Privatisation of water into elite Māori iwi hands is the reason behind all the furore over the government’s shambolic unpopular Three Waters bill. Yes, they may care about water quality and improvements to infrastructure.
However, their crucial Maori ownership goal meant changes could not be done locally as local government are lobbying for and would be undertaken by a National/Act government. The entrenchment clause was a fool proof way to keep water ownership in Maori hands for perpetuity once the Three Waters Bill was passed into legislation.
Spinning like a top, a backtracking, pious and (always) reasonable Chris Hipkins explained to Newstalk ZB on Sunday, the entrenchment clause had been a mistake. However, he was quick to spin it was a way to prevent National from privatising water (when they, likely, return to power next year.)
National has repeatedly said they have no intentions of privatising water, but this has not stopped Hipkins and Ardern using this false reason to explain why they had to insert the (unconstitutional) entrenchment clause under the cover of a late night sitting when Opposition MPs were dozing on the job.
The government (aka Maori) is hell bent on Maori getting control of water; and that would mean each Maori entity, a private company in its own right, getting control of their area. Privatisation: the reason, that dare not speak its name, behind the whole Three Waters debacle.
With the Hamilton West by-election a week away, the tragic dairy worker’s death still on people’s minds, the govt has been desperately putting out fires in all directions with extravagant promises and money flying in all directions.
This is their latest fire. The Maori caucus will be deeply unhappy over this. They failed to pull the wool; no thanks to National, but courtesy of alert constitutional lawyers penning a letter that week-end to the govt with their objections.
Jacinda Ardern’s disingenuous explanation, ‘It was not something I would necessarily be aware of’ attempting to distance her involvement in the 60% threshold entrenchment clause, was clearly explained by Thomas Manch in Stuff.
She chaired the cabinet meeting and was privy to all the discussions on how they would proceed, despite advice to desist from experts. As Tyrant in Chief nothing gets passed her; all decisions and media releases must be approved by her. She was not ignorant of this.
Ardern was caught in her own lie, but Chris Luxon did not come out and loudly point it out, for those who had not noticed.
Very few Opposition politicians are given such a gift a week out from a by-election their party desperately needs to win. Where were his advisers, are they as lily livered as he is? In their place I would have been prepared to put my job on the line making the point!! Leaving this in the hands of their spokesperson was not sufficient; it did not receive enough traction.
However given that Luxon continues to (embarrassingly) wrongly finish a verbal quote in parliament with ‘quote’ rather than the correct ‘unquote’ or ‘end of quote’ or a pause, I can only presume he is surrounded by ‘yes men’, keen to keep their jobs and avoid upsetting him; along with his eloquent MPs whose key focus is grabbing the best portfolios in a National led government.
Note: A final debate by Hamilton West candidates will be run by Martyn Bradbury’s Working group at Waikato University streamed live 7pm Monday 5th November.
Wendy Geus is a former speechwriter and generalist communications advisor in local government. She now writes for the pure love of it. This article was originally published by ThePlatform.kiwi and is published here with kind permission.
National has repeatedly said they have no intentions of privatising water, but this has not stopped Hipkins and Ardern using this false reason to explain why they had to insert the (unconstitutional) entrenchment clause under the cover of a late night sitting when Opposition MPs were dozing on the job.
The government (aka Maori) is hell bent on Maori getting control of water; and that would mean each Maori entity, a private company in its own right, getting control of their area. Privatisation: the reason, that dare not speak its name, behind the whole Three Waters debacle.
With the Hamilton West by-election a week away, the tragic dairy worker’s death still on people’s minds, the govt has been desperately putting out fires in all directions with extravagant promises and money flying in all directions.
This is their latest fire. The Maori caucus will be deeply unhappy over this. They failed to pull the wool; no thanks to National, but courtesy of alert constitutional lawyers penning a letter that week-end to the govt with their objections.
Jacinda Ardern’s disingenuous explanation, ‘It was not something I would necessarily be aware of’ attempting to distance her involvement in the 60% threshold entrenchment clause, was clearly explained by Thomas Manch in Stuff.
She chaired the cabinet meeting and was privy to all the discussions on how they would proceed, despite advice to desist from experts. As Tyrant in Chief nothing gets passed her; all decisions and media releases must be approved by her. She was not ignorant of this.
Ardern was caught in her own lie, but Chris Luxon did not come out and loudly point it out, for those who had not noticed.
Very few Opposition politicians are given such a gift a week out from a by-election their party desperately needs to win. Where were his advisers, are they as lily livered as he is? In their place I would have been prepared to put my job on the line making the point!! Leaving this in the hands of their spokesperson was not sufficient; it did not receive enough traction.
However given that Luxon continues to (embarrassingly) wrongly finish a verbal quote in parliament with ‘quote’ rather than the correct ‘unquote’ or ‘end of quote’ or a pause, I can only presume he is surrounded by ‘yes men’, keen to keep their jobs and avoid upsetting him; along with his eloquent MPs whose key focus is grabbing the best portfolios in a National led government.
Note: A final debate by Hamilton West candidates will be run by Martyn Bradbury’s Working group at Waikato University streamed live 7pm Monday 5th November.
Wendy Geus is a former speechwriter and generalist communications advisor in local government. She now writes for the pure love of it. This article was originally published by ThePlatform.kiwi and is published here with kind permission.
3 comments:
Please explain! I presumed the move was to forestall likely public concern that 3 Waters could lead essily to on sale to maori. And that the concern is pro\imarily with the precedent, not so much as with this particular case??
Just how committed are the Greens to the maori takeover of NZ?
Actually, I can’t see what would be wrong with privatising the sewage or even the stormwater. The third one - the clean water we all need every day - is certainly a different matter.
Graeme Reeves
I agree with you Wendy on two counts.
1.Adern knew what Mahuta was up to including talking to the Greens and
2 that Luxon's response was weak as it always is.
In my opinion the electorate has lost its trust and confidence in the Government.The Government should go to the people as soon as possible for the sake of of stability and unity.
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