Wednesday, September 12, 2012

positive movement

Can a bad/useless/corrupt/putwhatyoulikehere government do good things? Can a bad person do good things? 

Obviously this has been a point of discussion around other areas and putting value judgements of what ‘bad’ is aside I want to thank finlayson (I don’t think he’s ‘bad’), personally and as a representative of the government, for saying these things

Stuff
“Ngai Tuhoe’s history shows clearly why it is so important to settle genuine historic Treaty grievances,” Finalyson said.
“The conditions in Te Urewera, which contains some of our most deprived and isolated communities, show the very real and continued effects of the Crown’s Treaty breaches on the daily lives of Ngai Tuhoe people in the present.”
Huge areas of Tuhoe land were wrongly confiscated and more purchased unjustly, Finlayson said.
“Military campaigns against Tuhoe prisoners and civilians were described even at the time as extermination and the Crown employed a scorched earth policy in Tuhoe settlements.”
This settlement is a strong step towards mana motuhake for Ngāi Tuhoe and I congratulate them.

It is not perfect but it is a step in the right direction and as Tuhoe negotiator Tamati Kruger has said, “he believed the tribe had ultimately won what it was seeking, which was control over the park.” 

I wonder about the figure of 170M – is that figure used for relativity or do they calculate it some other way?

1 comment:

Dave Kennedy said...

You're right, Marty, it is a good letter. I would love to see John try to write a response.