Category: Politics
The report by Fairfax media that Crown negotiators working for Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson on the Treaty settlement process have picked up million dollar fees shows the Treaty of Waitangi grievance industry has become an insatiable gravy train not just for the iwi elite, but also for ex-politicians and the ‘in’ crowd. The 14-strong negotiating team has been paid a total of $5.5 million. Michael Dreaver, an Auckland consultant was the highest earner at $1.5m.
During last week’s discussions at Waitangi, the Prime Minister stated that he favoured a four-year term for Parliament and a fixed election date. Labour’s David Shearer, the Green’s Metiria Turei, New Zealand First’s Winston Peters, and United Future’s Peter Dunne all agreed. ACT’s John Banks said he didn’t think the public would support a move to increase the job security of politicians, and the Maori Party said they didn’t have a view.
The Constitutional Advisory Panel has kicked off its public consultation efforts. One of the issues the panel will look into is the term of Parliament, most likely by assessing whether it should be increased to four years, and whether we should have a fixed election. Of all the matters it is discussing, this seems likely to be the one that is most likely to see some traction.
As expected, the Waitangi Day conflicts have already begun. This year there is tribal warfare over who will escort the Prime Minister onto the lower marae. Titewhai Harawira, the mother of Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, wants to keep the job, in spite of repeated attempts to replace her. Her advancing years are not an impediment to her fighting for the role either. By all accounts in 2009, when the organising committee decided to give Nellie Rata a turn in honour of her late husband Matiu Rata - a former Labour Minister and leader of the Mana Mutuhake Party - Titewhai Harawira elbowed her out of contention!
The Waitangi “season” is here - that time of year when our political leaders embark upon their political pilgrimages of atonement and appeasement, firstly to Ratana pa, then on to Waitangi in Northland. This annual charade will culminate in the “official” Waitangi Day “celebrations”, when the northern clans traditionally indulge in their offensive, often violent and always insulting behaviour, only this time, it happens where the treaty was signed.
It was a week for political speeches. It began last Monday with the soaring rhetoric of US President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, which included inspirational references to nationhood and equality: “Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people… We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own”.
The latest round of full and final settlements was supposed to put an end to racial issues and let us get on with the serious business of living together and surviving as one people, planning for the future. At the very least, the settlements should surely have given us a breathing space of a few years, before our local Mafiosi turned up again for the next instalment of the protection money. But no.
As with overseas aid, such welfare programmes often do more harm than good. Instead of pouring funds into questionable schemes, governments should focus their efforts on lifting economic growth and creating an environment in which small business can flourish, since these are the only proven pathways for improving outcomes for the disadvantaged.
The start of a new year is an opportune time to reflect on what lies ahead. Parliament resumes on January 29 and will rise for Christmas on December 12, with a total of 93 sitting days scheduled. One of the first tasks of Parliament will be to elect a new Speaker. The partial sale of three state-owned assets will dominate Parliamentary business this year – assuming, of course, that the Supreme Court quashes the Maori Council’s claim for the ownership of freshwater.
In a recent editorial on his Newstalk ZB Breakfast Show, Mike Hosking made the point that in spite of paying out billions of dollars in settling claims and giving numerous apologies over a 30 year period, Treaty of Waitangi grievances are showing no sign of ending. He called the Waitangi Tribunal a circus and the whole process a farce, saying that the public are completely sick of it all.
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