This blog crosses different landscapes to pull together themes of Indigenous endurance and development within a context of environmental hazards and injustices.
Followers
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Disaster conference, Brisbane, April 16-18
Just updating our Ru Whenua/Christchurch earthquakes research at Lincoln...two team members, Melanie Mark-Shadbolt and Simon Lambert, will be attending the upcoming Australian & New Zealand Disaster and Emergency Management Conference, to be held in Brisbane, 16 – 18 April 2012.
The conference theme is Earth: Fire and Rain, and the organisers note “In recent times we have endured horrific fires in Victoria, devastating earthquakes in New Zealand, heartbreaking flooding in Queensland, NSW and Victoria, damaging cyclones in North Queensland and tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes and flooding in many parts of the world. ” The conference is an important opportunity for researchers, disaster managers, politicians, and community leaders to meet and korero about how to better prepare ourselves and our communities for future disasters.
Melanie and Simon will be in Australia interviewing Maori who have left Christchurch for the sunny and non-shaky Queensland! Anyone interested in being interviewed, by all means contact us.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Maori economy alerts
Summit for emerging Maori business leaders
Radio New Zealand The growing size of the Maori economy and preparation for a post treaty settlement environment are two main reasons for the convention, and the need to ... |
Damien Grant: The right is wrong
New Zealand Herald It is a cornerstone of a functioning capitalist economy, ... In 1840, the State contracted with Maori. The deal was actually pretty simple, at least in the ... |
Unemployment worries Maori Party
MSN NZ News The Maori Party's relationship with the government has had a rocky start this ... the government says show the economy is heading in the right direction.
Interesting Huffington post, that points out that as 'New Zealand also has the advantage of containing more than one culture, so some people there are accustomed to thinking in terms of alternatives.' That's us, e hoa ma!
|
Strong Sustainability
Huffington Post (Landcare's name in the other official language of the country, Maori, ... depict a New Zealand that is less integrated into the global economy, ... |
New Kono brand aims to boost exports for Wakatū Inc
Scoop.co.nz The Māori word Kono means food basket and traditionally a kono was used to ... in the key industries that are the lifeblood of our regional economy. |
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Maori unemployment up...
Latest Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) shows a slight decline in unemployment for the last quarter of 2011, from 6.6% to 6.3%.
Numbers actually in employment, however, are flatling: 63.9%
There's been a decline in full-time employment, a drop in hours, and a rise in 15–24 year olds not in employment, education, or training (who get their own acronym: NEET) which increased 0.7 percentage points, to 13.1 percent. (Young guns, 15–19-years, saw a larger increase than old hands, 20–24-years of age, up 1.3 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively).
But the figures for Maori are worsening: 13.4%, up from 13.1% for the Sept Q, 2011, and NZ Herald reports the countries annual jobs growth as 'broadly positive'.
Maori poverty remains hidden. : (
Numbers actually in employment, however, are flatling: 63.9%
There's been a decline in full-time employment, a drop in hours, and a rise in 15–24 year olds not in employment, education, or training (who get their own acronym: NEET) which increased 0.7 percentage points, to 13.1 percent. (Young guns, 15–19-years, saw a larger increase than old hands, 20–24-years of age, up 1.3 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively).
But the figures for Maori are worsening: 13.4%, up from 13.1% for the Sept Q, 2011, and NZ Herald reports the countries annual jobs growth as 'broadly positive'.
Maori poverty remains hidden. : (
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Maori Holocaust: sticks and stones may break my bones...
I knew Keri Opai's use of the term 'holocaust' to describe how Taranaki Maori were treated would cause a ruckus.
Similar Jewish complaints followed Tariana Turia's use of holocaust several years ago.
That a recent Herald report repeated the word to describe the horrific killing of a US family seemed to pass without comment, though in that case it was framed as a 'personal holocaust'. Perhaps we have to qualify it with a ethnic epithet, a Polynesia holocaust? a whakapapa holocaust?! A British-colonial holocaust!
Essentially Taranaki still struggle to find the words to articulate what has happened to them...
Berlin Holocaust monument. Source: Daily Telegraph
Similar Jewish complaints followed Tariana Turia's use of holocaust several years ago.
That a recent Herald report repeated the word to describe the horrific killing of a US family seemed to pass without comment, though in that case it was framed as a 'personal holocaust'. Perhaps we have to qualify it with a ethnic epithet, a Polynesia holocaust? a whakapapa holocaust?! A British-colonial holocaust!
Essentially Taranaki still struggle to find the words to articulate what has happened to them...
Berlin Holocaust monument. Source: Daily Telegraph
Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Maori Economy Alerts
Plenty of Press releases this week, to be expected in a week of protest...
Science Ministry to get Maori development chief
Radio New Zealand
Chief executive Murray Bain says the ministry recognises the Maori economy is an important and growing part of New Zealand's economy. He says Maori have a ...
Govt must focus on rights and resources: Env Ministry
Stuff.co.nz
Chief executive Dr Paul Reynolds said natural resources were central to Maori identity and economic development, and were often at the heart of Treaty of ...
NZ PM Key gives asset sales assurance
The Age
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has reassured Maori that the Crown's treaty ... and tribal leaders boosting New Zealand's economy was a top priority.
Dollar hampers 'knowledge intensive' exports
Nelson Mail
It would include specific action to lift innovation as well as action on "green growth" and Maori economic development. "Growth in commodity exports alone ...
Peaceful start to Waitangi Day
Stuff.co.nz
... by saying state asset sales and mining would boost the country's economy. ... He also spoke of the disparity between Maori and Pakeha, and how Maori ...
PM defends asset sales plans to Maori
Radio New Zealand
The Prime Minister has used his Waitangi Day speech to reassure Maori that ... the Government is focused on increasing the performance of the economy.
Who is speaking out on today's big issues?
New Zealand Herald
By Chris Barton The economy, financial crisis, inequality - they're ... a distinguished professor of Maori studies and anthropology and Campbell Jones, ...
Iwi keen but cautious on buying a slice of SOEs
The Press
The idea that Maori could own national assets that are critical for ... of New Zealand or importing and exporting the goods our economy relies on feels like ...
Hauraki pains
New Zealand Herald
Economic indicators show Hauraki Maori still in the region continue to fare poorly in employment, incomes, housing and health. Their own historic rivalries ...
Science Ministry to get Maori development chief
Radio New Zealand
Chief executive Murray Bain says the ministry recognises the Maori economy is an important and growing part of New Zealand's economy. He says Maori have a ...
Govt must focus on rights and resources: Env Ministry
Stuff.co.nz
Chief executive Dr Paul Reynolds said natural resources were central to Maori identity and economic development, and were often at the heart of Treaty of ...
NZ PM Key gives asset sales assurance
The Age
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has reassured Maori that the Crown's treaty ... and tribal leaders boosting New Zealand's economy was a top priority.
Dollar hampers 'knowledge intensive' exports
Nelson Mail
It would include specific action to lift innovation as well as action on "green growth" and Maori economic development. "Growth in commodity exports alone ...
Peaceful start to Waitangi Day
Stuff.co.nz
... by saying state asset sales and mining would boost the country's economy. ... He also spoke of the disparity between Maori and Pakeha, and how Maori ...
PM defends asset sales plans to Maori
Radio New Zealand
The Prime Minister has used his Waitangi Day speech to reassure Maori that ... the Government is focused on increasing the performance of the economy.
Who is speaking out on today's big issues?
New Zealand Herald
By Chris Barton The economy, financial crisis, inequality - they're ... a distinguished professor of Maori studies and anthropology and Campbell Jones, ...
Iwi keen but cautious on buying a slice of SOEs
The Press
The idea that Maori could own national assets that are critical for ... of New Zealand or importing and exporting the goods our economy relies on feels like ...
Hauraki pains
New Zealand Herald
Economic indicators show Hauraki Maori still in the region continue to fare poorly in employment, incomes, housing and health. Their own historic rivalries ...
Aotearoa/New Zealand as a Steady State Economy?
In these times of almost daily political eocnomic upheaval, it can be difficult to pullback for a grand planetary perspecitve. Maori are still, of course, engaged at many scales (notably now in debate over freshwater). But what a wondrous conundrum: the rigidly banal science that accepts a logically ultimate balance in the face of rampant theoretically and empirically destructive consumption.
Jack Santa Barbara poses a nice wee question in his 'Fleeing Vesuvius'...'overcoming the Risks of Economic and Environmental Collapse'. JSB's initial position is a simple economic geographic observation: our isolation will lead to energy descent as we are a small market at the far end of the energy supply chain. This makes us vulnerable to reduced supplies and high prices, and therefore one of the easiest customers to cut from the route. A 'market-driven energy decline could be both unexpected and abrupt'.
In many respects, Kenneth Boulding The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth is the seminal article in describing this 'closed' system and interpreting the world economy or econosphere as a number of inputs and outputs, most significant being material, energy, and information... "From a material point of view, we see objects passing from the non-economic into the economic set in the process of production, and we similarly see products passing out of the economic set as their value becomes zero." As for the energy system, Boulding notes there is no escape from the 'grim Second Law of Thermodynamics'. The large energy inputs which we have obtained from fossil fuels can only be temporary.
In many respects, Kenneth Boulding The Economics of the Coming Spaceship Earth is the seminal article in describing this 'closed' system and interpreting the world economy or econosphere as a number of inputs and outputs, most significant being material, energy, and information... "From a material point of view, we see objects passing from the non-economic into the economic set in the process of production, and we similarly see products passing out of the economic set as their value becomes zero." As for the energy system, Boulding notes there is no escape from the 'grim Second Law of Thermodynamics'. The large energy inputs which we have obtained from fossil fuels can only be temporary.
The presence of "slack" in a culture 'permits a divergence from established patterns and activity' not merely devoted to reproducing the existing society but to changing it. Boulding's key point is that the closed earth of the future requires economic principles which are somewhat different from those of the open earth of the past. The open economy is like a 'cowboy economy,' the cowboy being "symbolic of the illimitable plains and also associated with reckless, exploitative, romantic, and violent behavior, which is characteristic of open societies." The closed economy of the future could be seen as a 'spaceman' economy, in which the earth has become a "single spaceship, without unlimited reservoirs of anything, either for extraction or for pollution, and in which, therefore, man must find his place in a cyclical ecological system which is capable of continuous reproduction of material form even though it cannot escape having inputs of energy."
So, one planet, many peoples. Here in Aotearoa/NZ we still struggle with two peoples, one Treaty. Bon chance.
Websites
Monday, February 06, 2012
Open Letter to New Zealand, from Tariana Turia
Maori Party MP, Tariana Turia, publishes an 'Open Letter' to NZ, reprinted below in full:
"In writing to you, I take my lead from Sir Graham Latimer.
Twenty-four years ago, he published a full page advertisement in major
newspapers throughout the land. His letter included the English text of
Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He wrote to the people, telling them what they had told him - that the
Treaty had no meaning, for most New Zealanders it lacked any relevance
to their lives.
Sir Graham begged to differ. He did so on the basis of 24 words, encapsulated in section nine of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986. "Nothing in this law shall permit the Crown to act in a manner that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi."
With those words, a platform was established for Treaty jurisprudence; but more importantly the pathway to nationhood which enables all of us to call New Zealand home.
Out of those words have emerged far-reaching decisions in education, land, te reo Maori, in forestry, in radio, in television. They have, in many respects, defined our nation, ensuring that Maori have the same right as others to the protection of the law; recognising their unique distinctiveness as tangata whenua and as one of two partners to the Treaty. And vitally, it reminds us all of the constitutional significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as instructing us how to live together as Treaty partners.
Protecting the special character of our "home" has been at the essence of the action we have taken last week.
I am not one prone to idle threats.
Only one month into the 50th Parliament, the last thing anyone would have wanted would be disruption as is now likely. But to be honest, we never contemplated that the Government would dare to throw into question a legislative clause which many have described as establishing the foundation for a treaty-based nation.
Section nine. One sentence of law that changed, forever, the landscape of the Treaty debate that shapes our nation. Those words provided the basis for placing the Treaty at the heart of our ongoing growth as a nation.
I talk about our concept of home. When we think "treaty" it is so often in familial terms. We refer to Waitangi as the birthplace of the nation; the signing of the Treaty as the birth of this land we know as Aotearoa.
And so it was not surprising to read a description of the key players in the 1987 Lands Case as "parents". Justice Sir David Baragwanath, who as QC led Sian Elias and Martin Dawson for the plaintiffs in New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General, has written powerfully about the significance of that case as a turning point in our history. In his contribution to the "In Good Faith" symposium of June 2007, he traced the impeccable lineage of the key players involved some 20 years earlier.
He named several true parents of the Maori Council case: Dame Whina Cooper, the matriarch of the 1975 land march; Matiu Rata, the visionary behind the Waitangi Tribunal; Nganeko Minhinnick, the driving force in the Manukau claim.
We must never forget the heroic courage of Sir Graham Latimer, or as Sir Howard Morrison once said, "the bloke who mortgaged his farm in 1987, with Lady Emily's support, to take on the Crown". The chairman of the Maori Council - and Maori vice-president of the National Party from 1981 to 1992 - Sir Graham has done much to bring the Treaty into focus for us all.
Our home today in Aotearoa owes so much to these people who dared to have the audacity to believe, "in good faith", that the Treaty was worth fighting for.
It has been so disappointing that the advice the Prime Minister received last week did not enable him to see the magnitude of section nine. It was a mistake to suggest that section nine was "largely symbolic" and to extrapolate further that it had not even been used. Frankly, it missed the point.
Numerous commentators have proven otherwise - that section nine led directly to the more empowering provisions of sections 27a-d in the State-Owned Enterprises Act; it had direct bearing on the coal case, the broadcasting assets case that was central to the creation of Maori Television; the New Zealand Maori Council's settlement over the forestry assets. And, as public law specialist Mai Chen said in the Herald recently, it was the starting point of "an incremental but significant constitutional change in New Zealand".
The encouraging advice that nothing should permit the Crown to act in a manner that was inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi provided clarity to the courts; it enabled them, for the first time, to test the actions of the Crown against the principles of the Treaty.
Although the statute stands as an important testimony to the power of the Lands Case, it is the ongoing journey towards nationhood that has kept me awake over this last week.
And so to coin a phrase, I believe that the elegant way forward that is being sought comes back, ironically, to the nub of the debate over section nine.
Over this last week, I have thought back to the legacy of the leadership that brought the lands case to fruition. These were people in our living memory; too many are no longer with us, but their imprint will never die. They had an expectation of us that we will uphold the importance of the Treaty relationship; an expectation that I cannot ignore.
The representations made to Government at that time were hard fought for. We must honour the legacy of those who campaigned to create the constitutional guarantee to Maori that has arisen through interpretation of the Treaty principles.
Any diminution of section nine would be mana-diminishing for the Crown and the people she represents.
There are times when you know that the essence of all you believe in will be undermined by a particular action - and you have to make a stand. This is one of those times. We have no option but to stand strong on this matter; to take other New Zealanders along with us; to have faith in our foundations as a nation.
Section nine is not just a technical provision in law. At its core, it is about people talking together for our common good.
For the fundamental import of section nine was the pathway it provided for the creation of principles which have influenced the courts, settlement legislation and indeed our most intimate and meaningful relationships between Maori and the Crown. Those principles included themes of partnership, protection and participation; they represent the ultimate expression of good faith; of being fair to one another; of acting honourably.
The principles outline a prescription for a relationship which is central to our constitution; an exquisite blueprint for a nation in which kawanatanga and rangatiratanga sit alongside each other. There is a natural tension between these two forces which must be resolved in each case as it occurs. The nation should expect this from time to time.
The Treaty provides a framework for how we might be. And quite simply, that's worth fighting for.
Na, Tariana
Sir Graham begged to differ. He did so on the basis of 24 words, encapsulated in section nine of the State-Owned Enterprises Act 1986. "Nothing in this law shall permit the Crown to act in a manner that is inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi."
With those words, a platform was established for Treaty jurisprudence; but more importantly the pathway to nationhood which enables all of us to call New Zealand home.
Out of those words have emerged far-reaching decisions in education, land, te reo Maori, in forestry, in radio, in television. They have, in many respects, defined our nation, ensuring that Maori have the same right as others to the protection of the law; recognising their unique distinctiveness as tangata whenua and as one of two partners to the Treaty. And vitally, it reminds us all of the constitutional significance of Te Tiriti o Waitangi as instructing us how to live together as Treaty partners.
Protecting the special character of our "home" has been at the essence of the action we have taken last week.
I am not one prone to idle threats.
Only one month into the 50th Parliament, the last thing anyone would have wanted would be disruption as is now likely. But to be honest, we never contemplated that the Government would dare to throw into question a legislative clause which many have described as establishing the foundation for a treaty-based nation.
Section nine. One sentence of law that changed, forever, the landscape of the Treaty debate that shapes our nation. Those words provided the basis for placing the Treaty at the heart of our ongoing growth as a nation.
I talk about our concept of home. When we think "treaty" it is so often in familial terms. We refer to Waitangi as the birthplace of the nation; the signing of the Treaty as the birth of this land we know as Aotearoa.
And so it was not surprising to read a description of the key players in the 1987 Lands Case as "parents". Justice Sir David Baragwanath, who as QC led Sian Elias and Martin Dawson for the plaintiffs in New Zealand Maori Council v Attorney-General, has written powerfully about the significance of that case as a turning point in our history. In his contribution to the "In Good Faith" symposium of June 2007, he traced the impeccable lineage of the key players involved some 20 years earlier.
He named several true parents of the Maori Council case: Dame Whina Cooper, the matriarch of the 1975 land march; Matiu Rata, the visionary behind the Waitangi Tribunal; Nganeko Minhinnick, the driving force in the Manukau claim.
We must never forget the heroic courage of Sir Graham Latimer, or as Sir Howard Morrison once said, "the bloke who mortgaged his farm in 1987, with Lady Emily's support, to take on the Crown". The chairman of the Maori Council - and Maori vice-president of the National Party from 1981 to 1992 - Sir Graham has done much to bring the Treaty into focus for us all.
Our home today in Aotearoa owes so much to these people who dared to have the audacity to believe, "in good faith", that the Treaty was worth fighting for.
It has been so disappointing that the advice the Prime Minister received last week did not enable him to see the magnitude of section nine. It was a mistake to suggest that section nine was "largely symbolic" and to extrapolate further that it had not even been used. Frankly, it missed the point.
Numerous commentators have proven otherwise - that section nine led directly to the more empowering provisions of sections 27a-d in the State-Owned Enterprises Act; it had direct bearing on the coal case, the broadcasting assets case that was central to the creation of Maori Television; the New Zealand Maori Council's settlement over the forestry assets. And, as public law specialist Mai Chen said in the Herald recently, it was the starting point of "an incremental but significant constitutional change in New Zealand".
The encouraging advice that nothing should permit the Crown to act in a manner that was inconsistent with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi provided clarity to the courts; it enabled them, for the first time, to test the actions of the Crown against the principles of the Treaty.
Although the statute stands as an important testimony to the power of the Lands Case, it is the ongoing journey towards nationhood that has kept me awake over this last week.
And so to coin a phrase, I believe that the elegant way forward that is being sought comes back, ironically, to the nub of the debate over section nine.
Over this last week, I have thought back to the legacy of the leadership that brought the lands case to fruition. These were people in our living memory; too many are no longer with us, but their imprint will never die. They had an expectation of us that we will uphold the importance of the Treaty relationship; an expectation that I cannot ignore.
The representations made to Government at that time were hard fought for. We must honour the legacy of those who campaigned to create the constitutional guarantee to Maori that has arisen through interpretation of the Treaty principles.
Any diminution of section nine would be mana-diminishing for the Crown and the people she represents.
There are times when you know that the essence of all you believe in will be undermined by a particular action - and you have to make a stand. This is one of those times. We have no option but to stand strong on this matter; to take other New Zealanders along with us; to have faith in our foundations as a nation.
Section nine is not just a technical provision in law. At its core, it is about people talking together for our common good.
For the fundamental import of section nine was the pathway it provided for the creation of principles which have influenced the courts, settlement legislation and indeed our most intimate and meaningful relationships between Maori and the Crown. Those principles included themes of partnership, protection and participation; they represent the ultimate expression of good faith; of being fair to one another; of acting honourably.
The principles outline a prescription for a relationship which is central to our constitution; an exquisite blueprint for a nation in which kawanatanga and rangatiratanga sit alongside each other. There is a natural tension between these two forces which must be resolved in each case as it occurs. The nation should expect this from time to time.
The Treaty provides a framework for how we might be. And quite simply, that's worth fighting for.
Na, Tariana
Friday, February 03, 2012
We are treated with disdain
I offer the word disdain to describe how we are being treated.
It has perhaps been there from the start, 1642, 1767 and all that. Certainly the Clarke government did itself no favours and will struggle to retrieve Maori support in the near future. But what is so galling now is the combination of feigned ignorance and actual ignorance.
Did the Prime Minister really think that reference to the Treaty of Waitangi in NZ legislation is 'largely symbolic'? Or were they all tripping.
Andrew Geddis does a nice demolition job on the PM's intellectual and attitudinal failings and usefully gives a link to a speech by Justice Robin Cooke that serves to remind us how serious the law is.
This unfolding disaster - the alienation of NZ assets through the continued marginalisation of this country's Indigenous Peoples - is not, of course, the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.
Installation by Manu Scott.
It has perhaps been there from the start, 1642, 1767 and all that. Certainly the Clarke government did itself no favours and will struggle to retrieve Maori support in the near future. But what is so galling now is the combination of feigned ignorance and actual ignorance.
Did the Prime Minister really think that reference to the Treaty of Waitangi in NZ legislation is 'largely symbolic'? Or were they all tripping.
Andrew Geddis does a nice demolition job on the PM's intellectual and attitudinal failings and usefully gives a link to a speech by Justice Robin Cooke that serves to remind us how serious the law is.
This unfolding disaster - the alienation of NZ assets through the continued marginalisation of this country's Indigenous Peoples - is not, of course, the end.
It is not even the beginning of the end.
But it is perhaps the end of the beginning.
Installation by Manu Scott.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
Liquid Sky Photography
Two years ago I used three pictures on a post about the Wairau Bar. These were taken by Quinn Berenston.
Quinn spotted my uncredited use of his work, and kindly let me know via a comment which I duly missed! (most comments are spam, and many are racist).
Many apologies Quinn! Please check out his evocative pictures from around the world on Liquid Sky. Here's a shot of the Sea of Cortez taken by Quinn in 2007.
I spent three nights in Bahia de Kino on this coast about three years ago, carrying John Steinbeck's 'Log of the Sea of Cortez' to reread, though I never got through it this time.
Quinn spotted my uncredited use of his work, and kindly let me know via a comment which I duly missed! (most comments are spam, and many are racist).
Many apologies Quinn! Please check out his evocative pictures from around the world on Liquid Sky. Here's a shot of the Sea of Cortez taken by Quinn in 2007.
I spent three nights in Bahia de Kino on this coast about three years ago, carrying John Steinbeck's 'Log of the Sea of Cortez' to reread, though I never got through it this time.
The Treaty partners position already decided?
Seems the government wanted no mention of any Treaty clause attached to the sale of bits of Aotearoa/NZ...
A draft document posted online for a few minutes showed someone in the government is not that keen on adhering to any sort of obligations to the Treaty.
Two things.
First, these sorts of blunders do nothing to reassure me the government is actually a competent manager of this country.
Second, if the words of John Key, Bill English and others mean little given their actions in this instance, what do their words mean in other instances?
I do think it a bit rich that new Labour leader David Shearer is castigating John Key that 'so-called consultation has now been exposed as a sham.' It was, among other concerns, Labour's lack of consultation over the Foreshore and Seabed that saw the formation of the Maori Party and loss of the admittedly threadbare relationship between Labour and Maori.
A draft document posted online for a few minutes showed someone in the government is not that keen on adhering to any sort of obligations to the Treaty.
Two things.
First, these sorts of blunders do nothing to reassure me the government is actually a competent manager of this country.
Second, if the words of John Key, Bill English and others mean little given their actions in this instance, what do their words mean in other instances?
I do think it a bit rich that new Labour leader David Shearer is castigating John Key that 'so-called consultation has now been exposed as a sham.' It was, among other concerns, Labour's lack of consultation over the Foreshore and Seabed that saw the formation of the Maori Party and loss of the admittedly threadbare relationship between Labour and Maori.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)