Rupert Pye: Is Prime Minister Hipkins “Stoking Fear” Hypocrisy?

Just the other day, former MP Tuku Morgan of the Iwi Leaders Forum termed on TV “the attack dogs of the National party and Act as they fan the flames of racism and anti-Maori sentiments”.

Asked about Morgan’s statement, new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins instead of wisely distancing himself from Morgan’s statement, said “People can form their own judgments about that but I certainly think the opposition, National and Act have, as they’ve done in the past, they’ve used uncertainty to try and stoke fear.”

Firstly people may recall the bizarre case of Tuku Morgan’s expensive $89 underpants. Such was Morgan’s under-whelming performance as a MP, that the underpants saga will be all he is remembered for by most.

Now to Hipkin’s statement about “stoking fear.” Any politician knows it is a legitimate, if not ethical, card for a politician to play. After all, it’s a card politician’s have been playing for a very long time.

Mike Butler: Lest we forget the Waikato war

The Waikato war was fought 150 years ago but land confiscations that resulted from defeat are still as raw today, a Waikato-Tainui spokesman told Radio New Zealand on Friday, the anniversary of that war. Although Waikato-Tainui executive chair Tom Roa said the tribe has moved on from grievance mode to one of prosperity, his attitude on the confiscations implies that despite 1995 “settlement” of $170-million, grievance is never far from the surface.