Mike Butler: How iwi smears ratepayer

When local ratepayer Ivan Howe told the New Plymouth District Council’s new public engagement committee that “you’ve got the iwi coming in here … and they’re giving you advice – and the councillors they don’t know what the iwi’s talking about,” the response was predictable.

According to Te Ao Maori News, which is a part of Maori Television, and which is funded by taxpayers, Howe said: “They’ll tell you what they think, and what they think happened and the councillors [have] got no argument to counter it.”

The Te Ao Maori News story is far from objective reporting. The story exists solely to name and shame a critic of the current treaty and co-governance orthodoxy. Howe also questioned whether Maori are indigenous.