Until this year, for me at least, Waitangi Day has been a time for reflection on the history of our land and its people. But this year it’s been more worrying about where we are heading in the future. Sadly, what I “C” (see) is a concerning and complicated confusion of words beginning with C: constitution, colonisation, cant (as in hypocrisy), confidence (as in trick) and climate, to name a few.
No doubt I will be accused of being racist, when I protest against the breach of constitutional principle shown by Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta in her announcement that the Government will pass under urgency an amendment to the Local Electoral Act 2001 by which every local authority can decide whether to have specific Maori representation by way of establishing a Maori Ward. Since 2001 only two of the 24 councils that have tried to create Maori wards have been successful. The wards can currently be overturned in public polls triggered by petitions that gather 5 per cent of council voters. The outcome of a public poll or referendum of electors is binding.
Thus, the legal status quo that Maori wards within any local authority can only be created with the expressed agreement of a majority of its voters is to be removed by the Labour Party majority in Parliament. They are by-passing the normal parliamentary process of preliminary examination by a Select Committee by allowing only one week for interested organisations and people to comment before MPs vote to change any law or introduce any new law. There’s a word for this – dictatorship. If the Labour leader, Jacinda Ardern allows this to happen, she will then qualify for identification as a dictator, the absolute opposite of her hitherto self-description as being “kind and transparent.”
For myself, I have no strong opinions about introducing Maori wards. As a sufferer under the unelected and over-costly bureaucratic dictatorship that Auckland Council has become despite assurances that it would give us greater efficiency and less rating cost, I did not disagree with the recommendation of the Royal Commission to create two Maori seats voted by those on the Maori roll within the boundaries of the new super city. Instead, the then government led by my own party National rejected that recommendation, and allowed the astute co-leader of the Maori Party, Hon Pita Sharples, to negotiate an arrangement that has had the effect of giving tangata whenua o Tamakimakarau even greater influence in the conduct of civic affairs.
So we all, and especially those Maori expressing support for Nanaia’s and Labour’s short cut to Maori wards, need to reflect on these two points:
(i) Passing an amendment such as this under urgency is a breach of the very constitutional principles that the Chiefs of Te Wakaminenga o Nga Hapu o Nu Tireni thought they were signing up to when they signed or made their marks on the reo version of te tiriti at Waitangi on 6 February 1840.
(ii) Will the enfranchisement of Maori wards eliminate the possibility of Maori Statutory Boards in Auckland and any local authority that may decide to create its own Maori Statutory Board (And once the new law takes effect, what will Auckland Council decide?)
But it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good: at least it creates an opportunity for the Opposition parties in Parliament, National and ACT to hold Labour to account for this breach of Parliamentary constitutional practice and courtesy, and we look forward to “Crusher Collins” and David Seymour doing so with passion and determination.
Why is it that the next C-word, colonisation, has gone as far as it has to become a dirty or objectionable word in our Kiwi parlance? Yes, I am Pakeha because of my Irish ancestry, and proud of the term because it identifies my uniqueness in this whole wide world to whom it affirms my birth as a native of New Zealand. As a fifth-generation Kiwi, whose earliest ancestor came just before the signing of the Treaty, why am I and my kind made to feel guilty for the regrettable sins of omission and commission by contemporaries of my ancestors? Especially when many of those who proclaim that guilt are themselves descendants of people who killed, cannibalised or enslaved their contemporaries, or who also number early Pakeha settlers among their tupuna.
Again, I have two recommendations on this topic:
(i) To Prime Minister Ardern: You were happy enough to bask in plaudits following your utterance in respect of the Muslim massacre in Christchurch: “We are all one.” What about repeating it every time an extremist tries to divide us into tangata whenua and “colonisers”?
(ii) While the topic is education and a new history curriculum, there are very wise words here by one of our leading historians, Dr Michael Bassett.
Now for C- word No 3: cant (as in hypocrisy): You‘ve all heard the saying there’s no such thing as a free lunch. But there is a free breakfast if you get to Waitangi on 6 February these days, and cooked by no less personages than our Prime Minister and some of her Ministers. And well cooked, at that on gas-fuelled barbecues. You know, gas, that nice clean, energy-enabling fuel that we have in plenty under the seas of our Exclusive Economic Zone. The same gas whose use our current Prime Minister and her fellow cooks have legislated to ban. There‘s a word for that: hypocrisy.
Then we come to C-word No 4: confidence (as in trick): the “Clayton’s Treaty Settlement: for Ngapuhi (the settlement you’re having when you’re not having a settlement). Here’s what Minister Andrew Little had to say:
An Investment Fund established for the benefit of nga hapu o Ngapuhi is a significant step in the Crown’s efforts to restore its relationship with the iwi and its commitment to help nga hapu meet their economic aspirations for the future, Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little announced today.
“The ability to engage in meaningful negotiations for commercial redress is an important part of restoring the Crown’s relationship with nga hapu o Ngapuhi. This important work will sit alongside our continued work on restoring all aspects of our relationships with nga hapu o Ngapuhi, including mandate issues and having in depth discussions around issues such as He Whakaputanga me te Tiriti,” Andrew Little said.
Ngapuhi Investment Fund Limited, with initial capital of $150 million, is a new Crown company that will acquire and grow a portfolio of assets that can be offered by the Crown in negotiations with nga hapu o Ngapuhi.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds to me very much like an advance payment on whatever settlement is finally reached with the fractious hapu of Ngapuhi. How far will Labour go to buy Maori support, and even more importantly what will be the reaction of those iwi already settled and in their belief that their payments were full and final?
Now the last C-word for this week: climate, as in the Climate Change Commission (CCC) whose chairman’s name also shares the same initial: Dr Rod Carr, the former banker now trying to re-invent himself as a climate scientist in the country he chooses to call Aotearoa. He has discarded the short hair, suit and ties of the money profession, for a woke look he now prefers: copious 25mm beard, open neck shirt and large greenstone tiki pendant.
We’ll comment hopefully next week in detail on this preposterous set of costly nightmares ($34 BILLION), meantime look it up for yourselves. and make a comment:
Ccc Advice to Govt 31 Jan 2021 PDF by Juana Atkins on Scribd
Interesting that even the “climate denier” hating news medium Stuff has already pointed out a major deficiency
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