Bruce Moon: Gross errors in 'guilt guru' claims

Wanganui's Rowan Partnership, which is a member of Network Waitangi, claims "a solid reputation" based on "hundreds of workshops" for people in workplaces such as local government and hospitals.

This post, which is the second part of a series on guilt gurus, exposes gross errors in the Network's Waitangi booklet handed out at seminars.

Mike Butler: Self-interest hobbles forestry trust

The organisation which funds Maori lodging Treaty of Waitangi claims over Crown forests remains unable to fulfil its obligations because of High Court action by a trustee, Sir Eddie Durie, supported by fellow trustee Maanu Paul, and one of the trust’s appointors, the New Zealand Maori Council. This boardroom stoush offers a snapshot of treaty industry politics.

Mike Butler: Criticism rattles iwi leader

It was surprising to see "elected iwi leader" Haami Piripi get rattled and descend into threats and name-calling in a letter to the Northland Age over Muriel Newman's article published in that newspaper calling into question an iwi leader’s demand for dedicated seats on the Northland council instead of being prepared to campaign for them like everyone else.

Mike Butler: Fishery settlement mischief

Tribal misbehaviour and government favouritism is the outcome of a process that started nearly 30 years ago with a treaty claim by few part-time fishers in the Far North that was expanded by a Waitangi Tribunal ruling, a High Court injunction, and resulted in dividing up the nation's ocean fishery along racial lines. The assertion that the 1992 $170-million commercial fisheries settlement would “get young Maori into the fisheries business” was one of several sanctimonious justifications to obscure the naked opportunism and political weakness surrounding that settlement.

That settlement started off as a claim by Far North tribes for a share of quota introduced by the Fisheries Act 1983 which was an attempt to maintain fisheries at a sustainable level. The claim was on behalf of those who supplemented their income with part-time fishing.