FISHY FRIENDS

We have been watching the Mataitai issue with interest. We have predicted that this is the next Foreshore and Seabed issue.

Now lets go back to the reasons for the fisheries settlement - It was all about putting Maori on an equal footing as per the treaty and giving them an economic share.

Now Maori are saying that Mataitai are being put in place to ensure that local hapu can get a feed of fish. Yip that's what they negotiated with the Crown at the time of the settlement. Can't really argue with that now.

But the fisheries settlement was really all about ensuring that Maori got a slice of the economic fishpie. The Mataitai were a clip on as customary take was enshrined at the time to ensure Maori could take a feed.

So if the Maitaitai are put in places where Maori are actually fishing for profit then that is a simple travesty for two reasons. One it goes against the original intentions of Mataitai which was for small discrete areas for Maori family and secondly it undermines the economic benefits that Maori get from being a big part of the commercial fishing industry.

The Seafood Industry needs all parties to play a part.

But the tectonic plates of rights appear to have shifted and nowhere is that more evident that with Maitaitai.

The simple fact of the matter is if the ultra PC Ministry of Fisheries and the Uber PC department of Conservation continue to support and grant Mataitai the size of sheep stations then there is serious cause for concern and an impact on the economy.

Maitaitai are being used, not to manage fisheries resources, but to lock out commercial interests.
Recreations fishers love Mataitai because the way they see it - it locks out there arch enemy - commercial fishers.

Recreational fishers are the bastards who believe they have all the rights but take no responsibility. For decades they have sat outside the Fisheries management regime and bleated but have done little to contribute to the sustained management of our seafood resources. The recreational fishers groups ( who really hate Maoris and used to be the most racist bunch of pricks around) have formed an unholy alliance with Maori to propagate Mataitai around the country. Venal and hypocritical wankers that they are. And Maori have been taken in - hook, line and sinker.

However ,we understand that some of the finest legal beagles in the Seafood industry reckon the interpretation of the Mataitai regs is flawed and are shaping up to take the fight to the courts.

There are 10 Mataitai in existence and 37 in the pipeline.


This is an issue all New Zealanders should be watching closely. Nothing is surer - it's is going to get very, very ugly.

HANG YOUR HEAD IN SHAME MICHAEL LAWS - - EXCLUSIVE

We have seen some bloody stupid thoughtless actions from time to time but this one takes the cake. Michael Laws gets a letter from Te Kura o Tuatahi o Otaki. It is a proud school with a good reputation and its total immersion te reo Maori . Immersion schools are the breeding ground of the new Maori intelligentsia. Exposure to two languages is well proven to increase academic attainment.

Anyway as the language is important to these kids it's no surprise that any language issues are of interest to them. A number of 11 and 12 year olds decided to write a letter to Michael Laws about their concerns, indeed annoyance, at his stance over the Whanganui spelling issue.

We like that in kids. Passion and action.

Well we think that Laws reply will stagger you. It is undoubtedly racist.
We want everyone who reads this to send it to as many people as they can.

We feel sad that someone could say the sorts of things he has said to the fine young children of a very good school.

He really has shown himself to be a bitter, twisted bully. Not fit to be a Mayor.

Michael Laws 2.9.09

MATAITAI MIGHT TIE MAORI IN KNOTS

We have it on good authority that commercial fishing interests are considering a legal challenge over Mataitai. These are supposed to be small discreet areas set aside for customary harvest for Maori. Maori have the management authority over these marine areas.

There are two issues. the Mataitai are not so discreet - the areas applied for are getting much larger than the " feed " areas they were originally designed for.

Secondly, there is a groundswell of opinion in the fisheries legal ranks that the legislation has been wrongly interpreted by Maori and that they cannot exclude commercial fishing.

If what we are hearing is correct then we could see a shit fight that is as big as the Foreshore and Seabed debate.

TAU STUBBED BY TOUGH HIDE

Sorry its a headline looking for a story......Judging by the TV news coverage Tau, has come out the skirmish with Rodney, looking like a pillock. Its highly unlikely he will ever see the inside of cabinet.

UPDATE: slapdown - Cactus Kate puts smokin Tau on the mat.

GIVE IT UP TAU GIVE IT UP...

We have been watching the very public spat between self proclaimed Westie boy Tau Henare and Rodney Hide.

Now if you like Rodney's play on the Auckland seats or not, you cant help but admire his courage in laying it on the line - he is principled and that makes him a man to admire.

However we are very unimpressed by Tau Henare's posturing. We want to know what he has done that makes him someone we should admire. What has he done for Maori ? Bugger all from what we can see. He isn't principled enough to walk away on an issue that must gall him.
And today, to top it all off we saw him standing outside Bowen House looking all belligerent.

But that's not the thing that really pissed us off. No he was smoking. Looking like a Pall Mall pin up boy. . Having a fag where everyone could see him. Engaging in the one foul practice that kills more of his kin than anything else.

Maori seats on Auckland Super City will not save the lives of any Maori but good role models that kids can look up to , will go a long way from dissuading a generation of impressionable tamariki from taking up the habit that will shorten their life span.

Shame on you Tau, get your shit together and be the man that everyone can admire. Do something for yourself and you will do something good for your people that will make a difference.

WHANGANUI

Yip - its official Wanganui is now officially Whanganui - funny thing is if you hear the Whanganui people pronounce it - it sounds like hanganui with the W silent. The decision certainly follows previous precidents set by the Geographical Board.

Laws is very crappy about it - Interestingly I think that they could have some serious whun taking the piss out of the issue. It could be a good marketing hook.

Come have whun in Whanganui.

Whar - out - Maori 1- Pakeha 0. Don't get that very often.

NGAI TAHU LEADERSHIP FOUND WANTING

Today we fear for our people. Ngai Tahu is in turmoil. Our phone has been ringing hot from people within the tribe and from those who have worked alongside Wally Stone who heads the tribes commercial arm known as Ngai Tahu Holdings.

Wally was ousted over the weekend by Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu board the tribes governing body. The vote was 11- 7 by the runanga ( regional councils) representatives to the Board. The tribe has been been split for sometime over issues of financial prudence and governance. Essentially, some at the "Table," as the Board is known, want a greater say in the running of the Ngai Tahu Holdings - the tribes commercial holding tank.

The 11 members of the board who voted to oust Wally Stone, nationally regarded as one of our finest entrepreneurs who also commanded wide respect for his financial management, have also voted in principal to spend $52 million on the House of Tahu - a glorified concrete monument to the extreme egos that dominate the " Table."

In the days coming we will reveal the way that the ousting was carried out - it was neither honourable or just. Integrity and honesty were the first victims. The Kaikoura runanga chairman is reported as being gobsmacked. Their representative at the table is chair Mark Solomon. So the actions of the tribal board members is at odds with their own people.

It is a travesty that Ngai Tahu, a tribe that has won national and international acclaim for its growth of assets and stewardship of social programmes, that have made a real difference to so many rank and file iwi members, is now riven by the soul consuming desire by some to create a concrete legacy in the commercial jungle of Christchurch. At issue is the need to borrow millions to complete the House of Tahu. At a time when leadership is required and caution should prevail, Ngai Tahu's anointed ones have been found wanting.

Last year the tribe came extraordinarily close to ripping itself apart over similar issues of financial prudence and governance. In the next few days, we think that this issue will be a touch paper for the tribe. What is needed is all Ngai Tahu to stand up and say no. They have the power to do that via their runanga.

The current so called "leaders" of the tribe should hang their heads in shame that a good man and a brave man has been cast a side in a sad, sad egoistic show of might. What those "leaders" have proved is that the tribe is in sore need of men and women who make decisions that are in the best interests, not of themselves but of the people they serve.

It is a day of great mateatea for our people. ( embarrassment and disgrace) but it must not go unchallenged.

RUDMAN GETS IT WRONG

Normally Brian Rudman gives a reasonable view of the world. He's not the best writer or the best analyst but his points of view are nearly always well reasoned.  But todays column he says that  Maori putting their hands up to run prisons on the back was not an ethical investment .  That raised our ire.

Its plain crap. running drugs is not an ethical investment. Running stand over operations is not ethical. Running casinos is not ethical. All leave Maori worse off.

Running prisons would show that Maori are willing to own the problem. They can institute some of the tough love, restorative justice type programmes that they know work. They will be much harder than pakeha running jails simply because they will have so much to prove. It is very ethical for Maori to run prisons. And if they make money doing it good on them. It is no less ethical that they get paid than any multinational private prison company.

Rudman seems to contend that Maori should not be making money out of the sorrow of their own people. Wrong, to coin a much used phrase  - If they own the problem they will be better placed to find  the solutions to the high incarceration and recidivism rates of their own people


 

SATURDAY ROUND UP

SEVENS
We had a great day at the sevens. It was good to catch up with people we hadn't seen for a while. the crowd heaved with good humour and the lengths that some people go to to dress up is mind boggling.
DOCKSIDE
We had a very average lunch at the Dockside choosing pork belly which should be all sticky and moist and gooey and melty but it was dry and bordering on cold and the potatoes were overcooked as well. However the company was great.
BACK TO THE SEVENS
But Dockside was the place to be to watch the crowds migrate their way to the stadium along the waterfront. Arabs and tutus seemed to dominate. The Loaded Hog was pulsing with hundreds of people enjoying the great weather and the costumes. It is staggering to see the number of normally staid men dress up as women. Sadly, the fun police were out in force at the Stadium removing all helmets and plastic swords, and a few other bits and pieces. We also think that just about every bar and restaurant was surcharge free. That raises a very interesting point - if it was good enough for all bars and restaurants not to charge it why the hell did the Stadium continue to charge it? ? What did happen was the people were tanking up on the way to the stadium so they didn't spend much while they were there.

WAITANGI
John Key showed that one of his finest attributes is his ability to think on his feet and judge the moment. After being jostled by protestors - he then adopts a couple of kids and tells the crowd that the future is all about them. It was a wonderful gesture, from the heart that will be the enduring memory for many at Waitangi.
We have talked to many Maori and everyone is just simply ashamed at what happened. It was also very unexpected. Everyone was very relaxed about this Waitangi day so the protestors came out of left field.

MAORI ABOUT TO ENTER AGE OF TRUE PARTNERSHIP

Stuff has the best story of the decade - its a story of common sense pragmatism, hope, aspiration but more than anything it is about partnership. If Maori walk away from this then they are denying their moko's the best chance at a partnership that will deliver a shared future. All of the wise young Maori intellegensia and tribal elders need to embrace this opportunity. There are no risks for Maori in working with National. This chance cannot be lost or Maori will remain forever in the welfare ditch of despair.

LAST NIGHT DEBATE WAS EASY TO DEFINE

For Key it was all about us

For Clark it was all about her

Simple dimple

Maori Party doesnt TRUST Clark NZ First Axis.

Ouch --- from a very genteel maori, this is not very nice.

This from Stuff Sharples: Clark nears 'end of her time'

The Maori Party has indicated it is positioning itself for a possible support deal with National after the November 8 election.

Party co-leader Pita Sharples said he was no longer sure if he trusted Prime Minister Helen Clark, and said she was nearing the end of her time.

"She has been a great leader; she has done great things for the country," Dr Sharples said in an interview recorded yesterday for TVNZ 7. "But maybe she is nearing the end of her time."

Recent events in Parliament showed Miss Clark was clinging to power, he said.

"She is appearing quite desperate ... she is behaving like someone who is really, really desperate to get back into Parliament at any cost."

More here

and of course if they Trust National I get my Hill of Grace!

From the Herald - Maori everywhere should be proud of the Maori parties principled stand

This from the Herald

More evidence that Labour and NZ First have no respect for the institution of Parliament.

Labour and New Zealand First last night denied attempting to pervert the course of justice over the privileges report on New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.

The serious accusation was made by Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples - who also condemned Mr Peters' attacks on the Maori Party.

The accusations follow Tuesday's majority vote of censure by Parliament against Mr Peters for knowingly filing a false return of pecuniary interests, notably a $100,000 donation for his legal expenses from Monaco-based billionaire Owen Glenn.

The Maori Party held the balance of power on the vote in the House and it supported the censure motion.

If it had changed its vote and joined Labour and New Zealand First, it could have blocked it.

More here

Shane Jones knows lots about Winston

From the Hive

Those doubting the existence of a formal axis between Labour and new Zealand First can be in no doubt after Labour's decision to politicise an otherwise non-politicised process around the privileges committee process. I know several members of the Labour caucus are ashamed by their Leader's decision to keep associating with the little liar. They should be. If things continue down this course expect Labour to spawn yet another breakaway party. To date it has spawned the Alliance, United, ACT and Maori.

Yes, Apparently my Maori sources say that Jones is really whakama ( embarrassed ) about his party and how it is fawning over Winston - Remember Mr Jones was a Maori Fisheries Commissioner for well over a decade and he knows where many of the bodies are buried and its not at sea..

He has been talking privately about how disgusted he is about having to support Winston .

He had the chance to become a National MP -( Shane is very centre right) but chose Labour -

Bloody shame really.

Hooton in full and a Maori perspective

I posted on Hootons column last night -

because I think it is a must read for every New Zealander before they head to the ballot box. It reveals some of the inner workings of the National party, and some of the ideological crap that went down in the last decade.

Hooton asked me to talk to a few of the media at the time of the Brash Coup. Despite liking Bill English , I was pretty convinced that he wasn't right to lead the party at that time so I was happy to lend the little support I could.

I remember Hooton ringing me distraught when he saw what was in the Orewa speech - I was in Alexandra with my parents at the time and they were bemused at all the phone calls. I told them there was a speech coming that could change the nation but not in a good way.

I remember reading it and crying.

A couple of days later on my return I was in Cuba Street have a quiet beer with some mates and Georgina te Heuheu wandered along. She was still shell shocked and her faith in the party that her families have supported for decades, had been dented.

There had been talk of her resignation and I could see that it was something that she had pondered .

I was glad she toughed it out. Georgina , the roguish Tau Henare , Paula Bennett, Hekia Parata and Paul Quinn have an important part to play in the future National Party .

They are successful , educated but they remain true to their whakapapa. They know that welfarism isn't the way to advance Maori - it will only entrench them in the mire of a government dependency.

And they will be able to work with the Maori party.


They will help National become the party it can be and ensure that the stream of racism that used to run through the National party dries up.They will stand beside John Key and lead this nation so we can get on with being the best country we can be with a shared future.



Here is Hootons column in full - email it to everyone you can.





I see that I’ve come under a bit of attack from The Prime Minister’s Office and also from Chris. All good, strong political debate for the most part, but there are a couple of things I would like to respond to.
First, yes, I do believe that Winston Peters is an evil influence on New Zealand politics and the use of the word “axis” was entirely deliberate, chosen as being more appropriate than “allies” or even “bloc” for the regime he sustains.
Peters is a person who has attacked Asian immigrants for being too rich and Somalian refugees for being too poor, and, in both cases, has known that to do so is wrong, with his friend Sir Robert Jones saying that, in private, Peters believes none of it. As Deputy Prime Minister in the late 1990s, Peters was actually a good ambassador for New Zealand to Asian countries because he and they knew that he did not mean the things he had said.
The same is true with economic policy. In 1996, Peters had attacked the Bolger Government, the Reserve Bank and the Reserve Bank Act, saying they were doing untold harm to New Zealand. He had ideas about how the operation of monetary policy could be changed in New Zealand that he took on the campaign trail. I am told that, soon after Peters’ appointment as Treasurer, then Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash met with his new boss and said he had read New Zealand First’s manifesto and speeches and, assuming Peters was serious, wanted to set up a process to review the RBA and the operation of monetary policy in New Zealand. My source (and you can guess who it may be) said that Peters replied: “Don’t worry about all that. The next election is three years away.”
I find that sick. It later had very important implications.
As close followers of politics will know, a National/ACT/United Future/Maori Party/NZ First Government was a mathematical possibility after the last election. The way I understand things, National, ACT, United Future and the Maori Party all agreed on basic terms about how such a government would operate, and the other party leaders told Brash to get in touch with Peters to discuss it. Brash never did, and the other party leaders were perplexed.
The reason, as I understand it, is that Brash had been so sickened by Peters’ cynicism from the time Brash was Governor and Peters was Treasurer that he simply did not want to deal with him directly, despite it being the difference between government and opposition. Instead, letters written by Peter Dunne’s Chief of Staff (and former Bolger Chief of Staff) Rob Eaddy were sent.
I am proud that John Key, who I support for Prime Minister, has now formalised that position.
And, speaking of pride, one of the times I was most proud to work for the Bolger Government in the 1990s, was when, after a particularly vicious attack on immigrants by Peters, Jim Bolger went into Parliament and declared that he had confidence that the New Zealand people knew the similarity between Hitler and the Jews and Peters and the Asians. It was an entirely legitimate comparison to make. It still is.
Both Bolger and Helen Clark should be ashamed that they dealt with him. I know the complexities involved in being leader of National or Labour under MMP, and I can understand why both Bolger and Clark did what they did in 1996 and 2005 respectively, but that does not mean I have to think it is OK to draw support from the closest thing we have ever had to a Nazi Party seriously represented in our Parliament.
It is appalling that a so-called social democrat like Chris is prepared to defend Peters.
All Peters’ themes continue to be Hitleresque. Just read “Conspiracy of Conspiracies“. The imagery is right out of Germany in the 1930s. There is an evil other - “they” - who are trying to harm you. They are foreign. Secretive. And involved in finance. In 1930s Germany terms, he means “the Jews”. Chris is an historian. He knows this better than most. Yet he defends the Nazi.
My Radio New Zealand National colleague Laila Harre spoke about something like this on Monday on our regular slot on Nine to Noon. Laila talked about how she had spoken recently to a group ironically called “Drinking Liberally.” I won’t put the words into her mouth. This is what she said at 3:41:
Laila: The odd thing is in moving as I do in slightly more liberal circles, it’s really surprised me, the patter that’s coming from people sort of the centre left around this and Helen Clark may be listening more carefully to those people than really perhaps is warranted, given the wider kind of public mood it seems to me -
Kathryn Ryan: What do you mean by that?
Laila: - around this issue. Well, I mean I was a couple of weeks in a new organization speaking to them, called Drinking Liberally and I was sort of quite surprised when my wee stab at Peters - thinking I’d be doing a bit of a warm up - went down like a cup of cold sick at the beginning of the discussion and there is actually an awful lot of defence in that sort of milieu of Peters and particularly of, obviously of Clark’s handling of him but a huge distrust of Owen Glenn and you know I would say in those circles on balance people are really are not convinced that Glenn is telling the truth.
So much for drinking “liberally”. So much for “social democracy”.
Clark too is an extremely dangerous individual. Those of you who work at Parliament should go down to the Select Committee Room on the ground floor of old Parliament Buildings which has all the photos of all the female MPs who have ever been elected to our Parliament. You’ll see Marilyn Waring, Fran Wilde, Ruth Richardson, Jenny Shipley, Ruth Dyson, Katherine Rich and so on. All of them look like regular people, happy to be in Parliament. But take a look at the photo of Clark. As an MP I have worked with has told me: “I sit in that Select Committee Room and stare at those eyes. Because I have seen those eyes before. But only in the heads of fellow trade ministers in governments where the leader of those governments is a documented killer.”
Clark has dictatorial tendencies. She has marched through the institutions. She has improperly brought the civil service under her control, including, most outrageously, the police. She has stolen taxpayers’ money for her election campaigns, deliberately broken our election spending limits, run filthy fear campaigns such as the letters to state housing tenants saying they would be evicted under a National Government, told lies about all this, and rammed through retrospective legislation to legalise her own staff’s and party’s crimes.
Constitutionally, she is far worse than Muldoon, whom people like Chris would eagerly have called a fascist in the early 1980s.
The Clark/Peters Axis? You bet.
And so on to Don Brash …..The Prime Minister’s Office says I “was one of the architects of Don Brash’s deceptive, racist campaign in 2005.” The Prime Minister’s Office has obviously not studied its Holy Scripture (aka “The Hollow Men”) closely enough.
I first met Don Brash in early 1996 when Lockwood Smith was moved from the education to the agriculture portfolio and, after deciding that a good right-winger like me should prefer working with producers like farmers over civil servants like teachers, I decided to move portfolios with Lockwood rather than staying in education and working for Wyatt Creech.
Lockwood arranged for me to spend a day with Don going to farmers’ meetings in the Wairarapa. This was at a time when Don was very unpopular with farmers because he had raised interest rates (and thus the dollar) and so he was “fronting up”. He was brilliant on the stage and won over most of the farmers. Later, I was delighted when he was headhunted by National in 2002. He (and John Key) were the only two good things that happened to National that year.
Diane Foreman is a family friend and, in 2003, when I returned to New Zealand for my father’s funeral which she attended and I spoke at, she suggested to Don that he call me, because (and this is a bit macarbe) she thought I spoke well and she thought he might need a decent speechwriter. A little bit later, in April 2003 I think, I was out on the turps at the Corner Bar in Shortland Street, and heard rumours that Don was challenging Bill English for the National Party leadership and (because I have a, er, “difficult” relationship with Bill English and because I was pissed), I called Don at Parliament to urge him on.
From that call, I began working unpaid for Don to undermine Bill (sorry, Bill) and change the leadership of the party.
Don asked me to write his speech to ACT’s Canterbury conference in mid-2003. I remember this because I was driving over the Crown Range when he called. He asked me what I thought about politics and his political positioning. I told him I had been offended by the racist nature of National’s 2003 conference, when there had been a big slogan “One standard of citizenship for all New Zealanders.”
I don’t disagree with the sentiment, but just as Chris has pointed out in his “Natsy” comments - “Who do you lot think you’re fooling? You do Matthew a severe disservice by attempting to make him look as dimwittedly literal as yourselves” - I know that to use the word “one” in a political slogan has connotations beyond the literal. (Just think, seeing it seems topical, of “ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer”.) I told Don this. He did not appear to disagree.
Anyway, I then wrote his speech for the ACT conference designed to undermine poor old Bill, and Don ran it passed Roger Sowry and Bill and they obviously demanded changes, and I told Don not to return their calls but to deliver it anyway, and then to leak to Tracy Watkins that he had defied Bill, and she put that on the front page of the Dom, with the headline “Brash defies his leader“, and Bill looked weak, and …. maybe The Prime Minister’s Office is right. I do do shitty things from time to time!
Then I pushed Don to do his controversial press conference at the Tamaki Yacht Club a bit later, where we really put the knife into Bill, and then …. the rest is history.
(Unfortunately for me, Don was forced to do the Tamaki thing a week earlier than I had planned, and I had law exams, so I couldn’t go to Wellington for the vote, so Catherine Judd arranged for Byran Sinclair to do the media work instead, so I missed out on being part of all the drama …. )
Anyway, I kept in touch with Don. I couldn’t get a job in his office because Murray McCully and a couple of others weren’t keen. We kept talking and I was a bit surprised when I had a meeting with Brash, Sinclair and Peter Keenan at Brash’s home when they had a copy of a Crosby Texter memo that had been sent to Michael Howard recommending, among other things, picking a fight with an unpopular minority. With the foreshore and seabed issue hot at the time, Keenan was strongly recommending Maori be the target.
I was also surprised when, a bit later, at a private dinner at Don’s place in January, with Don, Je Lan, Lockwood, his girlfriend Alex, me and my wife Cathy, that Don seemed unusually interested in the future of the Maori seats. And then it came to the fateful Orewa speech.
I was sent a draft for comment and I hated it. The truth is, I’m a “sickly white liberal”, as Peters would describe it. I got Diane to pay me to write an alternative that had the same policy ideas (because they had been agreed by caucus) but which wasn’t as nasty in tone.
I got Je Lan Brash on side but Don chose the Peter Keenan draft, and, politically, that was the right call. In a sense, it was fair enough for Keenan to call me, as reported in “The Hollow Men” “an idiot”.
Nevertheless, I caused a bit of a fuss. I had paid for a table for 10 at the Orewa speech. Ironically, I had invited Diane and Bill Foreman to join my table. When it was confirmed to me that Brash was going with the Keenan speech I cancelled my table. Lockwood tells me there was a gap, which he - as local MP - was embarrassed about, but which I am quietly proud of.
I probably should have stuck to my guns, but when Don went up 17 points in the polls, I decided he would be prime minister and I gained nothing from not being his mate. Also, I do admire him, despite all the above. That’s why there were so many emails from me in “The Hollow Men” that I am embarrassed about.
One communication that is not in “The Hollow Men” is when I contacted Lockwood after the first “Iwi/Kiwi” billboard came out and said “fuck you, that’s it, I’m not voting for you”. Lockwood calmed me down and said, perhaps fairly, that I had made a lot of money out of Treaty of Waitangi issues and perhaps that was distorting my judgement and making me more angry than I would otherwise be. Old Lockwood is a bit more astute when dealing with people than he is given credit for.
I have a good relationship with Don now. We do not talk about these matters. He knows that I think the Orewa speech was appalling. I expect he thinks I am a bit wet. I do think the 2005 election was stolen from him by a corrupt Labour Government. But then I also think John Key will make a better leader in the 21st Century than he would have.
So there we go. A very long post.
Clinton Smith, or whatever your name is, call me a liar. That’s just politics.
But I was not involved in Brash’s 2005 campaign.
And the reason I supported Don for leader was, ironically, because I thought, wrongly, that he was a liberal in the Ruth Richardson, Doug Graham, Lockwood Smith, Katherine Rich wing of the party where I am most comfortable.

Trotter sees that hypocrisy comes in many colours

Credit where credits due Chris Trotter sums up the brown hypocrisy that was Ngati Kahu today

So, Professor Margaret Mutu thinks it’s quite a hoot to see a bunch of youthful Maori protestors harry a 63 year-old Pakeha cabinet minister across a field?
Okay then, let’s turn the situation around. READ On here

Cullen gets the arse from some north Island head hunters.

Some in Ngati Kahu were none too keen on the governments settlement and got stroppy at todays settlement signing in the far north. These rebel buggers are not to be trifled with..


This from stuff
The Crown and Ngati Kahu have signed an agreement in principle for a settlement package including an apology and more than $20 million.
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen said there was a "difficult history" between Ngati Kahu and the Crown.
"This is a history of large-scale loss of Ngati Kahu land, much of it within 25 years of their ancestors and the Crown signing the Treaty of Waitangi," Dr Cullen said.
"With this agreement in principle we acknowledge that history and start the work to repair our relationship."

Killing flows through their veins from generations past. Us Ngai Tahu have a healthy respect for them. There were known to like a bit of long pork.

and it seems they chased Cullen

I reckon he had no choice but to run.

Ngāti Kahu were well known as coastal raiders and traders as far south as the Waipoua Forest, Whāngārei, Mahurangi and beyond.


Maybe its a case of Utu from the Mutu for not settling earlier...

this shithead used to get government money

As much as it pains me I am pleased that Labour has distanced itself from this obscenity.

This sort of pathetic claim undermines the mana of all Maori.

so if we follow Ryders logic, all Maori

• drug addicts
• diabetics
• alcoholics

should lodge a treaty claim.

10 years ago Ryder was being paid by the government to do community work - he probably is still - one way or the other. But people like Ryder, who still wear the colours, are not trying to stop kids from entering gangs - they are still glorying in being part of it. and he is further legitimising Black Power by making the claim - that should not happen - all parties should not support anything that legitimises these gangs.

This from STUFF

Treaty Negotiations Minister Michael Cullen says there is no legal basis for the Black Power gang to lodge a Treaty of Waitangi claim.
His associate minister Shane Jones went further, saying the idea was a joke.
It was reported today the gang had lodged a claim with the Waitangi Tribunal.
The claim was one of thousands received in the rush leading up to the September 1 deadline imposed by the Government for historic claims.
Wellington gang spokesman Eugene Ryder, understood to be a major driver behind the claim, would not provide specifics about it but said the gang was not seeking money.
Gangs existed because of colonisation and what they wanted was education, he said.
"The object of the claim is education as to why we're in the position we're in," he said.
"It's the story of our lives really and the way we're treated. From our perspective there have been multiple Treaty breaches, every article has been broken."

The only thing that is broken, Ryder, is your arse...

Minister with a big appetite

UPDATE
apparently the breakfast was muttonbirds, oysters and champagne --- no self respecting ngai tahu would have champagne with muttonbirds - they go best with Chianti or a pilsener!

I have been known to catch a few muttonbirds so can speak with a bit of authority.


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We know that Parekura likes a good feed but $75,000 for breakfast???????

Last oral question for today....

Hon TAU HENARE to the Minister of Māori Affairs: Can he confirm that the “breakfast bash” where he launched the new Māori dictionary cost taxpayers up to $75,000?

Reminds me of the time Parekura was in Invercargill for a seafood conference - he came out with a group of us for a kai - and it was oyster season --

He had:

one dozen raw for starters
one dozen raw for entre
one dozen cooked and another dozen raw for main and

yip a dozen for dessert!!!!

Who you gonna call ? Koiwi busters!

NZ Herald reports on the ghostbusters of Hastings

Scans have revealed what appear to be 33 graves beneath a Hastings highway.
The New Zealand Transport Agency began investigating following a tip-off from Maori seers about 18 months ago.
The seers, who say they can see the dead, spoke up after the area was tagged to become part of a new expressway.
Agency general manager Rob Bramley said radar scans showed soil disturbances similar to graves.
"Early indications are that these could be European-style burials from the second half of the 19th century, but we're keeping an open mind at this point," he told The Dominion Post.
Ngati Kahungunu chairman Ngahiwi Tomoana last week described how the seers were able to detect the dead.
"They rise out of the ground and tell them they're there. (They) can see them just hanging there."


Im Ngai Tahu - some people are more sensitive than others - but I find this sad.

We know where bodies ( koiwi) are buried cos we are told where bodies are buried.

My pick is there were stories handed down about these bodies.

Sorry Im not a believer in this sort of milarky.

Im a true blue skeptic..