maori party pulls support

Better call from the maori party

"The Maori Party will pull its support from a bill to restructure polytechnic councils after it failed in its bid to ensure Maori representation would remain.

Yesterday Te Ururoa Flavell said the party would continue to support the bill only if the Government backed its amendment to provide for three Maori appointments to the councils.

The amendment failed after National and Act voted against it.

Mr Flavell, the Maori Party whip, said the party had previously supported the bill in the hopes of exploring shared governance models. When it became clear that was not possible, the party made its support conditional on an amendment increasing the council sizes to 12 and providing three Maori places.

He said he did not believe it was enough to simply require the minister to take into account the desirability of Maori representation and Maori would yet again be left to depend on the good will of non-Maori who were represented.

The failure to get changes through spelled the end of Maori Party support, but it would continue to work with the minister to try to ensure Maori were on the councils.

That all seems quite reasonable. Offer support to get it moving and withdraw support when they don't listen. Smarter and more mature politics.