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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Dr Muriel Newman
This election campaign has not only been notable for the dirty politics of Hager and Dotcom, but for the many myths that are touted as fact. Child poverty is a case in point. It is used by those on the left to justify higher taxes and a bloated government
There are many issues of crucial importance to voters in election campaigns - particularly whether parties have the capability to manage the economy effectively. However, there is one matter that doesn’t rank highly in the polls, but is of such deep concern that it goes to the heart of who we are as New Zealanders - the issue of racial privilege and the Maori seats.
This election campaign has been effectively stolen from voters. Left wing activist Nicky Hager clearly planned to dominate the campaign period with the publication of his book of hacked emails. He has done this before. He knew releasing private emails would overshadow the campaign and give him unprecedented publicity.
Through this Tuhoe settlement, the government is sanctioning separatism. But when it results in the bullying of Police and the disrespecting of the rule of law, is this really the future we want for New Zealand – a nation of ‘no-go’ zones, where the rule of law can no longer be guaranteed?
There is no doubt that the concept of citizens’ democracy is a powerful one. It is, after all, attributed with building Switzerland into a successful and prosperous nation. But the question that advocates should be asking right now is whether the policy of binding referenda is feasible within New Zealand’s constitutional framework?
Official data shows that the biggest foreign investor in New Zealand land during the five years from 2009 to 2013 was the US, followed by Canada, Israel, the UK, Australia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Monaco, with China in tenth place.
It is a fundamental tenant of democracy that all citizens should be treated equally in law. We believe that should start with the removal of race-based seats and electoral rolls. We would like to reach out to as many other New Zealanders as we can with that message, and we are asking for your help.
Quite why New Zealand governments have wanted to penalise households and small businesses, with an ETS that is far more onerous than that of the European Union, is not clear - especially when our country is one of the cleanest and greenest on earth, with human habitation covering less than one percent of our total land area.
The threat of a compulsory warrant of fitness for rental housing should evoke the strongest possible response from property investors. They will be well aware that such a scheme would come at a considerable cost, which would not only drive up rents, but would force some property owners to sell. By increasing rents and reducing the availability of rental housing, this misguided policy would hurt the very families that the advocacy groups purport to want to help.
The July 3rd discharge without conviction of Korotangi Paki on charges of burglary, theft, and drink driving, on the grounds that he is the son of the Maori King, has caused widespread outrage.
