Today, the NZ Herald reported:
I guess this isn't the taste of sour grapes Bob Jones is used to.
To say that all Maori now live European lifestyles is to disregard their culture entirely; a culture that should be respected. It gives New Zealand a unique place on the world stage after all. Not only is this important for our sense of identity, it's important economically as well.
Jones seems to think that because developments weren't foreseen when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, it no longer has relevance. He's therefore saying that Maori should have known their traditional way of life would become impeded by European settlers, and by accepting progress, they would be accepting disentitlement. This is of course a completely idiotic argument, being that rights to property do not change just because the way in which that property is being used has changed.
What a lot of commenting bigots seem to have overlooked is that the issue of water rights has been before the Waitangi Tribunal for a very long time... Well before National raised the issue of asset sales. The Maori council is not opportunistic; its claim is a result of National trying to sell something they simply don't have the right to sell.
Maori have made no request for monetary compensation for the many years of hydroelectric power generation, mainly because it's been used for the common good. Selling our assets to self-interested racists like Bob Jones will mean an end to that common property resource... acknowledging Maori rights to water will not.
The Treaty of Waitangi talks about rights that are not lessened through the passage of time... It talks about sharing New Zealand so that all Kiwis can reap the rewards of living in this great country.
The founding document of New Zealand doesn't talk about anything the ignorant Jones has made up... It doesn't talk about a bunch of looters being allowed to abuse the rights of Maori in their blind pursuit of the capitalist dream. It doesn't talk about inequality and poverty disproportionately affecting Maori. It doesn't talk about an old white man having his racist rants widely published in an attempt to divide the nation. Likewise, it doesn't talk about the base insults Maori often endure just to boost ratings through causing conflict... These are all concepts dreamt up by white racists with befuddled minds who are increasingly trapped within their pathetic insulated lives.
With Maoridom now living a 100 per cent European-style existence, thus the constant literal exploitation of an expressed good intention 172 years ago by charlatan lawyers is an affront to common sense and honesty.
For example, the Mighty River Power company's principal assets are eight hydro electric generators on the Waikato River. In 1840, the river provided eels and transport for Maori villagers in the vicinity. But today, like everyone else, Maori buy their food from supermarkets and have substituted cars for canoes. To argue that the river was vested to them in 1840 and claim water usage money is simply opportunistic twisting of the original objective. If that proposition had validity, why is it only now being raised? Why have they not claimed against the power company hitherto?
The answer is blackmail, specifically that via the threat of delay through litigation of the Government's sale plans, this action could secure taxpayer millions in yet another bogus settlement.
[...]
There's a procedure adopted by courts to deal with unclear contract disputes. That is to ask what the intentions of the parties were when the contract was made. With the Treaty and the Waikato River that's easy, namely eel provision and transport. Nothing else. Clause two of the Treaty certainly didn't intend to cover radio waves and all the other opportunistic, parasitic nonsense we are constantly insulted with.
The Waitangi Treaty is redundant. It need not be formally annulled but like many other outdated laws, be simply ignored as a historic relic. Claims such as illicit land seizures can be dealt with by the courts.
[...]
In the Mighty River case, in misrepresenting the original intentions of an equally outdated but, like the blasphemy law, still legally alive Treaty, the claim is a form of theft from fellow citizens. At this case, all the garrulous speechifying, feigned injury, tattooed weeping women, euphemistic babbling about resources rather than mentioning money, grave-faced, carved-walking-stick-leaning-on-poseurs and other thespian charades we are so wearingly familiar with won't change that reality.
I guess this isn't the taste of sour grapes Bob Jones is used to.
To say that all Maori now live European lifestyles is to disregard their culture entirely; a culture that should be respected. It gives New Zealand a unique place on the world stage after all. Not only is this important for our sense of identity, it's important economically as well.
Jones seems to think that because developments weren't foreseen when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, it no longer has relevance. He's therefore saying that Maori should have known their traditional way of life would become impeded by European settlers, and by accepting progress, they would be accepting disentitlement. This is of course a completely idiotic argument, being that rights to property do not change just because the way in which that property is being used has changed.
What a lot of commenting bigots seem to have overlooked is that the issue of water rights has been before the Waitangi Tribunal for a very long time... Well before National raised the issue of asset sales. The Maori council is not opportunistic; its claim is a result of National trying to sell something they simply don't have the right to sell.
Maori have made no request for monetary compensation for the many years of hydroelectric power generation, mainly because it's been used for the common good. Selling our assets to self-interested racists like Bob Jones will mean an end to that common property resource... acknowledging Maori rights to water will not.
The Treaty of Waitangi talks about rights that are not lessened through the passage of time... It talks about sharing New Zealand so that all Kiwis can reap the rewards of living in this great country.
The founding document of New Zealand doesn't talk about anything the ignorant Jones has made up... It doesn't talk about a bunch of looters being allowed to abuse the rights of Maori in their blind pursuit of the capitalist dream. It doesn't talk about inequality and poverty disproportionately affecting Maori. It doesn't talk about an old white man having his racist rants widely published in an attempt to divide the nation. Likewise, it doesn't talk about the base insults Maori often endure just to boost ratings through causing conflict... These are all concepts dreamt up by white racists with befuddled minds who are increasingly trapped within their pathetic insulated lives.
