the illusion of consultation

So arrogant and so wrong - Te Ururoa Flavell you have let us down and now your legacy has been set and it is a sad, paltry legacy.

Māori Development Minister Te Ururoa Flavell is pushing ahead with his controversial proposals to change the way Māori land is handled.

He has introduced the Te Ture Whenua Māori Bill into Parliament, one month after the Waitangi Tribunal criticised the extent of consultation and recommended more engagement with Māori before changing the law.

Oh no he doesn't care what the Waitangi Tribunal says and what do they say?

The Tribunal report upheld several concerns claimants had about the bill, the key one being that consultation wasn't up to scratch. 

It warned that the Minister needed to go out and get enough support from Māori or risk breaching the Treaty of Waitangi.

the minister responds

But Mr Flavell said since that hearing, he has held 22 public hui and 14 wānanga, the bill has been tweaked, and he has that vote of confidence.

This minister is not trusted, his assurances are meaningless, his word is false.

What is this Bill all about?

The new bill aims to give landowners more say and ultimately make it easier for them to use their Māori land.

by 'use' think 'sell' and thus the whittling away of Māori land continues - by overt and covert means the greedy will try to get it all and the greedy will try to sell it all and stopping this will be the people, tangata whenua. And the greedy will be stopped.

pretend caring and the erosion of indigenous rights

Some observations of the Kermadec Sanctuary proposal.

The opposition is based on the non consultation with Māori and the list of Māori opposed because of that is long, wide and varied. The days of riding rough-shot over tangata whenua are OVER. Māori WILL NOT sit while our rights get trampled and discarded.

The government can bleat on as much as it likes about 'saving the oceans' and 'what the people want' and in the same breath do NOTHING about the biggest most serious issue facing every single human and associated species - Climate Change is here and 'ocean sanctuaries' are a nothing response from a nothing government who sit alongside the other nothing governments around the world - while they all weep bullshit tears about the wee fishes - and continue to eat them no doubt. This is the bullshit hypocrisy of these politicians and other assorted names. They say one thing and do another. They are window dressing without any real care about this world or the people in it - let alone the ecosystems within the ocean. It is fake - believe me, it is fake concern from them.

This is one fight for Māori alongside other fights for the rights relating to water and land. Think about that. Rights agreed to over food, water and land are the big battles Māori are fighting at the moment - and Māori are fighting for these rights to be upheld for EVERYONE - so they don't get sold to corporates for profit, so they are available for all.

We will fight for as long as we need to, we will not stop fighting - not while the greedy, exploitative, corporate capitalists are there working with their mates in Parliament to take everything of value from all of us. No, the fight will continue.

Disclaimer - personally I'd stop a lot of fishing and other corporate food making and concentrate energies into sustainability and community. So I like sanctuaries everywhere and all over the place. But this is not about a sanctuary it is about indigenous rights and the ability of governments to disregard them whenever they want - no more will this happen - the lines are drawn and the lines are set.

we will and we won't

It is too much, I suppose, for key the prime minister, to realise what Ngati Kahu are protesting about in Taipa. He says,
 

Mr Key said the Popata brothers, who are nephews of Maori Party MP Hone Harawira, are trying to paint the occupation as a protest relating to the foreshore and seabed issue, when it is clearly not.

I don't think they are doing that at all. their protest is quite specific to the land they want back. Obviously that land is on the foreshore and seabed - that is the connection. Get used to it key, this is just the beginning. The threats are what maori have heard for many years, they are nothing new. 

Prime Minister John Key says the occupation of land at Taipa in the Far North could damage the Treaty settlement process.

"If there's a genuine claim there," he said, "then the right track is to take that up with the negotiations minister and his team."

Yes that is what you want; that maori fit within your little box and follow your rules designed for your purposes. We will follow the process and we won't. You already have the land but time will bring it back and generations if necessary.
Radio NZ

no YOU go to hell

What a poor example finlayson has set by telling a group of maori to "go to hell" - What right has this person has to curse this group - for any reason. He is losing it - his recent obnoxious interview with Kathryn Ryan and now this. From TVNZ

Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson has told a Maori protest group in the Northland town of Taipa they can "go to hell".

Hone, from Stuff

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira said he was disappointed Mr Finlayson had spoken "so disparagingly" about the protesters.

"They are simply seeking the return of lands clearly identified by the Waitangi tribunal as having been improperly taken in the past," he said.

"They have been very respectful even when being abused themselves."

The group has re-occupied land in Taipa, a week after they were moved on from a previous occupation on a section next door. The taking over of ancestorial land and building whare is an effective resistance tool as we are seeing up in Taipa. I support this action and this example is a showing lessons that we can all take on board.

From Radio NZ

Protesters moved back on to Taipa Point on Tuesday and are setting up camp on private land, next to the council reserve they were evicted from last week.

And Margaret Mutu states,

Ngati Kahu negotiator Margaret Mutu said on the iwi's website in March that she told a hui "the current settlement cannot be full and final because it does not return all our lands".

Prof Mutu said a 1997 Waitangi Tribunal report agreed that Ngati Kahu's title to the Taipa Point land had never been extinguished.

It is pretty clear that this is their land - give it back as i state in this post.

From Stuff

Far North District Council spokeswoman Alison Lees said the land was given to the council in parts in 1928 and 1963.

Give this land back. And as for finlayson - grow up and start treating people with a bit of respect.

the policy made me do it

To me Ngāi Tahu Property selling 18,250 hectares of rural land leased to forestry companies located in the lowland Canterbury foothills is just wrong. The diversification argument is disingenous because this is LAND and this land is generating over 1M in rental income - that is low risk. Press Release

"NTP Chief Executive Tony Sewell says the Ngāi Tahu’s rural investment portfolio currently represents 1/6 of the Tribes commercial asset base. "Quite simply we are looking to diversify the overall portfolio in line with the Tribes investment policy.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Kaiwhakahaere Mark Solomon says the iwi has a number of policies in place that guide the decision making of those that lead its commercial entities, including the Group Investment Policy Framework, finalised this year, which encourages Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporation and the subsidiaries to diversify the investment portfolio. "All our subsidiaries will, at times, have to make decisions to sell assets in order to reinvest in a manner that is consistent with our Investment Policy. We see diversification as being essential to secure the tribe’s future financial success."

I think we make a mistake when we just consider land as a commodity that generates profit. I am not happy with the blame being placed on the policy - who signed off the policy? The iwi decides the policy, in line with the values of the members of the iwi. I am not sure where the value of 'selling land' sits but it'll be well down the list i'd guess.

I have checked out the annual report and it says that the Group Investment Policy Framework is designed to get higher returns and provide liquidity and they will achieve that by "moving unproductive assets". The goal is to build net assets from 500M to 1B by 2015 - that's about 48 months away.

It has always been about the land

I'm less than convinced by Labour's turnaround to now oppose foreign ownership of NZ - this seems like trying to stake out ground others already have, but maybe they will get some traction from it - I'm into anything which forces this government to adjust their policies. So good luck to them. I do agree with the Greens who say, from TV3

"The Greens say while they’re glad to see a change of intent, they’re not entirely convinced it will make a difference."

For many maori foreign ownership of land is already here and is an effect of colonisation. It is good that this subject is being discussed because it gives us an opportunity to look at the bigger picture of how tangata whenua are treated. To exhalt loudly on foreign ownership, without using the same gusto in addressing maori inequities around land, seems a little shallow and false to me. And the same people who sold so much of our land when in government are still there, still wanting power.

Under our current world view no one would think to perhaps ask maori what they think and what solutions they may be able to offer.

Ka whawhai tonu matou

amazon peoples fight mining and oil companies

In the amazon the indigenous people continue to fight against exploitation.

"Some three hundred indigenous people from the Peruvian Amazon region of Madre de Dios are on their way to the town of Salvacion to evict the Texas-based company Hunt Oil from their ancestral territory."

"Last month, Indigenous leaders from the Madre de Dios issued a formal statement rejecting Hunt Oil’s presence in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve—a legally protected biodiversity ‘hot spot’ which the government handed over to the company in 2006. The leaders warned Hunt Oil to voluntarily exit the territory within a week or they would be forced out.

This ultimatum was released just a few days after FENAMAD, the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and tributaries, took legal action to halt the company’s activities, which, according to the lawsuit, threatens the headwaters of the Madre de Dios river, Upper Alto Madre de Dios, the Blanco river, the Azul river, the Inambari river and the Colorado river."

“The most vulnerable ecological and cultural areas are now being invaded by seismic lines, whose impacts are irreparable. The area of intervention is one of very high biological value from a worldwide perspective and its surface and underground hydrological system have great cultural significance for the Harakmbut, which makes this a vital space for the subsistence of not only the indigenous communities, but the greater population of the Amazon Basin,” states FENAMAD. “For that reason, all of the beneficiary communities of the RCA have taken the position of impeding the entrance into the oil block and defending the protected area with their lives.”

"Defending the protected area with their lives!" These indigenous people are fighting for their lives. So are we - but we don't realise it. And i mean all of us, from whatever background. We are all here, in this waka and we are all connected.

The examples given by indigenous people protecting their lands and water from mining and exploration - should shame us. We are the same as them! Yet, will we defend our lands and water? Will we? Will you?

Hat tip - Intercontinental Cry