Matua Kahurangi: The great co-governance swindle

The tribal takeover of local government

In modern New Zealand, a quiet revolution is underway. It’s not fought with placards or parliamentary votes, but in boardrooms and council chambers, behind closed doors, away from the people who actually pay the bills. This is the era of co-governance - a creeping transfer of power from elected officials to unelected tribal elites, rubber-stamped by faceless bureaucrats and backed by the silence of a spineless media. If you think this is some wild conspiracy, look no further than the growing list of councils now inking secret agreements with iwi groups without public consultation or oversight.

Mike Butler: The Waikato River taniwha tax

A taniwha tax, indigenous to New Zealand, describes payments to tribal groups to make demands disappear. A closer look at the Waikato River Five Year Report 2015 shows that 44 percent of clean-up funding went as payments to five tribes that claim deep connection to the river.

This report details $22-million worth of funding to 170 clean-up projects and also contains the Report Card that gave the catchment a C+ rating, as reported in Waikato River clean-up awaitedl

Mike Butler: Waikato River clean-up awaited

A progress report, or should I say lack-of-progress report, on the much-vaunted project to clean up the Waikato River, released by the Waikato River Authority on March 22, 2016, gave the catchment a C+ rating.

Some may recall that the Waikato River Authority was set up six years as part of the Waikato River settlement. That deal involved a total of $422.8-million, with $212.8-million handed over to Waikato-Tainui, Te Arawa, Raukawa, Tuwharetoa, and Maniapoto, of which part of that amount was spread over 30 years.