For the benefit of the many ignorant of the contents of the Bible, here is the story:
Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war and assembled (a bit like the hikoi?), occupying one hill and the Israelis another.
What the Treaty Principles Bill simply states is undeniably true.
The government has the right to govern, as the first treaty principle says, everyone is equal before the law (principle 3), and the only rights that hapu and iwi have that may differ from the rights of everyone are those agreed to in a treaty settlement (principle 2)
That is a clear statement of the current reality that we live in, like it or not, and we all have the right to have our say on it and, if Luxon and Peters stop opposing it, vote it into law.
What do the people currently think about the bill?
A poll held last month by Curia Research shows that overall, 46 percent support the bill, 25 percent oppose it and 29 percent are undecided.
Our modern day Goliath has a number of mouths saying a number of different things but united in opposition to the bill on Thursday.
Like the Biblical David standing in front of the three-metre-tall Goliath, Seymour is staring down what looks like a widespread and deeply rooted orthodoxy on treaty policy and is challenging it.
What is this claimed consensus? I questioned this in a select committee hearing a number of years ago.
At that hearing, a long-gone MP with a Maori name told me somewhat dismissively that “every party has a treaty policy, and everyone gets a vote, therefore what Parliament decides shows there is a consensus”.
Seymour disagrees with the so-called consensus. He told Parliament on Thursday, amid loud, inane interjections and a stage-managed haka, that:
Here is some more data from the October Curia poll:
In addition, both the National and New Zealand First parties will haemorrhage support to ACT.
And the central question in treaty politics would have shifted from “why support the Treaty Principles Bill” to “why not support the Treaty Principles Bill”.
So why is the tino rangatiratanga brigade kicking up such a fuss? Waititi’s version of Article 1 of the treaty, shown above, says it all.
The Treaty Principles Bill removes the prospect of any “by-Maori for-Maori government”.
And such a separate “by-Maori for-Maori government” is the cherished dream of the people currently out on the streets waving Maori sovereignty flags.
You may read the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill at https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2024/0094/9.0/whole.html
Sources
Treaty Principles Bill first reading, November 14, 2024. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20241114_20241114_40
New poll shows some unexpected support for Treaty Principles Bill from Greens and Te Pāti Māori voters, October 16, 2024. https://centrist.nz/new-poll-shows-some-unexpected-support-for-treaty-principles-bill-from-greens-and-te-pati-maori-voters/
David and Goliath, 1 Samuel 17, The Bible. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2017&version=NIV
Of course, there are no physical weapons in our modern-day story, no one will lose his or her head, and “the Almighty” won’t be invoked. But our David has on his side truth, and truth is, by definition, that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.
A three-metre-tall champion named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp and challenged the Israelis to send out a champion to fight (a bit like the Te Pati Maori haka?)
The Israelis were scared (Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters?)
Israeli King Saul offered great wealth to the fighter who could defeat Goliath (no great offer of wealth here).
A young man called David volunteered.
David shunned an offer of fine armour, taking instead his staff, five smooth stones, and a sling.
David approached Goliath. Goliath threatened to kill David.
David said to Goliath, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty”.
As Goliath moved closer to attack him, David ran to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face-down on the ground.
David grabbed the Philistine’s sword, killed him, and cut off his head.
What the Treaty Principles Bill simply states is undeniably true.
The government has the right to govern, as the first treaty principle says, everyone is equal before the law (principle 3), and the only rights that hapu and iwi have that may differ from the rights of everyone are those agreed to in a treaty settlement (principle 2)
That is a clear statement of the current reality that we live in, like it or not, and we all have the right to have our say on it and, if Luxon and Peters stop opposing it, vote it into law.
What do the people currently think about the bill?
A poll held last month by Curia Research shows that overall, 46 percent support the bill, 25 percent oppose it and 29 percent are undecided.
Our modern day Goliath has a number of mouths saying a number of different things but united in opposition to the bill on Thursday.
Christopher Luxon (National): “There isn’t anything I like about the Treaty Principles Bill”.Our David delivered the first reading under an intense, vitriolic attack, the like of which has not been seen in the New Zealand Parliament for 40 years, according to reporter Barry Soper, and which culminated in a menacing kapa haka show.
Casey Costello (NZ First): We reject that there are [treaty] principles. We've committed to, support this bill to the first reading.
Willie Jackson (Labour): Yesterday, I was on a hīkoi. I was so proud to be on that hīkoi with our political colleagues in the Maori Party, the Green Party—wonderful—and Asians, Māori, and Pasifika were all there. They gave me a clear message, and I agreed to give that message here, today. This is to you, David Seymour: you fuel hatred and misinformation in this country, you bring out the worst in New Zealanders, you should be ashamed of yourself, and you are a liar.
Chloe Swarbrick (Green Party): Capitalism, an economic system with the key priority being to turn profit at almost any cost, needs colonisation. This insatiable, unsustainable economic system needs to assimilate and acquire new frontiers to exploit. It needs to turn every citizen into a consumer and to commodify our natural world. And right now, in this country, the biggest thing standing in its way is the resilience and the fire in the enduring movement from mana motuhake.
Rawiri Waititi (Te Pati Maori): Article 1 gave consent to Pakeha to govern over themselves. They've assumed governance over us. When will we begin to assume governance ourselves?
Like the Biblical David standing in front of the three-metre-tall Goliath, Seymour is staring down what looks like a widespread and deeply rooted orthodoxy on treaty policy and is challenging it.
What is this claimed consensus? I questioned this in a select committee hearing a number of years ago.
At that hearing, a long-gone MP with a Maori name told me somewhat dismissively that “every party has a treaty policy, and everyone gets a vote, therefore what Parliament decides shows there is a consensus”.
Seymour disagrees with the so-called consensus. He told Parliament on Thursday, amid loud, inane interjections and a stage-managed haka, that:
“The bill . . . democratises the principles of the Treaty. It gives everyone a say. The commencement clause says the principles of this bill only come into force if a majority vote for it to do so in a referendum. And, as I mentioned, the principles we know today have been created by a small number of New Zealanders, even though we all have to live within them. But, if democracy means anything, it means each and every person has a say in how the rules we all live under are made. It is that democratisation of the Treaty that is so important”.With six months of submissions ahead of us, with both sides campaigning for support, and with the bill requiring just a five percent shift to get it over the line, where do you think those 29 percent undecided votes will go?
Here is some more data from the October Curia poll:
National Party voters are 58 percent in support, 16 percent opposed, and 27 percent undecided.I suggest that polls in six months will show clear, if not substantial, majority support for the bill.
Labour Party voters are 33 percent in support, 38 percent opposed, and 28 percent undecided.
ACT Party voters are 54 percent in support, 24 percent opposed, and 23 percent undecided.
Green Party voters are 31 percent in support, 36 percent opposed, and 34 percent undecided.
NZ First voters are 65 percent in support, 14 percent opposed, and 21 percent undecided.
Te Pati Maori voters are 15 percent in support, 40 percent opposed, and 42 percent undecided.
In addition, both the National and New Zealand First parties will haemorrhage support to ACT.
And the central question in treaty politics would have shifted from “why support the Treaty Principles Bill” to “why not support the Treaty Principles Bill”.
So why is the tino rangatiratanga brigade kicking up such a fuss? Waititi’s version of Article 1 of the treaty, shown above, says it all.
The Treaty Principles Bill removes the prospect of any “by-Maori for-Maori government”.
And such a separate “by-Maori for-Maori government” is the cherished dream of the people currently out on the streets waving Maori sovereignty flags.
You may read the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill at https://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2024/0094/9.0/whole.html
Sources
Treaty Principles Bill first reading, November 14, 2024. https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansDeb_20241114_20241114_40
New poll shows some unexpected support for Treaty Principles Bill from Greens and Te Pāti Māori voters, October 16, 2024. https://centrist.nz/new-poll-shows-some-unexpected-support-for-treaty-principles-bill-from-greens-and-te-pati-maori-voters/
David and Goliath, 1 Samuel 17, The Bible. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2017&version=NIV
5 comments:
There are no 'principles' in the Treaty.
They are all made up and need to be removed from legislation.
An excellent breakdown of the issue, for once in simple language even I, the recipient of a New Zealand education, can understand.
One point though:
"Israeli King Saul offered great wealth to the fighter who could defeat Goliath (no great offer of wealth here). "
There is indeed "great wealth", here and the prospect, should the bill not pass, of further great wealth. This is the sole motivation for the noisiest opposition to Mr Seymour's bill.
That opposition to the bill is being led by and is for the benefit of a small group of white people, most of whom have a rather tenuous connection to the cannibals that once polluted these islands (certainly they added no improvement to the islands while here prior to the World arriving to rescue them).
Should this group get their way they will gain the ability to tax (i.e. steal from other people) genuine earners while producing nothing themselves.
Great wealth indeed!
“The government has the right to govern, as the first treaty principle says, everyone is equal before the law (principle 3), and the only rights that hapu and iwi have that may differ from the rights of everyone are those agreed to in a treaty settlement (principle 2)”
Principle 2 is as written is a dog. As treaty settlements are currently a perpetual ongoing never-ending apartheid fraud, no mention should be made to them at all.
Principle 2 as written in the Maori language treaty is about property rights for ALL New Zealanders. No mention of “treaty settlements”.
Also, it should be a given, that when the treaty is being referred too, it is the Maori language treaty that is being referenced, and not a fraudulent English language version, or an “attempt at an English translation” of the Maori language treaty.
The final draft written on the 4th February 1840 by James Busby and Mr T E Young’s 1869 official back-translation of the Maori language treaty, mirror what was written in the Maori language treaty on the 6th February 1840.
Well said and interestingly put Mike.
The hikoi, carkoi (their word) and the ridiculous and disrespectful, choreographed pantomime performed by the Maori Party in parliament are very visual signs of a group of disaffected malingerers who fear the loss of privilege, largess and benefits because there are signs appearing that their gravy train might be derailed!
“When people get used to preferential treatment, equal treatment seems like discrimination.”
There is much truth in what Chloe states until the last sentence. But the current maori protest is not primarily opposition to economic development. If it has any relevance in that area, it is that maori strive to continue flexible interpretation of the Treaty to enable much development and associated economic gain to be preferentially for them on a favoured race basis.
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