I don’t know if the bill – as currently written – is the right solution to the uncertainty created by the application of undefined principles of the treaty, but the status quo is clearly untenable in the long term.
We can read whatever we like between the lines but reading the actual lines will be less confusing.
Whatever we feel about the bill it should have been an opportunity for a civilised discussion instead of a catalyst for hatred, political grandstanding and division.
The antics of some in Parliament will serve only to alienate more and more people from genuine Maori aspirations.
As a nation we are better than that.
Tom O’Connor is a published historian, elected Waimate District councillor, retired journalist and former political commentator for Stuff. This article was first published HERE
Whatever we feel about the bill it should have been an opportunity for a civilised discussion instead of a catalyst for hatred, political grandstanding and division.
The antics of some in Parliament will serve only to alienate more and more people from genuine Maori aspirations.
As a nation we are better than that.
Tom O’Connor is a published historian, elected Waimate District councillor, retired journalist and former political commentator for Stuff. This article was first published HERE
4 comments:
The problem with the Bill is that it gives the Treaty and its invented "principles" a status they don't have and shouldn't have. The Treaty is not the founding document of this country and I am not here because of it. Seymour's principles may be similar to the Magna Carta but try quoting that in Court to claim special privileges and see how far you get.
If I sell someone my car, we will need to stick to the terms, both those mentioned and those implied, such as that the car works. But if we claim "principles" it becomes a subjective free-for-all. As the car needs petrol, do I have to buy your petrol for the next 150 years? And can I say I still own it, despite the sale, because I had it first?
Agreed, except that it doesn’t rectify the ongoing grievance gravy train and legislation in favour of Māori, already in place. What is really needed is a clean sweep once and for all to actually give all NZers the same rights.
As a nation we are better than that, and we would have been if not for “politicians” with what looks like a deliberate destructive agenda.
We the people of this nation were “sabotaged” with the enacting of the apartheid 1975 TOW Act. There was no ‘civilized discussion’ with we the people about that at the time and no civilized discussion with the many other apartheid act and statues added to legislation since.
Both the TOW Act of 1975 and the Constitutional Act 186 need to be updated and bring NZ into the 21st Century.
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