beaches, something Mr Harawira disagrees with.

    “John Key should’ve had the courage to say ‘Rodney, toddle off back to your corner. You’ve had your bill. This is Tariana and Pete’s bill, and I’m gonna back them on it’,” he says.

    Mr Harawira also believes Mr Key has stripped mana from him and says support for the bill is not a done deal.

    “As we get closer to the election we need to differentiate ourselves, and if this bill proves to be a real problem – and Tariana’s said so herself – if the people said no, [it] might be time to walk,” he says.

    Mr Harawira says that would mean pulling support for the legislation, but not necessarily the end of the National and Maori Party coalition.

    3 News.

    • Carol 6.1
      24 October 2010 at 8:38 am

      And having now watched Harawira on the Nation, it looks to me like he (and the MP) are distancing themselves from National, and not specifically throwing in their lot with Labour, so as to position themselves as independent of both going into the elections. I thought he said that his first choice of coalition partner would be the Greens. Did I hear right? Hmm, that is interesting if Winston is a player after the next election. It’d probably neutralise any attempt by NZF not to go into an arrangement that included Grens.

      And he also seemed far more moderate on the Henry issue, than the right wing bloggers who try to draw Harawira into that issue. Harawira seems like quite a protective dad, who would accept his daughter’s choice of partner and has no problem with a governor general of Indian descent.

  7. green jobs for climate justice 7
    24 October 2010 at 9:31 am

    If ACT dies would National have the numbers to govern alone next election?

  8. Treetop 8
    24 October 2010 at 12:16 pm

    I was giving whanau ora a thought the other day. With government spending only at 1.1 billion for this year, it is obvious that money is not being made available for this initiative. I consider whanau ora to be a very important strategy/policy for the Maori Party. Some of the SCF money needed to go towards whanau ora or the tax cut money for the top money earners.

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