WAATEA NEWS COLUMN: RMA changes another last minute kick in the teeth for Māori
Once again, Māori have sickeningly become the punching bag for right wing reactionary voters.
Gutting the RMA by Scrapping Iwi-Council Agreements, Removal of Treaty Principles and Diminished Māori Voices in Planning is all so National ACT and NZF can provide more raw meat policy for their election campaign.
It is cynical, it is divisive and it is unquestionably racist dog whistling.
The Government will replace Mana Whakahono ā Rohe (agreements dictating how iwi feed into local council decision-making) with narrowly scoped iwi participation agreements meaning existing and ongoing deals are being discontinued.
The proposed legislation removes the RMA’s mandate to uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, shifting the focus primarily toward private property rights and economic development
Māori leaders argue these moves systematically erase Tiriti-guaranteed rights and strip Māori of their seat at the environmental decision-making table
The manner in which this hard Right Government have mutilated and attacked Māori political aspiration is shameful.
Working together and honouring the Treaty should be celebrated for the strength it creates in our decision making, instead of celebration, the Political Right attack indigenous political rights and pretend it’s righteous to hide the bigotry.
The RMA needed reform, but that’s not what is happening here, it has been manufactured into a culture war weapon so the Right can parade it in front of their culturally insecure voter base who see any benefit to Māori as a reduction in them.
If National, ACT and NZF get re-elected they will cement into place their 19th Century White Settler Privilege.
We are a better people than these right wing Parties believe us to be. You have never had so many valid reasons to stand up and vote a Government out.
Jim Bolger was once asked why when he led National that he didn’t lean into the deeply racist demands of his own voting base and attack Māori, and he said, “If I did, how could I then govern the country?”
It’s time to remind the Right of that fact.
just another Maori bashing exercise .David parker already had done the yards on this and all the COC has done is remove all the Maori stuff so the colonists can mop up what they have not already taken .What the dumb cunts cant see is that the NZ economy is failing because the colonists have on sold most of our profit making businesses off shore so no earnings are staying in NZ to be spent in the local economy ,hence the lack of growth .
you state “The proposed legislation removes the RMA’s mandate to uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi”. can you please supply a copy of these principles?