He's probably going to cop it from the press gallery for being a wuss but most of us have been around long enough to see the logic in this.
We know by now that Waitangi is volatile and unpredictable at the best of times. You can cop a dildo in the face for doing nothing.
So imagine how intense it will be next year with the Treaty Principles bill debate in full swing and the select committee progress already underway.
Already Willie Jackson has warned the Prime Minister about his safety if he goes up there because apparently Māori are angry.
And as Willie Jackson says, "you just never know".
It’s hardly as if Luxon is being made to feel welcome.
He’s apparently been told he’s allowed to come on the 6th but not on the 4th because he’s not welcome at the big meeting the National Iwi Chairs Forum hosts every year.
He’s had a letter from the hikoi organisers telling him he’s not welcome at Waitangi at all.
Luxon loses nothing by giving it a miss. I doubt very much he’ll win votes by going.
But he could actually lose votes by going and standing there like a piñata, taking a verbal bashing over a bill that’s actually not his.
He’s better off leaving the defending to the guy who’s actually responsible for the bill, David Seymour, who says he is going.
So Luxon I think can say he’s done enough, he's been there two years in a row already, he’s shown respect and defended his corner and he’s not being made to feel welcome.
He’s been threatened.
Right-minded people will absolutely, I think, understand why he may not want to go and why he frankly shouldn't.
Heather du Plessis-Allan is a journalist and commentator who hosts Newstalk ZB's Drive show HERE - where this article was sourced.
14 comments:
Funny kind of “partnership” where one partner threatens the other. Sounds like domestic abuse to me.
Well if the P.M. has been told not to come I think it's appropriate to defend it. If they want a private meeting, they can privately fund it. I'm sure the Waiparera Trust would be more than happy to drop them few $million.
Waitangi Day,
I think that an outing to Waitangi on the 6th of February each year would be not unlike going to the circus to watch the animals and clowns perform. There is certainly no hint of any purpose to the occasion apart from allowing immature, uneducated radicals make complete fools of themselves and make fools of any politician who shows up expecting to engage in meaningful discussion. The whole thing should be put on hold, the likes of Henare, Jackson, Morgan, Hatfield to name but a few, should be sent to the naughty corner until they can prove themselves capable of mature conduct.
Let us instead celebrate when New Zealand became a separate Crown Colony by Royal Charter and Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria on the 16 November 1840.
If an indigenous MP in the UK had made a similar comment as Willie Jackson about Rishi Sunak he would have been pilloried if not jailed for it. Mr Luxon is a wuss, not because he is not going to Waitangi (that is a trivial matter), but because he is allowing such a situation to prevail in the country of which he is the Prime Minister.
Actually, this is a great reason for Luxon to stop shitting on Seymour's bill and start supporting it. In effect, he is on the side of those who have told him to piss off and not come to Waitangi. What this shows is that Luxon has almost zero political instincts, cannot entertain the possibility of holding a position in the face of conflict, and that his "advisors" come up with his opinions for him.
Cancel Waitangi Day. It’s a forum for activist thugs; the ugly face of post treaty settlement NZ. In the immortal words of John Clarke “They don’t know how lucky they are. They don’t know how propitious are the circumstances.”
"he's been there two years in a row already"
We've been in a row for 5O years,
or more, but yeah, since he was uninvited.... You wouldn't want another bashing would you?That's just not wise.
On the other hand I admire David Seymour for his temerity.
Completely agree.
Totally agree Terry.
The 1840 treaty agreement between the tangata Maori chiefs and Queen Victoria was an ‘agreed to unity’.
The TOW today is an ‘agreed to division’ between the state and part Maori.
Taxpayers sweat equity should not be supporting this “agreed to division” in any way shape or form.
Rather, New Zealand day should be celebrated on the 3rd June 1841, the day that we officially became an independent British Colony, under one flag, one law for all, irrespective of race, color or creed.
FIRST SITTING OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL OF NEW ZEALAND.
(From the New Zealand Government Gazette)
His Excellency the Governor, according to notice, opened the first session of the legislative council of New Zealand on the 24th May 1841. “At this our first meeting I deem it proper to draw your attention, not only to the Royal Charter, but to the highly, important instructions under the Royal Signet and Sign Manual which accompany it. The Charter, as you are already aware, erects the islands of New Zealand and certain dependencies into a separate Colony, under the Superintendence of a Governor and Commander-in-Chief. It constitutes a Legislative Council, who are empowered to enact laws and ordinances for the local government of the Colony; it authorizes the establishment of Courts of Justice, and the issue of Commissions of the Peace; and, in fact, brings into complete operation British laws throughout the whole Colony of New Zealand.
And be it further enacted and ordained that in all or any of the said Acts of the Governor and Legislative Council of New South Wales, which shall under and by virtue of this ordinance be brought into operation, and extended to and applied to the said Colony of New Zealand, whenever the words ” Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, Governor, Justice, or Justices of the Peace, or Government Gazette, of New South Wales,” are used in such Act or Acts, the same words shall be construed to mean, and shall include and extend to ” the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council of New Zealand,” or “Governor for the time being,” or ” all or any Justices or Justice of the Peace, and to the Government Gazette of the said Colony of New Zealand;” and that all words or expressions referring, and having relation, to New South Wales shall be, and the same are hereby directed to be, applied and construed to extend to the said Colony of New Zealand. WILLIAM HOBSON, Governor. Passed the legislative council this 3rd day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-one.
JAMES COATES, Clerk of Councils.
He should also cancel the Ratana Pa yearly visit.
Agree with all the above, but will the invertebrate make a call and side with his coalition partners - not on your nellie.
The threats and abuse coming from Willie Jackson, Te Pati Maori, and iwi Maori, breach two of the six treaty principles imagined by Justice Cooke in 1987, being: (b) both parties had a duty ‘to act reasonably and with the utmost good faith’ towards one another, and (c) the principles of the treaty do not authorise unreasonable restrictions on the right of a duly elected government to follow its chosen policy. It looks like the above mentioned can do no wrong and the Crown can do no right.
Personally I require Parliament to use the current bad NZ fiscal position and declare that severe 2025 cuts to all Government spending (ie as Argentina has successfully done) means that only funding that relates to all NZers and NOT divisive, ethical, separatist , or gender will be authorised. We have to savage Government spending to stop the fiscal blowout. Goodbye Waitangi.
Maybe the National Party need to bring back Judith Collins as its leader. I think Mr Luxons' strong Christian beliefs (turn the other cheek, be nice to everybody etc) make him unsuitable for the hard nosed attitude required in todays political world
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