Pee Kay: National… the Enemy Within?

PART ONE: The Bolger/Shipley years

Labour may talk co-governance, but it’s actually National who cements it!

It’s bizarre isn’t it, Labour often absorbs the loudest and most heated public condemnation for its Maori centred policies. For decades, political commentators have labelled Labour as the champion of Maori rights and National as its staunch opponent.

But is that, in fact, true?

Steven Gaskell: Another “Final” Settlement - Until the Next One

When it comes to Treaty settlements, the script never changes: solemn speeches, sweeping apologies, and of course the part everyone quietly flips to first the price tag. This time it’s north of $50 million, wrapped in the familiar language of “healing,” “rebuilding,” and “a new relationship grounded in tikanga.” Translation: taxpayers are once again invited to the ceremony as the ATM, dutifully dispensing another round of reconciliation cash.

Steven Gaskell: The New Land Game - How Councils Could Hand Māori First Dibs on Your Property Without You Noticing

So, you thought Māori wards were just about “representation”? Think again. While everyone’s been busy debating flags, karakia, and consultation quotas, a quieter revolution is taking shape in council back rooms — and it’s got “land” written all over it.

Ele Ludemann: Sovereignty line in sand

The government has drawn a line in the sand on sovereignty:

Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says the Government will not agree to Treaty settlements that dispute whether the Crown is now sovereign.

Goldsmith made the comments to the Māori Affairs select committee this morning amid ongoing negotiations with East Coast iwi Te Whānau-ā-Apanui and hopes a settlement can be reached with the country’s largest iwi, Ngāpuhi.

Insights From Social Media

Brian Kennedy writes > WHY a karakia to open a new highway ?

WHY Stone Age Maori myth, beliefs, customs and voodoo witchcraft ?

WHY not a blessing by a Catholic priest or an Anglican vicar ?

What extra special relevance do our part-maori citizens have to a new highway ?

Tui Vaeau: The Industry of Perpetual Grievance......

The Industry of Perpetual Grievance: How Modern Maori Politics Became a Parasite on the Nation

A dismantling of cultural excuse-making, tribal corporatism, and the political infantilisation of Maori in modern New Zealand

"Grow up and cease to be children. Do not become mere appendages to the Pākehā." – Sir Apirana Ngata

Mike Butler: Top auditor repeats redress error

I wondered why out-going Auditor General John Ryan used an incorrect treaty settlement total in How public organisations are fulfilling treaty settlements commitments, released on May 1.

That was interesting to me because in February of this year I questioned why that government department gave the $2.738-billion figure in response to an OIA request.

Is the treaty settlement total dollar spend sensitive, I asked - see: https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/02/mike-butler-treaty-settlement-total.html  

Mike Butler: Treaty settlement total sensitive?

I have put in numerous requests under the Official Information Act and have become accustomed to being avoided, delayed, and obfuscated. I have not been lied to.

But a response last month by the Office of Crown Maori Relations, to an OIA question on how much money has the government paid in total claims since 1975, including the most recent settlements, looks like misinformation.

Shane Jones: Are There Iwi Provisions in the Fast-Track Bill?

Sean Plunket talks to Shane Jones on the Platform – Are there iwi provisions in the fast-track bill?

Click to view

Mike Butler: Treaty settlements – let’s be honest

Let’s be honest about treaty settlements for a few minutes.

The table attached shows that around $4.6-billion has been largely paid in financial redress for alleged breaches of the treaty by the Crown all the way back to 1840 and the Maori Party, rebranded as Te Pati Maori, looks angrier than ever.

That raises the question whether anything has actually been settled.

Geoff Parker: Josie Pagani's Maori Ward & General Propaganda

In her disjointed article Josie Pagani promotes the dark forces that strive to undermine New Zealand’s precious democracy.

In my view Pagani pins her argument for Maori wards or ‘power-sharing’ on the Treaty of Waitangi, but the fact is that there is nothing in the Treaty (any version or translation) that speaks of separate racial representation in governing bodies.

The Treaty was a simple 3 clause document which simply said:

Mike Butler: Land sold, not ‘lost’

The Green Party’s election policy of setting up an inquiry and a $350-million fund to help Maori buy stolen land from the private market shows that some believe there are votes to he gained from Maori grievances over land issues in the 19th century.

Green co-leader Marama Davidson ignored current full-and-final settlements worth more than $4-billion, the earlier full-and-final settlements of the 1940s, as well as compensation paid before that.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 18/8/23

As global dairy prices plunge, O’Connor steps up with final plan to bring down farm emissions, too

Two burning questions to be asked of ministers – how are they spending (or misspending) our money and how are they further regulating us? – are answered in a batch of press statement from the Beehive over the past 24 hours or so.

The sum mentioned by Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor made him the biggest of the spenders in the latest announcements.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 31/7/23

Robertson congratulates the Black Ferns, Mahuta will watch the Silver Ferns – but does govt support help a team’s chances?

How our money is being spent – and misspent – is among the burning questions which Point of Order strives to answer by monitoring the government’s official website.

Today we can record a few projects proudly announced by ministers – but we can’t always tell readers how much is being spent because the ministers haven’t bothered including that information in their press statements.

Another question we like to ask relates to the whereabouts of our busy ministers – and their sporting interests.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 30/6/23

The PM is busy in China while Andrew Little deals with Five Countries – but for success, check out the Census numbers

The government’s diplomatic balancing act can be admired on two fronts this week.

In Wellington, Andrew Little released a statement headed Five Country Ministerial Communiqué.

This was the culmination of a gathering of political bigwigs from New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada.

Michael Bassett: The Labour Party and tribal Maori leadership

During World War Two Labour’s Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, decided the time was right to settle Maori claims over the loss of land. Maori were playing a much more active role in the war effort than during World War One and the Prime Minister told everyone that they were to be guaranteed equal access to all opportunities when they returned from the Front. Several lump sums were paid to tribes on a “full and final” basis for their grievances. Being a Labour government, ministers expected that the money would be spent on furthering health, education and welfare for ordinary Maori. They were astonished to discover that Tainui spent much of its settlement on a flash new car for the Maori King and improvements to the living quarters of the Maori royal family. Socialists scratched their heads, feeling it wasn’t their job to fund the Maori aristocracy.

Point of Order: Govt serves good news by helping shoppers gauge whether this item – or that one – provides the better bang for our bucks

Good Christmas news for shoppers came in the form of the Government announcing it is working on a set of rules intended to help consumers compare the prices of grocery products at supermarkets.

They can do that now, of course, although the procedure is exhausting: shoppers hoping to get the best bang for their bucks can visit every supermarket within a comfortable travelling distance, then walk down the aisles with their shopping lists and take copious notes of who is selling what for how much.

Shoppers furthermore can calculate whether a 150-gram tin of sardines (or whatever) is a better deal than the 150-gram tin of sardines on the same shelf.

Point of Order: We know what the PM thinks of David Seymour.....

.....but how does he stack up alongside Vladimir Putin?

Ukraine loomed large in the latest announcements and the one speech posted on the Beehive website in the past 224 hours.

The speech came from the PM, telling us what she said in her address to Ukraine’s President Zelensky on the occasion of his addressing the New Zealand’s Parliament.

Point of Order: How the Treaty of Waitangi is determining the direction in which state-funded science will be taken (or dragged back?)

We have come – or gone – a long way, in the past two decades. In which direction is open to discussion.

Writing for The Independent Business Weekly on 22 January 2003, I noted how a localised Māori belief in a taniwha had obliged Transit New Zealand to stop work on a stretch of new expressway near Meremere for several weeks.

The Environmental Risk Management Authority was consulting people about ways to incorporate Māori spiritual values in a revised policy. The authority (according to newspaper reports at the time) might regard Māori spiritual concerns as sufficient reason for rejecting research applications for genetic research approvals, even if there was no physical biological risk.

Point of Order: Govt delivers more goodies and a Treaty apology....

.....but the big news is that it has pulled the plug on Three Waters entrenchment clause

The government hadn’t finished a beneficent day or so of handouts, when we filed our previous Buzz from the Beehive on Friday.

Lots of goodies had been up for grabs during that day, but geography, ethnicity and occupations largely determined who would benefit.

The same considerations loomed large in two subsequent announcements –