Graeme Spencer: If Radio Spectrum Is Taonga, What Isn't?

In 2022 Labour "gifted" 20% of the 5GL spectrum to Maori - not a treaty settlement - a "gift" - along with this gift, $75 million was provided to establish and support the entity (Kāhui Whakaata - the Māori Spectrum Entity) during its formative years.

For years, the spectrum was treated as a national resource - Governments licensed or auctioned it to telecommunications companies, who paid for the right to use specific frequency bands. It was largely an administrative process, and the associated revenue would have benefited all New Zealanders.

Graeme Spencer: The CCO That Put Culture Before Consumers

Timaru District Council after a suspect consultation process have finally formed a CCO (Council Controlled Organisation) with MacKenzie District Council.

The result - a subscale entity, too small to deliver real efficiencies but big enough to add cost and distance from accountability. The worst of both worlds.

Insights From Social Media: National’s ‘Service Delivery Plan’

Re National’s ‘Service Delivery Plan’ Graeme Spencer writes.

Since the inception of the "Local Water Done Well" reforms, I have always questioned what the end game is.

Forgive my scepticism, but anything involving water reform now tends to raise the hackles. After years of "improving water quality", we’ve seen millions, possibly billions, flow steadily into consultants, strategies, delivery plans, reform programmes, governance models, transition frameworks, and then revised versions of all of the above. None of this expenditure has reached our pipes, plants, or reservoirs.

Graeme Spencer: Waitangi Day

Waitangi Day , it's hard to contain the excitement. A day where politicians are vilified when they don't attend and abused when they do.

How sad it is to be missing out on the delightful custom of rubbing noses with a fat, half caste that blames you for every misfortune that has ever befell him/her.

Graeme Spencer: Kawanatanga, Rangatiratanga and the Treaty

Maori radicals pin much of their argument on Hugh Kawharu’s modern reinterpretation of “tino rangatiratanga”, claiming it means self-determination or retained sovereignty — and that Māori in 1840 did not understand what they were agreeing to.

Over the past few days, with the help of AI, I [Graeme Spencer] have been examining contemporary Māori-language articles written (by Māori?) for Māori in the 1840s–1870s.

Graeme Spencer: New Zealand Once Produced World Class Achievers......

New Zealand Once Produced World Class Achievers - Now We Can’t Keep Kids In Class 

It’s remarkable, isn’t it?

New Zealand, somehow produced world-leading scientists, engineers, explorers, aviators, and athletes - all before schools were required to open every lesson with ceremonial chanting and a Treaty compliance checklist.

Graeme Spencer: Who is running this country?

In June 2002 I wrote a comment about the Labour party - "They have to go and never be allowed into power again, you simply could not trust them. Labour has tentacles like an insidious octopus and they have infiltrated every facet of lives - democracy, health, education, media, freedom of speech and local government. Procedures , perhaps via a new constitution, have to be put in place so that no party can ever do this again"

Well - despite all their failures, they did a magnificent hit job on us, they managed to embed their ideology deep into our public sector.

Graeme Spencer: The South Canterbury Museum promotes matariki as a special day.

 Special day - what a joke - it wasn't, still isn't, it was relatively unknown until comrade Jacinda promoted it in an effort to bestow Maori wonderfulness on an unsuspecting public. It didn't bother her that it costs NZ businesses around $450 million per year.

Matariki was never a maori "thing". The so called maori new year is just a woke cultural appropriation of something that never was. Do people not wonder why it's never been celebrated before and all of a sudden it appears on the scene and nobody questions it?

So what are we celebrating here ?

Graeme Spencer: Treaty Principles Bill Submission

I have adopted the approach that understanding our history is the solution to the Treaty Principles, there are in fact no principles, merely statements of intent, but if our politicians want to call them principles then who am I to quibble. The imprtant thing is that the "principles" as defined by ACT portray the intent of the Treaty.

We are in this position primarily because of the misintepretation by Hugh Kawharu of "tino rangatiratanga" and later, in 1987 ,in the Court of Appeal, Justice Robin Cooke intimated that “The Treaty established a relationship akin to a partnership between Crown and Maori”. Although the operative word was "akin" it was soon taken out of context and this set in motion the development of the so called principles for their inclusion in legislation. This aspect has not been covered in my submission as I believe this has not had the impact of Kawharu's misinterpretation.

Graeme Spencer: If ACT's bill clarifies the Treaty intent (principles) - this can only be beneficial

NZ First's opposition to the term "principles" in the Treaty is a bit overdone, let's for argument call them "Statements of Intent" , would Winston be any happier ?

As per the Coalition agreement, NZ First can happily carry on removing all references to the Treaty from our legislation, it is not dependant on ACT's Bill, the two can co-exist.