Category: Politics
A ‘conversation’. The very word fills me with foreboding. ‘Conversations’ are creatures of the caring classes; the schoolteachers and academics, the higher-paid end of the public service and all the professional carers in charities, lobby groups, trusts and the social sciences; all comfortably off, and all dedicated to their own deadly vision of a truly caring and happy world where they and people just like them intend to be in charge.
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.
In 1999, the Labour Party, by then in Opposition, promised a comprehensive review of the Act if they won the election that year. After they formed a government late that year, they commissioned that comprehensive review by Lars Svensson, a highly respected monetary policy academic (and now Deputy Governor of the Swedish central bank). And the result? Following careful assessment of the Act and the way the Reserve Bank was implementing it, Professor Svensson concluded that it was world’s best practice.
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.
I think it would be a disaster for New Zealand to move to a written constitution of the sort almost certain to be offered. And I would run a mile from incorporating or entrenching the Treaty into any such instrument, not least because overwhelmingly no one knows what it means when applied to any specific issue. So all you will be buying is the views of the top judges, instead of your own, the voters. That’s not a trade I would ever make.
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!
The Maori water claim is not just an argument over an increasingly valuable resource. It is also another nail in the coffin of racial harmony and national survival.
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.
In any mature society, the issue of having, abiding by or amending, a country’s constitution is of national significance and importance. This facet of national life determines not only how political power will be exercised but also how it will be kept in check - matters of profound significance and therefore to be exercised with great diligence and care. A constitution is the source of ultimate or supreme law of a country, to which all other legislation is subservient.
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