John Key our smiling assassin says no-one owns the water. I would agree with that. I have a question though... if no-one owns the water, then how can our Government sell off a 49% share of it? We have a public asset that belongs to the public and the people will have to buy back what they already own.
Where is the outcry? Why aren't people out in force protesting this public asset selling? Don't they have any idea that the Government own nothing? That without the taxation of the people's hard work, they would not be in business, they would not be getting a wage above and beyond what they extract from the sweat of the nation, they would not be able to build us any assets for our benefit. Why do people think they are called 'Assets”? Do people think? (abridged)
A Taylor, Avenues.
2 comments
Aotearoa Sovereignty
Posted on 25-07-2012 10:28 | By TokuReo
Our Governments have been selling our sovereignty to the highest bidder since the Douglas/Lange days. The only people to have seriously challenged this (and still do) are Maori. A Taylor (and apparently the rest of Aotearoa) seems to have missed the battle that was played out last week before the Waitangi Tribunal on this very issue. Had A Taylor listened to the Tribunal proceedings that were broadcast live on our local iwi radio station he/she would know that Maori have never stopped fighting for the retention of our sovereignty.
Water Rights
Posted on 27-07-2012 14:56 | By Lyssa22
My understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi is that both versions of it are a little different, and in the Māori text, Māori were guaranteed 'te tino rangatiratanga' or the unqualified exercise of their chieftainship over their lands, villages, and all their property and treasures. Māori have an intrinsic spiritual connection with bodies of water, and in fact state which one their iwi and hapu belong to when reciting their genealogy. Given the amount of damage done to our rivers over the last 50 years, with deliberate changing of water courses and damming of lakes and rivers, pollutants and toxic waste from farming and other business sectors, it seems only fair that Maori are demanding a right to manage and have a say in the protection of our waters. Pakeha NZers have already been screwed by successive Governments claiming ownership over water and making us pay to use while they abuse it, and now selling it off whether we like it or not. Maori have been screwed twice over, as apparently they should have had rights to manage and retain protection of the waterways (as a treasure) as per the Treaty, from the beginning. Not so. I notice this paper takes great pride in only publishing letters and articles biased and based on ignorance and seems to be feeding the fearmongering which feeds the ever widening divide between Maori and Pakeha New Zealanders in this country. There has only been one Government in this country, the NZ Government, and the injustices committed by it to Maori have been many, and far from being redressed. You just need to look at the mindset of most vocal New Zealanders towards our own native people. It hasn't changed from the arrogant days when Maori kids were beaten and forced to go to Government schools and stop speaking their own language. Hows that for retaining your own pride in your own land? But then, thats not in the Treaty is it. Lisa Passmore
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