Monday 2 November 2009

SAYING SORRY


This is simply an extraordinary admission.

Don Brash said today that he had made a mistake over the way National viewed the Foreshore and seabed issue..

He now understands that much of the trouble was based on the reluctance to let Maori have their say in court. Brash, for all his faults is an honest bugger. It is this type of admission on which we can build a better future for our nation.

Personally we think that Brash never really understood Maori or Maori politics and now maybe he does .

We hope that we see some good pragmatic decisions on the Foreshore and Seabed issue and that will take some compromise from both ends of the debate. It's about property but it is also about the fundemental collective identity of our nation and the things that matter most to us and our access to our coastline is one of them.

We can work it out...

2 comments:

Will de Cleene said...

Geoffrey Palmer's advice to Labour back in the 80s, when Ngai Tahu(?) took the Crown to the Court of Appeal over the SOE Act, was simply brilliant. There are some things best left to the courts. Clark and Brash chose to ignore those wise words over the Foreshore & Seabed Bill. At least Brash has since admitted fault.

B said...

Lesson is... Don departed briefly from his instinct which "normally" would have been that property rights are almost never improved by gummint having "a go" from the corner. As the RP notes... he has the gumption to admit the error. Let's hope this time we don't have "wise guys" trying to guess "wots best".