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DON BRASH: HIPKINS' DANGEROUS STATEMENT ON MĀORI NOT CEDING SOVEREIGNTY
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins stirred controversy by asserting that “Māori did not cede sovereignty” when signing the Treaty of Waitangi. Don Brash comments “New Zealand has operated as a unified nation under the Crown's sovereignty for more than 180 years. Hipkins’ claim that Māori did not cede sovereignty threatens our national unity and could undermine our legal and political system, creating divisions based on heritage where there should be none”.
TREATY IS A BALD AGREEMENT, ANCHORED IN ITS TIME AND PLACE
Quoting from the Bruce Jesson Lecture presented by former Labour Prime Minister David Lange in the year 2000, Gary Judd KC comments while that the evidence does not support everything Lange said, his general theme was correct. Judd comments, “In the real world, there are no principles of the Treaty. They exist only in a fantasy world created by the 1972-1975 Labour government’s Treaty of Waitangi Act. The magical possibilities of this fantasy world have expanded since then to the point where ordinary New Zealanders feel threatened by those who would claim on the basis solely of their identity, or who they identify with, that they have a superior place, and that democracy must be relegated to a subordinate position”.
JOHN ROBINSON: NEW ZEALAND NONSENSE (TWO). VOTING BY RACE - UNEQUAL MAORI SEATS
Research scientist John Robinson explains the convoluted calculations that are undermining a basic tenet of democracy – equality of votes. If votes were of equal value with equal electoral populations, there would be five Maori seats in parliament, not seven.
KAIPARA’S MĀORI WARD VOTE A MILESTONE FOR LOCAL DEMOCRACY
Kaipara-based ACT MP Mark Cameron is welcoming Kaipara District Council’s vote to disestablish its Māori ward. Mark comments “Dividing New Zealanders up into different groups with different political rights based on race is poisonous to a democracy”.
DAVID SEYMOUR WELCOMES CRITICAL WAITANGI TRIBUNAL REPORT
ACT leader David Seymour welcomes the report released by the Waitangi Tribunal on the proposed Treaty Principles Bill as a contribution to the national conversation he had long been calling for. "We need a national conversation about our founding document. Are there two classes of New Zealanders in partnership, each with different rights? Or are we a modern democracy where all citizens have equal rights?"