Mr Harawira said he doubted Mr Goff would hold his resolve if Labour found itself in a position to govern. "I absolutely guarantee you that if I form a new party and we have the seats to make a difference, he'll be ringing me as fast as he possibly can."I feel a bit sorry for goff - he is out of his depth and floundering and the polls keep going down...
Why not retrofit school buildings in NZ to an extra-ordinary high standard and have them double up as emergency centers in the event of a natural disaster? So for example, why not have schools fitted with a number of land lines given that cell phone networks appear to be somewhat fragile in the face of quakes? And why not install sizable septic tanks that sewerage could be diverted to when sewerage systems break? And have robust fresh water storage facilities on site? And independent power supply capabilities? Why not designate schools as permanant repositories of disaster provisions (water, deydrated or tinned food, blankets, tents, toileteries etc)?
Hydraulic fracture stimulation, or “frac’ing”, is used to stimulate underground hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs to increase the flow capacity of the rock to gas and oil. “Frac fluid”, which primarily consists of a water or hydrocarbon base and sand, is pumped down the wellbore into a designated section of the well at high pressure to fracture the reservoir rock. The sand is a washed and sieved quartz sand or man-made ceramic particles. The sand is used to hold the fracture open to provide a pathway for the fluids to flow into the wellbore for extraction at the surface.
Frac’ing currently being undertaken in New Zealand is at depths well below the deepest groundwater aquifers that are used for drinking water or irrigation. Therefore, any proposed frac’ing operations cannot affect groundwater. Shallow aquifers are protected by installing a steel casing or liner into the wellbore below the depth of the deepest freshwater aquifer to be encountered by the wellbore. The casing or liner is cemented into place, isolating the surrounding rock and aquifers from any of the fluids entering the wellbore.The East Coast of this country has the exploiters quite excited
March 30, 2010 - New Zealand oil and gas producer and explorer TAG Oil Ltd. (TSX-V: TAO) announced today that the first stratigraphic well in TAG's initial three-well Waitangi Hill program has been drilled to a total depth of 171m. The results, including "free oil" in core samples, further indicate Waitangi Hill as an area of active oil and gas generation and expulsion. The Waitangi Hill-2 well is located within TAG's 530,000-acre permit area in the northern East Coast Basin of New Zealand, where TAG is pursuing both conventional and unconventional fractured oil shale prospects. The objective of these Waitangi Hill stratigraphic wells is to begin collecting the modern data needed to enhance the Company's ability to appraise a conventional development of the historical Waitangi Hill shallow oil discovery, and more importantly, to further assess the viability of the underlying Waipawa Black Shale and Whangai Shale source rock formations as unconventional targets.Who are TAG Oil?
TAG Oil Ltd. is a Canadian-based company with international operations in New Zealand. The Company holds a drill-ready prospect inventory that covers more than 3,500 sections of land in the Taranaki and East Coast basins, including a 100% interest in the producing Cheal oil and gas discoveries now under appraisal and development. In the East Coast Basin, TAG is planning a drilling campaign to further investigate the major unconventional resource potential that has been demonstrated in the Waipawa and Whangai fractured shale source-rock formations that are widespread across the Company’s acreage. The geological characteristics of these formations compare favourably to oil-rich shale formations such as the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin and Liassic Shale in the Paris Basin.Check this video out from TAG Oil - they are very excited about 'the whole area'. Not just Waitangi Hill but all of the Waipawa and Whangai country.
You seem to be missing the point, John. You have a lot of facts about this oil and gas business yet you have no facts about the East Coast people (iwi/hapu) who live in these areas and may be affected by any mining or drilling.
I’ll tell you some facts. It is a fact that two of my rangatira Koia-uru-te-rangi and Rawiri-Rangi-Katia signed the East Coast Treaty (Te Tiriti o Waitangi) and the Treaty they signed with the Crown protected the people, culture, lands and sea.
They did not sign a Treaty that would allow their people to be murdered, their lands stolen, their culture destroyed and their rights as tangata whenua taken away.
Governments have never honoured the East Coast Treaty because they are not worthy. Instead, through history, they have changed Acts and laws to justify their mistreatment of the Treaty partner.
Today we are still protecting our culture, lands and sea, John, because Maori are the land, mountains, rivers and sea. That is the culture that makes us who we are.
Mining and drilling may place our way of life at risk.
This crazy National Government has forgotten the written agreement between Maori and the monarch of Britain. But us Coasties have not forgoten, John. It is our right under Te Tiriti o Waitangi to say NO to drilling and mining along the East Coast. Just because an out-of-control government gives out permits does not mean they can trample over a legal document between a Queen and East Coast Maori.
Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says Hone Harawira should be embarrassed about forgetting to vote on the foreshore bill.
She said Harawira's failure to vote puts into question his commitment. "You're either genuine and you're here to represent a particular viewpoint and as such you're here to cast a vote saying that you support that viewpoint."Yes so true, we remember all of the votes you have made Tariana supporting the gnats and making life harder for the people - yes your voting record says it all so I wouldn't be too indignant about Hone's mistake. Especially when a new poll of maori shows that only 11% support your Bill. That is not a mandate no matter how much spin you put on it. Will you keep your promise to follow the wishes of maori? Will you keep that promise?
Mining company BHP Billiton’s whopping $10.5 billion profit for the second half of 2010 highlights the shameless greed of those making a fortune out of Australia’s valuable resources... Now BHP is on track to break an Australian record. Its profit for this financial year will likely be more than $20 billion. Rio Tinto and Xstrata have also announced huge profits.
The big corporations are always trying to convince us that high profits are good for everyone. The argument goes that the more they make, the more they’ll share around. But as the mining giants have shown, the more they make, the more they line their pockets. It’s true that some mining workers earn relatively high wages. But these wages, often for dangerous and difficult work, are peanuts compared with mining super-profits.The mining of our land is about to step up and we must fight them and show the truth - that this exploitation is for money and it is obscene.
...Because Mr Speaker, when the Minister of Treaty Settlements says that “Maori will have to show that they held exclusive use and occupation of the area since 1840, without substantial interruption, and that the area in question was held in accordance with tikanga”, then what he is saying is that the National Party / Maori Party government intends to use exactly the same test in 2011 that 50,000 Maori marched against in 2004.
And when Mr Speaker, the Prime Minister says that “customary title is not going to be easier to achieve, but it’s not the government’s job to make the tests easier…” then what he is doing is spitting in the eye of the Maori Party for backing a deal that is likely to break their backs at the next election.
And when Mr Speaker, the Maori Party actually says in their video, and I quote: "if we were negotiating on what is fair, just and moral, then we would have a very different outcome," then Mr Speaker, please let it be known to all who care to notice, that I am glad that I am no longer a member of a caucus that has finally realised that the price of their coalition with National, is their support for a bill that is unfair, unjust and immoral.
And when Mr Speaker, the Maori Party says “that is the choice facing Maori people, and we will be guided by them” then I have to ask, which people is it that they are talking about?
And when Mr Speaker, the leadership of the Maori Party moves to force me out so that they can say that the Maori Party unanimously supports this racist piece of legislation, do they seriously think that the 50,000 who marched against the confiscation of their rights in 2004 are going to accept the ongoing confiscation of those rights in 2011?
Because this I know Mr Speaker …
1. All 4 Maori Party MPs who voted for this racist piece of legislation, did so without going back to ask their constituents what they thought about it;
2. All 4 Maori Party MPs who voted for this racist piece of legislation, have publicly expressed grave doubts about the bill itself;
3. All 4 Maori Party MPs who voted for this racist piece of legislation, have been told in no uncertain terms by their constituents that they do not support it; and
4. All 4 Maori Party MPs who voted for this racist piece of legislation, have been called upon by iwi in their electorates to withdraw their support for it
And Mr Speaker, the analysis of the submissions makes it quite clear why Maori do not support this bill –
1. it fails to properly recognise and provide for the mana of hapū and iwi
2. it continues the original confiscation via vesting in the ‘common space’
3. it sets the use and occupation tests too high
4. it limits the content of a customary marine title
5. it introduces a costly, adversarial and complicated court process;
6. it remains discriminatory to Māori, and
7. it continues to breach Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Tikanga Māori, common law principles, and international human rights standards, including the United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Mr Speaker, this bill is deserving of nothing but contempt and dismissal, for it preys on the desperation of the Maori Party to be seen to be doing something about the issue from which it was born, while highlighting the determination of the National Party to ensure that Maori will actually get nothing from the same piece of legislation.
Kia ora marty, nga mihi nui kia koe. Maori Party co-leaders Tariana Turia and Dr Pita Sharples will be speaking on the second reading of the Marine and Coastal Areas (Takutai Moana) Bill today. Mrs Turia is scheduled to speak between 3.50pm and 4.15pm or immediately after question time while Dr Sharples is expected to speak an hour after Mrs Turia. marty, if you have the time to tune in, please do so.I was not able to listen but I have read the speech now and it is similar to the video. One series of statements needs clarification
There is also a very interesting provision, tucked away in clause 105, the burden of proof clause which states explicitly that “it is presumed, in the absence of proof to the contrary, that a customary interest has not been extinguished”.
In other words, it will be up to the Crown to prove that any interest has been extinguished- rather than placing the onus for proof on the whanau, hapu and iwi.
Is this a panacea for all ills? I think not.I think not too and I think this point needs to be analysed because it is not my understanding and I hope I am proven wrong.
We have vigorously fought the case against too high a threshold being applied to the tests for customary marine titles – a concern which whanau, hapu and iwi have consistently raised with us. And we appreciate also the concern of many Maori who seek a new Treaty based ‘longer conversation’ to safeguard the mana of hapu and iwi. This was a resounding theme of the 72 submissions received by the Maori Affairs select committee from marae, hapu, iwi, Maori land owners, organizations and collectives. It is a theme that we have certainly heard, and we will continue to give voice to, in every sphere of political activity that we are engaged in.
There has been some statements made in public about the ‘overwhelming opposition’ to the Bill demonstrated in the select committee process. I think that comment should be balanced by the fact that less than 2% of the 5700 submissions received were in fact from Maori – the great majority of submitters coming from within lobby groups the like of the Coastal CoalitionThe opposition is mainly from Pākehā - who'd have thunk it.
This is our bill – a Bill which the National Party was prepared to back.I wonder why.
"With all my heart and soul I beg the Maori Party to recognise the fact that they have been sold down the river by the National Party and to accept the reality that they occupy a cold and lonely place in the hearts and minds of their people," he said. "This is racist legislation and thousands will walk away from the Maori Party."Very powerful - "a cold and lonely place in the hearts and minds of their people" - whū! That is very hard hitting.
... being independent means I am no longer constrained by a party that got a bit lost at the first sniff of power, I’m no longer shackled to dull, boring policies written by bureaucrats to please the Nats rather than promote the hopes and aspirations of our people, and I no longer have to accept crumbs and the continued theft of the foreshore and seabed as the price of coalition.
And more importantly, being independent means that I am free -
Free to speak out against government policies that focus on the rich get richer while the poor get shafted and the lives of ordinary Kiwis get destroyed in the process;
Free to develop the argument that “what is good for Maori is good for the country” and that spending real money on getting rid of the Maori underclass, makes good economic and political sense for everyone;
Free to highlight the state of inequality that Maori people face in their homeland, to propose new ways of dealing with those issues and to work with any other MP or political party that is courageous enough to say why not;
Free to speak of bold new ideas, to develop the political will to grow those ideas, and to help define the goals, the teams and the structures required to turn those ideas into a genuine reality rather than the jaded, faded bureaucratic washouts that government departments thrive on and ordinary people hate;
Free to travel the north to build on the support that the people have always given me to raise the issues as openly and as honestly as I can;
Free to road-test those messages in a national tour over the next few weeks;
And free to talk to all the well-meaning people, Maori, Pasifika, Pakeha and others as well who have given me truckloads of support over the past few weeks about what it is they want to see in parliament.Yes bring people together - that is the answer. We are in this waka together and this movement, led by Hone, and devoted to tino rangatiratanga is a movement we can all support and we must support it because look around at the alternatives - notwithstanding the greens, what options are out there - not many, if any.
Last year, when the government was making a lot of noise about its goal of "closing the gap" with Australia, we were confronted with the odd sight of Economic Development Minister Gerry Brownlee claiming in the House to have targets and milestones for this goal, but refusing to say what they were.
Since then I've been engaged in a prolonged OIA battle with the Minister to force him to produce the advice on which these "milestones" were based.The answer?
Despite being given numerous interesting but irrelevant documents, its been clear from the beginning that there was no such advice - that Brownlee made up his "milestones", and in the process lied to Parliament. And today, I received confirmation of this, in the form of the Ombudsman's preliminary views on a complaint I lodged about Brownlee's answers. The Ombudsman has formed the view that Brownlee should have refused my request, on the grounds of section 18(g) of the Act - basically, that it does not exist. Why? Because the Minister had admitted it
My investigator met with the relevant officials from the Ministers office. She was advised that the answer given in the House was not based on specific advice received by Mr Brownlee either from the Ministry of Economic Development, or from the advisors in his office... It has become apparent during my investigation that there are no source documents for the answers given in the House on 27 July and 5 August 2010.
Tātangi nei te reo o apakura ki ōku taringa
He aituā e kukume i ngā taura o ngākau mōmotu
i te kukumetanga mai o Rūaumoko i ōna here ki te mata o te whenua
Nei te tangi ki ngā tini aituā kua wehe ki te pae o ngaromanga
Waiho mā mātou nei e apakura tū te ao, tū te pō
Nā reira nei te mihi ki a tātou Ngāi Mōrehu
Me pakahiwitahi tātou kia kiia ahakoa te taumahatanga o te wā
Āe rawa atu nei, kei te ora tonu te manaakitanga me te aroha ki tēnei whenua
It has been such a tragic week and my thoughts are with all those who have lost family and friends in this earthquake. I also wish to acknowledge those who are, injured, unable to live in their homes, are living in damaged homes and so on. All residents of Christchurch, Canterbury and in the wider community have been affected in some way.
So far this website has been used to convey only essential-service messages and information about marae accommodation and respite. However, today there is a lot more resource around and a few extra minutes to dedicate to a quick update.
About 30 Te Rūnanga Group staff are working furiously at the new Wigram Hub to re-establish our core businesses and operations. This includes the Tahu FM crew. We are here because we have no access to Te Waipounamu House in the Central Business District. We do not expect to have access for many more weeks, possibly months to come. But this has not stopped us from delivering the mahi required at this time. The Ngāi Tahu/Iwi Katoa/Te Puni Kōkiri/Māori organisation relief effort is a combined and coordinated effort and linked in with the greater Civil Defence relief effort across the city. Many people are inputting into this effort whether from their homes, marae, or from the Ngāi Tahu Wigram Hub.
There are many from outside the city and all across the country who are also contributing and I thank all Iwi, Māori organisations, and all others for their generous donations. I also thank the many Cantabrians, New Zealanders and international citizens who are here on the ground doing their utmost to help us recover. The Red Cross Emergency and Hardship Grant is helping to address the immediate and dire needs of whānau who are without water, power or sewerage services. It is hard to adequately express how proud I am of our whānau and our wider community, you are simply extraordinary.
Over the days and weeks ahead, there will be time to report on this relief effort and I will post regular updates in this space, in the meantime, continue to take care of each other.
Aroha ki te tangataWe must look after the people - that is the priority.
Mark Solomon.
The Minister, Gerry Brownlee, told a media briefing this afternoon that if he had his way, most of Christchurch's heritage buildings would be bowled tomorrow. He says the old buildings killed people when they toppled during the earthquake and they can not remain.
"While they are part of our past history, they have no place in our future history. As I've said repeatedly, heritage is both forward and back and from this point on, we decide what the heritage of this city will be," he said.Oh dear gerry - past history is a little redundant and future history - well I know what you are trying to say but you aren't actually saying it with those words. I think the 'we' in the last sentence indicates the royal 'we'.
... the increase of national wealth and power promised by the aquisition of New Zealand, would be a most inadequate compensation for the injury which must be inflicted on this Kingdom itself, by embarking in a measure essentially unjust, and but too certainly fraught with calamity to a numerous and inoffensive people, whose title to the soil and to the Sovereignty of New Zealand is indisputable, and has been solemnly recognised by the British Government ...
... The Queen... disclaims for herself and for her Subjects, every pretension to sieze on the Islands of New Zealand, or to govern them as part of the Dominion of Great Britian unless the free and intelligent consent of the Natives, expressed according to their established usages, shall be first obtained...
... All dealings with the Aborigines for their lands must be conducted on the same principles of sincerity, justice, and good faith as must govern your transactions with them for the recognition of Her Majesty's Sovereignty in the Islands. Nor is this all. They must not be permitted to enter into any Contracts in which they might be ignorant and unintentional authors of injuries to themselves...Lord Normanby's instructions were barely followed. The free and informed consent according to established usages and the principles of sincerity, justice and good faith were not followed. In fact these are the same issues facing Māori today. Tino rangatiratanga is about free and informed consent and sincerity, justice and good faith. There are numerous reasons that the Treaty, between the indisputable Sovereigns of the land - Māori, and the Crown, did not live up to the intent of Lord Normanby's instructions. What has happened, has happened - the point is, what do we do about it.
Quite frankly people have died in this last earthquake trying to save old buildings. We're not going to do that any more. My absolutely strong position is that the old dungas, no matter what their connection, are going under the hammer."
"Old stuff, if it's got any damage at all, needs to be got down and got out, because it's dangerous and we don't need it."No one would put a building above someone's life but there are some major inconsistancies with brownlee's statement. The two modernish buildings that came down killed more people than the heritage buildings. If you do this in Christchurch, which used to be considered a low earthquake risk compared to some other other cities in this country, then what about Wellington or somewhere else?
... After a rough session where we remained unconvinced this bill would do anything other than legitimise all the mining and drilling that is planned by the Crown and will lock in the confiscations that have happened all the way to 2011, Te Ururoa breezily attempted to use the same old bullshit line about being open to ideas. This was too much. They cut the process short and say they will do all the changes at committee stage/2nd reading, but we won't have any chance to object to it then. We can't properly tell him yes or no now to the bill because we don't know what the law will say - and neither does he. It is preposterous.
I said I had put forward ideas at select committee stage but had seen no evidence that anything I or anyone else that wasn't a big infrastructure company had said was taken on board. So how long have we got to get back to him with our ideas that he will be listening to (before the caucus votes for whatever the Nats put in anyway?) I asked. Realistically, I said, how long have we got to email you our ideas on this bill before it's too late. I had my pen poised over my pad and I kept looking at it as he struggled to find an answer. All I could hear was the ticking of the clock and him shuffling papers around for what seemed like an age. I didn't look up at him, just at the tip of the pen. The meeting waited in silence. Then he finally said: "a week." I took a long blink, looked up and repeated, slowly: a week. Maybe it was my unchecked expression of derision that did it, maybe it was the laughter from the others, maybe it was the earlier exchange over Hone and who would be the next male leader of the party now "you pulled the pin on him" that had something to do with it, but he seemed a little irked. "A week," he repeated. "One week" I repeated in disbelief. "You wanted a time: a week." - he reiterated tersely. There was more silence as the bad punchline to an even worse joke sunk in. No one had to say anything - it's a farce.That week has started running which reinforces the 'farce' - it is a joke but no one's laughing.
The Innu Council of Pessamit filed a complaint with the Quebec Ministry of Natural Resources after discovering that a mining company, Nevado Resources Corporation, was carrying out illegal drilling activities on the Pessamit Innu's territory. "We have never given Nevado permission to drill on our territory. We demand that it cease all activities immediately", stated Raphaël Picard, current chief of the Innu Council.
Various media reports this month suggest that more and more Indigenous Peoples are choosing a "green future". For instance, the Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico are moving ahead with the first utility-scale solar plant on tribal lands, a project that could bring millions of dollars to the poverty-stricken Nation. Elsewhere, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Colombia agreed to develop a locally-owned wind farm; and in Saskatchewan, the Muskoday First Nation is continuing to develop their own, independent, organic food co-op. Green projects like these offer a sustainable way for Indigenous Nations to get out of the economic crisis imposed by Nation States.
The Evenk people in northern Russia spoke out against a new gas pipeline that threatens to degrade their hunting and fishing grounds. "We are not against progress or economic development, but we feel like we are the ones who will suffer from this," states an Evenk petition, which was signed by 213 people. "Our reindeer pastures and hunting sites are being seized, rivers are being poisoned and fish are disappearing." The Evenk are asking for the pipeline to be re-routed somewhere else.
A Judge in Ecuador found that Chevron must now pay $8.6 billion to help restore the Amazon. On February 14, Ecuador's Superior Court Judge Nicolas Zambrano ruled that Chevron is legally liable for the 18.5 billion gallons of oil that now sits in the Amazon raiforest, a toxic legacy that some refer to as the "Amazon Chernobyl." Unfortunately, the company wasted no time announcing that they will do everything in their power to have the ruling thrown out.
52-year-old Gwich'in and Yup'ik activist Desa Jacobsson started a fast in protest to "the comprehensive violation of subsistence rights and continued de-humanization" of Indigenous Peoples"in Alaska by State Governor Sean Parnell, the Calista Corporation, and the Federal Subsistence Board. Now on her 20th day with out food, Desa says that her fast will continue until all of her demands are met. Alaska’s Big Village Network and other entities in Alaska are preparing their own actions "meant to raise the call of change and equal rights."
The UK mining giant Vedanta is trying to overturn the August 2010 mining ban on the Dongria Kondh's Sacred Mountain in Orissa, India. According to Survival International, Vendata filed a petition with the Orissa high court, challenging the decision, "as well as an associated decision to restrict the growth of an alumina refinery also operated by Vedanta."
"I have seen that played out in Labour and in National where the Maori voice is ignored or subsumed. You saw that in Labour with the foreshore and seabed legislation," she said. "We have seen that with National consistently, particularly with the way Georgina te Heuheu has been treated ... she is one of their senior MPs but is not treated like a senior MP."Of course the defenders defend
Labour's transport, infrastructure and associate Maori affairs spokesman Shane Jones labelling him a "political hoodlum".That is a compliement but Jones won't get that. Labour's Maori Affairs and Treaty of Waitangi spokesman Parekura Horomia, in his roundabout way, confirms Hone's words too
When asked if he thought he was being ignored because he was a Maori MP in a largely Pakeha party, Horomia replied: "When you are a minority and you have been doing this like I have for 30-plus odd years, you soon learn and know very well when you are getting nought ... you have to be tough enough to understand that is the environment you are working in and make sure you make the best shot to ensure you utilise the leverage.
In a joint statement released after the Maori Party council finished its hearing today, Harawira and Maori Party president Pem Bird said neither wanted to see the party "destroyed by in-fighting". "We have come to the point where it is agreed it would be best for myself [Harawira] and the Maori Party to part ways and focus on issues," the statement said. Harawira would continue to serve as the Tai Tokerau MP and would stand at this year's election as an independent MP or as a member of another party. The joint statement said Harawira would not stand for any other seat and the Maori Party would not stand a candidate for his seat at this year's election.
In his own statement released this afternoon, Harawira acknowledged "the devastation caused to the people and the communities of Christchurch" by the earthquake, which he said was "rightly in the hearts and minds of all New Zealanders" at the moment. He said he was "extremely disappointed" that the findings of a disciplinary committee were released yesterday. "I did not lead the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed March from Te Rerenga Wairua to Parliament that gave birth to the Maori Party, to see it destroyed by infighting five years later, and I understand the vital importance of putting the problems of the past few weeks behind us so that we can all move on," he said. "I am comfortable with the view that we have come to a point where we can all agree that it is best for me and the party to go our separate ways, and to focus on the issues that are crippling Maori people, and indeed Pasifika and Pakeha people living in poverty throughout this country. "I also agree that in the best interests of advancing our people's future, we focus on the issues rather than the personalities, and that we not speak disparagingly of one another."Well it is done and now we can get on with the job - maori party I will not vote for you - Hone let's get that new maori party sorted bro and let's provide the representation that maori deserve and require.
More than three quarters of all beneficiaries will be forced to seek work or face cuts to their payments - a single 'Jobseeker Support' benefit that would replace the dole, domestic purposes, sickness and other benefits and require all but the most seriously ill and disabled to look for work. Which would increase the proportion of beneficiaries presently subjected to work testing from 37 per cent to 77 per cent. That would more than double the numbers required to look for work from 133,200 of the 360,000 people presently on a benefit to 277,200.Of course the obvious fact that there are few jobs is ignored because Rebstock dosen't care - it is all the fault of the beneficiaries, they need to get out there and she will provide the pointed stick to get them moving.
''There are currently few incentives and little active support for many people reliant on welfare to move into paid work. Long term benefit dependency can be avoided if investments are well targeted and timely. "Enabling people to move into paid work reduces poverty and improves outcomes for key at-risk groups, including young people, sole parents, disabled people and those who are sick.''We knew this was coming and now we'll see how much more political capital brand-key will expend defending and implementing it.
The Special Rapporteur cannot help but note the extreme disadvantage in the social and economic conditions of Maori people in comparison to the rest of New Zealand society," the UN report says. "This disadvantage, which manifests itself across a range of indicators, including education, health, and income, is certainly detrimental to Maori people's ability to act in partnership with the Crown, as contemplated under the Treaty of Waitangi. "The Special Rapporteur notes that this disadvantage especially manifests itself among Maori people living in urban areas." Anaya notes that "regrettably" New Zealand continues to incarcerate Maori at a high rate. He said Maori made up 51 per cent of the prison population despite making up only 15 per cent of the total population. "In addition to the negative impacts on individual incarcerated individuals and their families, high incarceration rates have a potentially significant impact on Maori political participation, as the New Zealand electoral law specifies that citizens who have been sentenced and imprisoned lose their voting rights," the report says.Reality hurts for those who pretend not to see - but reality is everyday life for those who are within it. No one who can think is unaware of these statistics and what they mean. It is time to wake up - it is time to deal with why this is happening.
"two things that maori party supporters asked the maori party to achieve in their first term of government - to repeal the foreshore and seabed act and provide a way for maori to go to court"Tariana declares that they have achieved that and the problem is that the bar has been raised.
"people will be able to have a say"The body language just after these lines tells the story.
"government gets incredibly nervous from their polling about what it means for them, if an election were to be called."What the - who calls the election? But don't worry all of that is just "political realities".
"so, we've kept our word to keep the door open and allow people to get in here basically to negotiate their own deal"Tariana states that the Bill has to go through or it will revert and all of the new rights will be lost and it will be much harder for iwi because,
"the government won't be under any obligation to in fact listen to them, or to put anything in place".Umm Tariana isn't that the party you support - even against the wishes of the people?
various iwi have been prepared to accept settlements of between 1% and 3% of what has been taken from us ... when measuring achievements of what has happened with the foreshore and seabed has lifted the bar... and created, not only an opportunity, but the maori party has set a precedent that for the first time ever, our people in numbers, have been able to access ministers of the crown in a way that they never have been before - when you're in opposition you get no opportunity... we have to build relations in this place because unless we do that, the door will always be shut to us.Of course Iwi have been prepared to accept whatever crumbs they have been offered - a good analogy with the maori party position. So, the lines have been set and the "We've kept our promise" is the big theme for this and probably the election. It is an interesting framing because I cannot recall the big promises as such - but if you want to present your argument, you create strawmen and then proceed to argue - the "promise" line is in that catagory. It is made up and irrelevant. My view remains unchanged - the Bill is a farce and reduces maori rights and the maori party should listen to their people and not support it.
In a 3 News Reid Research poll, we asked 1000 voters if New Zealand should partially sell off some state-owned assets. A total 60 percent of respondents said no, just 30 percent said yes.
But regardless of public opinion, Prime Minister John Key still wants to push ahead with the plan to sell up to 49 percent of three state-owned power companies as well as Solid Energy.
“It does show you that we’ve got a job to do, to make sure that New Zealanders understand the merits of this programme,” Mr Key said today.Doesn't that sound a lot like what the maori party are saying about the repeal of the Foreshore and Seabed Act?
Environment Southland might try to halt further dairy farm development in the Waituna catchment in a bid to prevent the area's internationally significant lagoon from suffering irreversible damage. Monitoring of the lagoon, southeast of Invercargill, revealed high levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in sediments were threatening to "flip" the lagoon from an ecosystem with clear water featuring aquatic plants and fish species to one with murky, turbid water dominated by algae. When The Southland Times visited the lagoon this month with Environment Southland water quality scientist Kirsten Meijer, she showed us black mud on the edges of a tributary to the lagoon. "There's a lot of sediment going into the lagoon and the mud goes black (instead of being brown). It smells like sulphur, no oxygen, nothing can live in it," she said.And further north in the Waikato
Hundreds of thousands of fish were found dead in the Whangamarino Wetland, near Te Kauwhata, last week. The fish were killed by low levels of dissolved oxygen in the water, according to the Conservation Department. "The drought at the end of 2010 exposed large areas of the wetland and rapid plant growth occurred in areas usually under water," Mr Hutchinson said. "High rainfall in January, compounded by the baked dry ground in the catchment, meant water rapidly ran off into the wetland and water levels remained consistently high for about three consecutive weeks." Mr Hutchinson said resulting decomposing plant matter started a bacterial process which depleted oxygen in the water. "This was shown further by the layer of oily scum present on the surface of the water, which was natural oils released by decomposing plants, the dark black colour of the water and the soft, wilting emergent vegetation starting to break down," he said. "The decomposition is also identifiable by an unpleasant smell, very similar to that from a compost bin." But a wetland resident, who did not want to be named, said the decomposition smelled more like sewage. "I have lived here since the 50s and I have never seen anything this bad before," he said. "It's an environmental disaster. This wetland is dying."So down south dairying is identified as a major if not THE major factor in the degradation of the Waituna Wetland and black mud is an identifier, but in the Waikato, one of the most intensive dairying areas, the black mud is supposedly because of the drought and then big rains - I'll let you draw your own conclusions...
She specialised in the history of Maori and Pakeha engagement and produced acclaimed biographies and histories. Dame Judith believed it was important that New Zealand's story should be known, making it accessible to the general public with her well-written and well-researched books. She won several awards for her work, including the 2010 New Zealand Post Book of the Year and General Non-fiction Award for Encircled Lands: Te Urewera 1820-192. The book documents Tuhoe's quest for self-government of their lands, granted to them in law more than a century ago. The Tuhoe people honoured her by bestowing a Maori name, Tomairangi o Te Aroha. Dame Judith was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006, was a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand and an inaugural Fellow of the New Zealand Academy of Humanities. She served on the Waitangi Tribunal and the Historic Places Trust Board.Maps says it all with this post from December 2009
Despite her relatively low public profile and her relatively small bibliography, Binney has exercised more influence over New Zealand's intellectual and arts communities than any other contemporary historian. She is revered by anthropologists and sociologists as well as by historians, and her work has energised poets, painters, and film-makers, not to mention museum curators.Rest in Peace Dame Judith Binney
Keeping our Promise - Marine and Coastal Areas (Takutai Moana) Bill
Tena koe marty, nga mihi nui ki a koe - We made a promise during the 2008 elections to repeal the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act and restore access to the courts. When we entered into a relationship with the National Party, our promise became a milestone in that agreement. That milestone has been a key priority of our work in Parliament over the last 18 months. The Bill, which delivers on our promise, is at a crucial stage and the public has been bombarded with negative messaging that has gained traction. marty, we hope you will be able to take the time to read through the points we make below. It is imperative that our constituents get information directly from the Maori Party that is not skewed with misinformation but instead focuses on what the Bill is trying to achieve and what outcomes there will be for tangata whenua and all New Zealanders.
Kia ora.
KEY FACTS
Abolishes Crown title and recognises customary interests (mana tuku iho) of all coastal iwi. Customary interests include a right to protect wahi tapu; and a right to be consulted on conservation and resource management. Allows iwi to claim customary title. Customary title is a property right that includes customary interests plus all minerals except gold, silver, uranium and petroleum; all newly found taonga tuturu, development rights, and a right to develop a plan which regional councils must recognise and provide for. Restores the right of access to court. If negotiations with Ministers do not reach agreement, tangata whenua can take their title claims to court. The Crown has to prove customary rights were extinguished, not iwi.
KEY STATEMENTS
To turn our back on this Bill, would be to break the promise we made to our people in 2005. If the Bill isn't passed, the law that deprived our people of their day in court, of their mana moana will remain in force. Is this what the people want? Is this why we marched? The Bill does not give us everything we wanted, but it is a step forward. If others have a better plan for repealing the FSSB Act, let's see it. The Bill reopens the door that was slammed shut in 2004, and allows tangata whenua to have a longer discussion on customary rights. The Bill does not settle the issues, but it keeps them alive. The Maori Party can advocate for customary rights and tikanga, in the Bill, but only tangata whenua can negotiate and settle matters of mana tuku iho. The decision to support or oppose the Bill is a matter of strategy: do we take a step forward, knowing we still have a long way to go? Or do we retire from the battlefield, and try to rejoin the fray some time in the future? That is the choice facing Maori people, and we will be guided by them.
CHANGES FROM SELECT COMMITTEE
The Attorney General will be recommending the House amends the Bill to require any recognition of customary title through negotiated agreement be given effect through legislation. This means that every such agreement will be subject to full Parliamentary and public scrutiny. This will dispel any concerns about future governments doing shoddy deals.There are some frequently asked questions and answers like these ones
Can the Government decline customary title over lands that have been confiscated?
If an iwi is declined title, it will not be because their land was confiscated, so no the Government and Court can not decline title solely on the basis of confiscation. Iwi who have had their land confiscated are still eligible to claim customary title.
Why can't we just repeal the Seabed and Foreshore 2004 Act and create a Marine and Coastal Bill to replace the 2004 Act with conditions that are more acceptable to Maori?
Repealing the Act but not replacing it will cause uncertainty and the law cannot allow uncertainty. Therefore Parliament cannot repeal the Act without replacing it with legislation.
Can a moratorium be placed on mining licences that affect the foreshore and seabed?
The Maori Party asked for this but the Government declined it.I'm not going to fisk this but let it stand as is.
... five weeks out from the scheduled start of filming for The Hobbit prequel, local Maori are set to put their foot down and refuse permission for the Oscar-winning director to use the central North Island mountains again. The iwi considered them sacred.It's a pity they don't provide more context around the last sentence. I don't imagine it will adjust the views of the filmmakers but it would help the public understand, perhaps. Of course the filmakers just move to another mountain - I wonder what tangata whenua will say when they come to their ancestors.
Peter Jackson's production company has been allowed to divert water from a Waikato stream to create the lush green pastures of Middle Earth - in the middle of a hot New Zealand summer. Environment Waikato, the regional council, has granted consent for 3foot7 Ltd to take up to 890cu m of water a day from a lake and stream in the Hinuera Valley, near Matamata. It will be used to irrigate 4ha of land planted on the Hobbiton set - the home from which Bilbo Baggins will set out on his quest in The Hobbit. This will give a rich green appearance to Hobbiton, reminiscent of Tolkien's beloved English countryside.We really are bending over backwards to help them make money, aren't we.
Yesterday the Maori Party members of Waitemata hosted a public hui where the Te Taitokerau MP, Hone Harawira, addressed the electorate. In response to the MP's address the hui stated: 1. We have total confidence in the elected Te Taitokerau MP, Hone Harawira. 2. Further, we request that our Te Taitokerau MP, Hone Harawira, be returned to caucus without further ado. 3. Finally, we are appalled at how the mana of our Rangatira has been treated in the isolation process, excluding him from important matters and issues that affect Te Iwi Maori katoa ie: Te Takutaimoana; Mining on our whenua; Privatisation; G.S.T increase; and other legislative bills before the house. The Te Taitokerau members in attendance will be attending the Maori Party Council hui to lodge their dissatisfaction at the lack of proper process taken without proper consultation and communication to the Te Taitokerau electorate.Tamaki Makaurau say
Maori Party leaders are facing a vote of no confidence from an Auckland iwi over the Foreshore and Seabed replacement bill. Tamaki Makaurau elders likened the party's support for the new legislation, in the face of substantial objections, to trampling on the mana of their ancestors. Spokeswoman Ngaire Te Hira said the bill was not what people marched the length of New Zealand for back in 2004. Kaumatua and kuia of Tamaki Makaurau are preparing for a hikoi to oppose the bill.Another hikoi - yes maybe that will get the message through but I am not optimistic about that because of these type of delusional statements from sharples and turia.
Members of the committee had also wanted to see legal advice about tests for customary title the Government received on the bill but Mr Finlayson said it was his choice to refuse to release that.I bet you don't want that information coming out.
The most contentious part of it is the test for customary title -- continuous use and occupation since 1840 -- which Maori critics say is too hard to meet. Mrs Turia said her party had campaigned on repeal and for the right to go to court and it achieved those things, even if it remained unhappy with the tests. Mr Finlayson told reporters he did not intend to move on the test issue, which he considered honest and objective.Finlayson laughs off the outrage saying there is no point in further deliberation because, "Well everyone's position was very well predetermined" why bother asking for submissions then - a big fake process leading to a predetermined decision. No one is fooled - it isn't even subtle. This is a foul brew concocted by these weaklings.
In November last year, Prime Minister John Key described as "far-fetched" the idea that investors could sue the New Zealand government directly in a secret international tribunal to enforce rules in the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA). This week, US trade negotiator Barbara Wiesel said that was no longer New Zealand's position, according to TPPA critic Professor Jane Kelsey. In response to questions about New Zealand and Australian positions during a briefing to civil society in Washington on 31st January Ms Wiesel said "New Zealand had retracted the Prime Minister's statement. It is not their position."What does it mean?
The Key government is happy for pharmaceutical firms in the US, Australian banks or Singapore-based Brierley Investments to sue the New Zealand government for millions in compensation if they think new laws or policies are unfair or unreasonable or erode their profitability", said Professor Kelsey.
"Either John Key did not know what his negotiators were proposing to do when he described investor-state enforcement as "far-fetched"; or he was lying to the New Zealand public; or he has buckled to pressure from the US, and possibly his own Minister and officials, to agree."
"This proposed bill of rights for foreign investors is even more frightening when government has announced assets sales and privatisation of ACC, policies which failed in the past and required the government to step back in."
