Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by MutleyPost by TonyGood to see Stuff occasionally provide a balanced view.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360499971/missed-opportunities-hikoi-and-missing-pm
And for me this is what matters.
"While many have bathed in the apparent success of the Hikoi mo te Tiriti, I am
left with the question;
on the day after the hikoi, how many of us felt better informed on the key
issues that lie at the heart of this debate?
More importantly, what are we, the people who put politicians in parliament to
represent us, going to do about it?"
The Hikoi didn't want to engage they just wanted to yell at the country. Time
we grew up. Time we listened to each other.
Yes I was rather surprized when Three Stuffed News gave a balanced
article of what it was all about considering their usual anti
government content every nite.
I don't know why you are surprised. This is a protest about a proposal
led by one MP - David Seymour, presumably with the support of his
party.
This is a prime example of your pedantic political rhetoric. The
Treaty Principles Bill was ACT policy, therefore supported by the
party at large and its MPs. While that is still a very small number
of people in NZ, you attempt to minimise ACT and Seymour.
Post by Rich80105It is opposed by all other parties, but National and NZ First
have allowed it to be go through a first reading then select committee
as part of an agreement where Luxon is widely regarded as having
committed to too much - particularly in this case; but Luxon has gone
further in allowing the select committee to keep the issue alive for
six months, which he did no have to do.
Again - worthless anti-Government political rhetoric. You rail for
sanctity of contract in respect of meeting TOW commitments but now
want National to break its agreement with ACT to see the Bill through
to a second reading.
I acknowledge that Luxon made a stupid commitment in agreeing to allow
the bill to go to select Committee, and I have not suggested that he
break that commitment, but there does not appear to be any need to
have the select committee last six months - that is not in the
coalition agreement. Try reading what I write rather than dreaming
things up, Crash.
No Rich - you try reading the coalition agreement between National and
ACT: I quote "Introduce a Treaty Principles Bill based on existing
ACT policy and support it to a Select Committee
as soon as practicable." (Bottom of page 9 according to my PDF
https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/co-24-2-national-act-and-new-zealand-first-coalition-government-consultation-and-operating-arrangements#introduction
From the words you quote, the agreement is to support it to select
Committee. There is no commitment to allow the Select Committee to
drag on for six months, so ACT can keep their racist assertions and
reckons in front of the public, fomenting disagreements and division,
for much longer than is necessary. National required a much shorter
select committee term for their "Fast Track" bill, where they did not
really want views from the public, but with this they are allowing
dissent to build through a longer period of keeping racist views in
the news.
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by CrashPost by Rich80105So the proposal is really only supported by 1 out of 6 parties in
parliament - a party that got around 9% of the votes for those6
parties, and around 9% of the seats.
There have been a number of occasions, mostly involving NZ First,
where the small party in a coalition has won concessions from the
largest party on their party policy. This is just another one, unique
though that it will not be passed.
I have not suggested otherwise.
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105The protest group were adamant
that the Bill should be withdrawn or defeated quickly - their parties
represent about 90% of both political parties, seats in parliament,
and supporters, that want the Bill to be Killed.
That's almost Trumpian logic. Its so irrational it could be used by a
stand-up comic.
Did you not realise that the protest included large numbers of
supporters of all Opposition parties? While it may have been organised
by Te Pati Maori, there were many supporters of Labour, Greens, and Te
Pati Maori. I have been told there were some protestors who would be
expected to support National, but I have not seen any confirmation of
that, but it is clear that National and NZ First will vote against the
second reading - or at least say they will at this time.
The only evidence of support I saw from protesters was for the Maori
Party.
There were certainly banners identifying supporters of Te Pati Maori,
but that does not mean there were not protestors from other parties -
there were a lot of people in the final group in Wellington for
example that said that they were supporters of Labour or the Green
Party; many Labour supporters would have voted in the Maori
electorates, but many marched who would have voted in other
electorates. They were however united in calling for the Coalition to
"Kill the Bill"
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by CrashPost by Rich80105that is not
anti-government, that is anti-ACT Party, but with some frustration
with National and NZ First thrown in - they were not yelling at the
country, just the stupid 9% who support the bill. They were very
orderly and non-disruptive, but made their point clearly.
They may their point clearly that they opposed the Bill - but not why.
I have seen no rational reasons why the Bill is opposed. Nobody has
ever explained to me directly why they oppose the wording of the
principles in the Bill, or how it is in conflict with the a Treaty
signed so long ago.
You must have wilfully avoided such arguments then - from past Prime
Ministers, past Treaty Settlement Ministers, the Waitangi tribunal,
and a large group of senior legal experts.
None of which have actually quoted the text of the Bill to specify
exactly what text they object to. If you can find any reference to
this I would be interested in reading it, but don't bother with
assertions that fail to mention any text from the Bill. All I have
seen is assertions that the Bill seeks to rewrite the treaty, amongst
other general assertions.
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/the-principles-of-the-treaty
(and in particular:
"So how are we to judge ACTs proposed Treaty Principles Bill? The
bill is not yet before Parliament, but ACTs manifesto said it would
define the principles of the treaty as:
The New Zealand Government has the right to govern New Zealand.
The New Zealand Government will protect all New Zealanders authority
over their land and other property.
All New Zealanders are equal under the law, with the same rights and
duties.
The proposal looks like an attempt to redefine Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Evolving the interpretation of past events is organic; putting one in
statute is not; it fossilises it. At a deeper level, it is not unusual
for an authoritarian state to reinterpret history to suit itself.
(Witness Putin about the history of the Ukraine.)
While its principles 1 and 3 are consistent with those of the Court of
Appeal, the ACT proposal omits other key treaty principles. One is
uneasy that we should pass a law which seems to repeal so casually the
deliberations of the courts on such weighty matters, especially as
those that underpin a liberal democracy.
ACTs Principle 2 is narrower than the principles set out by the Court
of Appeal. It is a limited interpretation of the second article of Te
Tiriti, reflecting the neoliberal view that it is only about private
property rights. Maori had few of those in 1840; property rights were
held by the community, much to the frustration of Europeans who wanted
to acquire land. Neoliberals object to community ownership. (Elinor
Ostrom was made a Nobel Laureate in 2009 for her work explaining how
such collective ownership can work very effectively.)
Moreover, the second article of Te Tiriti covers far more that what we
conventionally think of as private property. We can see that from the
evolution of the drafts of the treaty. Up to what is called the
English version there was a list Lands and Estates Forests
Fisheries and other properties. The text signed on the treaty grounds
jumps to ratou wenua o ratou kainga me o ratou taonga katoa their
lands, their villages and all their treasured things. (Because
translators would not make that jump, I am of the view there was a
revised English draft from which Te Tiriti was translated; it probably
ended up in Colensos now lost papers.)
Taonga katoa is a very strong term much more encompassing than
ACTs other property. For instance, the courts have ruled that te
reo is one of those taonga. Had this been raised with Maori on 6
February 1840 unlikely because people didnt think that way then
the Maori response would probably have been he aha to tikanga?
what do you mean? Ask it today, the response is a very positive ae,
ae.
My thinking is greatly influenced by Edmund Burke and, indeed,
Friedrich Hayek when he is not a neoliberal. They saw organic
development at the core of social progress. Sometimes the government
has to accelerate or enable it. It should avoid retarding it or
fossilising it. That is what the ACT proposal does.
In arguing that the ACT proposal retards organic development and
undermines democratic principles, I am not arguing that the party is
inherently reactionary or authoritarian. Rather, I dont think the
proponents of the bill have thought these issues through. We shall see
how they respond when such issues are drawn to their attention. One
hopes they will reaffirm the Court of Appeals principles of the
treaty which underpin a liberal democracy and adopt a more accurate
historical account of the drafting of Te Tiriti and the subsequent
organic evolution of its interpretation."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/533674/senior-lawyers-call-for-treaty-principles-bill-to-be-abandoned
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/533705/treaty-principles-bill-bill-of-rights-act-advice-quite-damning-academic
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/533817/treaty-principles-bill-will-greatly-damage-national-s-relationship-with-maori-former-minister
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/533944/treaty-principles-bill-inviting-civil-war-jenny-shipley-says
https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/property-rights-and-the-treaty-principles-bill
https://thestandard.org.nz/if-seymour-succeeds-what-happens-to-ngapuhis-treaty-claim/
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by CrashPost by Rich80105This recent protest made its point clearly and politely, and submitted
a petition signed by over 200,000 New Zealanders. It was calm and
peaceful, totally unlike the unruly mob that ACT, National and NZ
First encouraged at the previous protest at parliament - with funding
assistance from the Atlas Network groups. This protest was also much
larger - estimates range from about 32.000 to 52,000, depending on the
political alignment of those measuring . . .
There you go again. The petition has value but should be seen in the
context of how many voters there are. It is approx. 8% of registered
voters. Your allegations against National, ACT and NZF are just as
baseless now as when you first made them. Repetition diminishes your
credibility, yet again.
The petition was put together over a small period of time while the
protest was underway - the number at the time it was presented was
higher than stated when it was presented was already a few thousand
higher.
Post by CrashACT, on the other hand, garnered 246,000 party votes in the last
election. It puts the petition signatures count into perspective.
No it doesn't - the petition was collected over only a few days.
So why not continue, and present the petition to the Select Committee
with a far more credible signature count?
There was probably news value in making a presentation on the day of
the Hikoi being in Wellington - the larger number of people may well
be reflected in a further presentation
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Importantly, a large majority of parliamentarians are against the
bill, but for unknown reasons are allowing it to drag on enabling ACT
to peddle divisive shallow and wrong ideas for a longer time than was
agreed
Neither you nor me know exactly how many MPs support ACT's Bill. All
we know is how many will vote for or against it at the Second Reading
but that is because of the coalition agreement, not each MP's
viewpoint.
Both National and ACT have very authoritarian rules on caucus that
will be preventing any current MPs from those parties except the
leaders from commenting - and for National Luxon is trying to keep
comments to a minimum other than confirming that National will not
support the Bill beyond allowing it to go to Select Committee, and for
ACT David Seymour is the virtually only MP that is speaking on the
Bill. For National, previous MPS and previous Leaders are not so
restricted, and they are making it clear that in their view the Bill
should not proceed. Can you identify any National MP that has even
implied that they may support the Bill at the second Reading?
Post by CrashPost by Rich80105Post by CrashPost by Rich80105So when you ask what people are going to do about it, some
commentators are suggesting that it will reduce support for National
if they do not demonstrate that they mean what they say, and kill it
quickly, but it will boost support for Labour, Greens and Te Pati
Paori at the next election. Those parties and their supporters are
listening - they know that Seymour is not listening - he gets offside
with every reporter he speaks to, and they know that National is
saying one thing but doing nothing, and NZ First are using the
distraction to push through more money to their political supporters .
. .
Pure wishful thinking Rich. You have no idea what level of popular
support ACT's Bill has generally, because this cannot be measured.
The Bill is already dead. I have seen calls from Hobson's Pledge to
make submissions in support of the Bill so that there is some point of
measuring popular support, but in any other respect making submissions
is pointless.
Rich, do Labour and the Greens (the Maori Party does not matter) fear
that the Select Committee hearings on ACT's Bill might reveal that
many want it passed?
No, but they loath the incitement of racism and divisive prejudice
being put forward by ACT
I have read the Bill. There is nothing in it that you claim. Feel
free to give me your opinion of exactly what text in the Bill speaks
of racism and division.
See the links given above - but it is the effect of removing current
words and replacing them with others that creates that incitement.
Consider a bill to remove requirements relating to ownership of
firearms - the removal of the words themselves would not indicate that
mo0re lives may well be lost through firearm use, but it could be a
reasonable conclusion from general considerations. In the case of
Treaty Claims, at least one current case that is going through
determination of settlement would be negated by the words, although
that may no be an obvious result from a consideration of the words
themselves by a person that does not thoroughly understand the full
meaning of the Treaty and precedents.