Bob Edlin: Hikoi by horseback (or pony express)....

....how 52,000 names were delivered to Parliament after a five-day journey

PoO was somewhat surprised to learn that a hikoi involving 40 horses had arrived at Parliament with 52,000 names on a petition against proposed amendments to Treaty references in legislation.

We had supposed hikoi involved walking, marching or some similar activity that would require sturdy footwear.

Mike Butler: An iwi and some Maori wards

For those of you about to vote on whether or not to continue with the Maori ward your council has imposed, a bit of published bragging shows what “iwi Maori” think about seats on councils.

The August 25 edition of the Hawke’s Bay Today included a two-page advert displaying what looked like 63 candidates for eight councils from Wairoa to South Wairarapa.

The Wairoa District, Hawke’s Bay Regional, Napier City, Hastings District, Central Hawke’s Bay District, Tararua District, Masterton District, and South Wairarapa councils are listed on a map in the background of the advert.

Mike Butler: Iwi leaders feeling heat?

A comprehensive rant from a spokesman for the National Iwi Chairs Forum is a rare display of a privileged and powerful elite apparently feeling the heat of public criticism.

In a piece titled “Co-governance is good for us”, published in E-Tangata on August 27, 2023, Te Huia Bill Hamilton tries to counter Julian Batchelor’s Stop Co-Governance campaign. (1)

Hamilton, who declares that his ancestry is “Ngati Kahungunu, Ngati Raukawa, Nga Rauru, Scotland”, is described as “a Treaty of Waitangi and human rights specialist and a lead adviser for the National Iwi Chairs Forum, who has spent 25 years educating Pakeha and tauiwi about Te Tiriti through his company Treaty Solutions”.

Mike Butler: The denigration of Julian

The beneficiaries and supporters of “co-governance” have stepped out into the open, courtesy of Julian Batchelor’s Stop Co-governance tour. And that is what powered the chaotic meeting in Hastings, on Monday, July 24, when the local iwi chair Bayden Barber sent in his people to resist this “attack on our identity”. (1)

That resistance took the form of persistent heckling which posed substantial difficulties for Batchelor to get through his three-hour plus presentation. When a heckler starting smashing Batchelor’s gear, police closed the meeting.

Iwi chair Barber’s interference preceded the meeting that was first booked at the HB Racing Centre. Without speaking to the racing centre, Barber released an open letter urging the centre to cancel the booking.