The Nga Rohe Moana o Ngati Porou Bill (No 2) gives Ngati Porou two years to put in a claim for the recognition of customary marine title under the Marine and Coastal Area Act.  The iwi is seeking customary title and rights over the over a significant part of the East Coast coastline down to Gisborne. Continue reading

Challenging the lies and propaganda There is a need for all of us to challenge, as they arise, the growing number of baseless claims being touted as facts. NZCPR is a good source of information on the issues, by various authors, as is Kiwi Frontline. Continue reading

Members of the Democracy Action working group have been very busy alerting community groups and others to passages in the Auckland Plan 2050 that undermine the fundamental principles of democracy. (Auckland Plan 2050 is Auckland Council’s long term spatial plan for Auckland). Continue reading

Local Government NZ (LGNZ) is campaigning vigorously to abolish the sections the Local Electoral Act 2001 which relate to the rules for binding citizens initiated polls concerning the establishment of Maori wards. The members of National Council of LGNZ want its members to be able to impose Maori wards unchecked - thereby depriving members of local communities of an individual democratic right expressly written into law. For a comprehensive and well researched essay on this issue, please click HERE. This essay, authored by Michael Coote - a freelance writer and financial journalist - was published on the NZCPR website on 22nd April. Michael explains what LGNZ is seeking, and the reasons why. Continue reading

Case management conferences have now been scheduled for the priority cases and their overlapping claims. These will take place between 28th May and 27th June, in 10 locations throughout the country - from Whangarei to Dunedin. These hearings are only for claimants and their counsel. Continue reading

Increasingly New Zealanders are being denied access to avenues to express their opinions - unless one subscribes to the view that the Treaty is a partnership, and the chiefs who signed did not cede sovereignty. Bruce Moon is the latest to be censored. Mr Moon was invited by the Nelson Institute to speak and he chose to present on what he calls the fake history of New Zealand, focusing on the Treaty of Waitangi, its interpretation and its implementation. But, at the 11th hour his speech was cancelled, Nelson Library stating concerns about "health and safety":  Continue reading

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), along with the Green Party and ex-New Plymouth Mayor Andrew Judd, are agitating to remove those sections of the Local Electoral Act 2001 that allow for electors to vote on whether or not a city, district or region can establish Māori wards. Continue reading

In last month’s newsletter, we went into some detail about how the Draft Auckland Plan 2050 is promoting the subversion of our democracy by bestowing extra co-governance rights on a group of citizens based on race, and requiring the recognition of ‘mana whenua’ as rangatira (chief) in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland). Continue reading

There are two pathways claimants to the marine and coastal area could choose to file applications for the recognition of customary interests, i.e. the High Court route and/or direct engagement with the Crown. The Attorney General is currently involved in the first stage of dealing with the claims filed in the High Court. In the meantime, we hear that the government has agreed to negotiate Te Whanau a Apanui’s marine and coast area claim and its historical claim in the one package. See Waatea news item here. Continue reading

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell, 1984 The media and iwi appear to be on a crusade to ‘appropriate’ the truth. For instance, over the past couple of weeks both Radio NZ and the East & Bays Courier have featured items whereby there have been claims made that Ngati Whatua Ōrākei gifted the land for the establishment of Auckland. Continue reading