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NZCPR CAMPAIGNS
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Dr Muriel Newman
After a year of operation, and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of spending of public money, most New Zealanders still have no idea that a government review of our constitution is underway. Two recently held Focus Groups confirmed that fact. A professional facilitator guided discussion around a series of questions about the state of race relations in New Zealand and the government’s constitutional review. On the issue of race relations, the groups were very well informed. They were emphatic that the Treaty of Waitangi was no longer an historic symbol of unification but had become a political weapon of division. The Waitangi Tribunal was also seen as divisive and backwards looking.
Despite political sideshows, the economy remains the key issue of concern for most voters. It’s also top of the agenda for most political parties - for their own self-serving reasons. Surprisingly, it’s the Green Party that is gaining the most traction on the issue – this is despite advocating policies that lack credibility and realism. The economy is high on their agenda because they want to broaden their constituency into Labour’s left flank.
The Independent Constitutional Review website at ConstitutionalReview.org will be the focal point for our campaign. It contains a wide range of background information - on the constitution, the plans by the iwi elite to gain constitutional status, the government’s deceitful review process, and what it all means for our future. The website outlines numerous ways that supporters can get involved and help, including how to donate to the campaign and how to volunteer and assist.
A debate is currently raging over the underlying cause of child abuse. It follows the disturbing revelation that five out of every six children who are abused or neglected before they are five years old, live in families on welfare. This rate of abuse is ten times higher for children living in families on welfare than for children whose parents had never been on welfare. It shows what the advocates of welfare reform have always known, that long-term welfare is a serious risk factor for children.
Jobs and higher incomes are the reasons usually given for increasing numbers of New Zealanders crossing the ditch to settle in Australia. A net 40,000 moved there in the year to the end of August. While greener pastures are undoubtedly a key factor, it is highly likely that racial issues are also causing the flight of Kiwis. Weary of a political environment that encourages an aggressive mixed-race minority to make unreasonable demands against taxpayers, fed-up Kiwis have had enough!
Andre Agassi dropped out of school in the 9th grade to pursue his tennis career. He turned professional at age 16 and went on to become a world champion. But he deeply regretted the fact that he didn’t have a quality education. This belief - that nothing has a greater impact on a child's life than the education they receive - led him to establish a charter school for underprivileged children in a disadvantaged area of his home-town of Las Vegas.
New Zealand has reached a defining moment in race relations. On one hand, the aggressive demands of iwi for ownership rights to water, wind, and other natural elements that are public good resources, are not only without foundation, but are now preventing you from governing according to your electoral mandate. And on the other hand, the promoters of Maori sovereignty – which includes members of the Maori Party - are pushing ahead with their plan to replace New Zealand’s constitution with one based on the Treaty of Waitangi as supreme law. As you will be aware, this move would give un-elected Judges superior powers over our elected Members of Parliament.
The absurd Treaty of Waitangi claims being made by iwi leaders for the ownership of pubic good resources that are the foundation of life itself are driving New Zealand towards a race relations tipping point. In spite of the general goodwill of the public towards finally settling all genuine Treaty claims, naïve and self-interested politicians have instead taken the country down the path of appeasement. Appeasement is based on making concessions, but the problem is that over time demands incrementally become more unreasonable.
Last week it was water. This week it is wind. Having successfully taken ownership of the foreshore and seabed from the Crown - and with the embedding of the Treaty of Waitangi into a new New Zealand constitution well under way - Maori leaders are casting around for new public resources to claim as their own.
In the lead up to last year’s referendum on our voting system, New Zealanders were re-assured that if MMP was successful, the system would be reviewed and improved. This promise persuaded many people who were considering voting for change, to stick with the status quo and vote for MMP.
