the terror of shearer

I have refrained from giving david shearer the leader of the Labour Party a hard time on this blog mainly because I figured labour would sort out the issues relating to him and his leadership of that political party. But his latest utterances leave me no choice. There is a by-election in the Māori electorate of Ikaroa-Rawhiti after well respected, Labour stalwart, Parekura Horomia died recently. The political parties contesting that seat are Labour, The Maori Party, The Green Party and The Mana Party. David shearer, on behalf of Labour, said on the opening of the campaign that they will make

Scoop

a promise that the party will use the next four weeks to honour the legacy of Parekura Horomia, and retain the seat he held for 14 years.

That is a good thing to say - to honour the legacy, but unfortunately shearer has not done that because within the same press release he also said

We will organise, mobilise and terrorise our political opponents.

Yep The Greens and Mana are political opponents that will be terrorised - forget that the main enemy is john key's national party, oh no for shearer The Greens and Mana are the enemies.

This word terrorise was deliberate and designed to send a message and that message was not lost on the Mana candidate for the seat, Te Hamua Nikora

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Te Hamua Nikora is stunned by Labour’s plan to win the electorate.

And why was this such a shocker by shearer

Nikora said that to hear that message from Labour on a day like today when Tuhoe are settling with the Crown is in extremely poor taste. “Tuhoe haven’t forgotten that it was a Labour Government that raided their homes in Taneatua and Ruatoki in 2007. Tuhoe know that the call to raid their homes by our police came from Labour. It’s another sad legacy on the part of the Labour Party when it comes to Maori rights”.

Yep Tuhoe settled officially with the Crown yesterday, the same day shearer made his statement. Tuhoe receive putea of 170M and most importantly an apology for the following

TVNZ

Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson said the "past breaches against Tuhoe are some of the worst in the story of our nation".

"Land was confiscated; villages and crops burned; families killed and men executed," said Finlayson.

"The relationship with their homeland whittled away despite promises. These sorry events have left a stain on the history of Te Urewera region, and on the history of the Crown in New Zealand.

"Today we address squarely that history, which has remained ever present in Te Urewera to this day."

The Crown admitted that over a hundred year period it:

- Confiscated the best land
- Carried out "unjust" land sales
- Undertook a brutal military campaign that has been described in a contemporary account as "extermination"

 Tuhoe also have negotiated some awesome concessions

TVNZ

The settlement will see iwi co-manage Te Urewera National Park with the Government, and in five years it will negotiate to have Mana Motuhake, or self-rule, which means more control over education, health and housing services in the area.

A great day for Tuhoe and it is such a pity that people like shearer have zero idea of the significance of what has occurred for that Iwi and what this settlement means to them. That is why this call to terrorise opponents is so distasteful and so wrong - it is a slap in the face to all Māori and a disgraceful way to honour the memory of Parekura Horomia. The use of the word terrorise is another example of why david shearer is not fit to be in parliament let alone lead a political party - he is the weakest link in our struggle to remove the government of john key and all of their destructive practices.