Pee Kay: National… the Enemy Within? (Part Two)

PART TWO: The Key/English years

John Key, National Prime Minister from 2008 until 2016 when he suddenly decided he had undertaken enough ‘brand management,” abruptly threw in the towel and passed the baton to Bill English!

John Key and his trusty sidekick for all things Treaty, Attorney-General and Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson oversaw the period when National’s munificence to Maori moved from regional resource deals to a sweeping constitutional surrender of the New Zealand coastline!

Point of Order: Mahuta’s husband and the Public Service Commission inquiry

How Chris Hipkins ineptly played the race card

We intended alerting our readers (if they had not already noticed) to how Public Service Minister Chris Hipkins played the race card in the matter of the Public Service Commission deciding to look into the propriety of government contracts awarded to Nanaia Mahuta’s husband.

We have taken a short cut and will draw attention, instead, to this post on Kiwiblog by David Farrar under the heading Hipkins apologises for smearing English.

Mike Butler: Govt by iwi leaders through Nats

Data obtained under the Official Information Act shows that since November 2008 there have been at least 44 meetings between the former Prime Minister, John Key, the current Prime Minister, Bill English, other senior Ministers, and the Iwi Leaders Group.

Years of positioning for political dominance by the Iwi Leaders Group has materialised in the mana whakahono a rohe/iwi participation clauses in the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill which would entrench co-governance and partnership obligations with iwi Maori into local government, creating an under-the-radar constitutional change.

Mike Butler: Palmer's Aotearoa constitution

For years former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has been deploring the “unbridled power” that New Zealand’s constitutional setup affords, but he was perhaps among the worst offenders during his time as Justice Minister in the way he pushed his personal Treaty of Waitangi solutions while circumventing public opinion.

Along with fellow lawyer Andrew Butler (no relation to this writer), Palmer is about to release A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand, a book that argues why New Zealand needs a written constitution and what a first draft of that constitution entails.

Mike Butler: Forestry trust assets shrink

Crown Forestry Rental Trust funds are diminishing as more forestry land is given to claimant groups is the unsurprising 2016 message of the trust to its appointors -- the New Zealand Maori Council, the Federation of Maori Authorities and the Minister of Finance, Bill English.

The trust was set up under the Crown Forest Assets Act 1989 as a self-funding organisation that is midway between the Crown and Maori to hold Crown forestry land that may be subject to treaty claims and collect rentals paid to the Crown for forests grown on Crown land.

Mike Butler: Review fudges two-world treaty push

The Queen is sovereign and Maori are her subjects, with the rights of subjects, including possession of property is a widespread interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi that goes back 172 years. Another interpretation that goes back about 30 years is that it confirmed Maori sovereignty over all things Maori while giving to the Crown limited power to control new settlers. Which interpretation are you familiar with?

The Constitutional Advisory Panel is reviewing the role of the Treaty within New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements without mentioning that there are two opposing views about the meaning and intent of the Treaty, one of which asserts Maori sovereignty and limits government control to non-Maori who have been written out of the treaty.

Mike Butler: Advisors' 'rangatiratanga' error

Open letter to Bill English

I am writing to you as one Minister in charge of the Constitutional Advisory Panel to let you know that “New Zealand’s Constitution – the conversation so far”, released last week, includes a fundamental error in the assertion on page 9 that: "The treaty records an agreement that enabled the British to establish a government in New Zealand and confirmed to Maori the right to continue to exercise rangatiratanga".

This is incorrect. All the treaty actually says is that the Queen is sovereign and Maori are her subjects, with the rights of subjects, including possession of property. That is all, in both English and Maori versions. Since then, moreover, the Queen and her successors have exercised sovereignty for 172 years.

Mike Butler: Deficit reveals cost of bad govt

Fed up with Finance Minister Bill English’s “death by 1000 cuts” Budgets, and disgusted with the whole range of commentators who believe in either big or bigger government, I went to Treasury’s Budget appropriations to see by how much I could reduce the deficit. This is what I have found.

In his Budget speech, English blamed a recession that started in 2008, the global financial crisis, and the Canterbury earthquake for the difficulties he faces as finance minister. I suggest the real culprit is the long shadow of barmy policy of successive governments, including his government.