reducing our rights

A good post by Morgan on the latest watering down of Māori rights by the government and the Maori Party here

the Maori Party cannot continue to claim to any credibility as a representative of Maori. This is a weak outcome and not the one Maori signalled they wanted. The government comes out of this looking clean, but the reality is far from it. Contrary to media reports, the status quo has not been maintained, it has been eroded.

Carwyn also has some great analysis here

First, nobody was saying that other shareholders were a party to the Treaty, rather the argument is that the Crown has obligations to act consistently with its Treaty obligations. If it is going to divest itself of responsibilities (such as giving up full control of State Owned assets), then it needs to do so in a way that ensures rights under the Treaty are protected.

and Hone cuts to the chase here

"This bill will reduce the protection that the Treaty provided for assets held by the government because the Treaty protection clause, Section 9, has been changed so that it will not apply to the 49% of shares being sold to private investors".

Harawira said that Maori wanted Section 9 in the new legislation because the Treaty applied to all people all of the time. "Nobody at the consultation hui supported the notion that government could sell off half our assets without having to account for the Treaty interests."

I've totally given up on the Maori Party - they have eroded Māori rights not enhanced them.