Maori's latest national hui should be a wake-up call for all of us and in that I include achiever Maori as well, even if you have exported yourself to Australia as a way of escaping the growing mess that New Zealand is descending into.
When outsiders came to these shores 200 odd years ago they brought undreamt of benefits and since that time Maori have embraced them and advanced immeasurably as a result. But it seems in the last 30 to 40 years they have forgotten all the benefits and no matter how or what they are now given, they are turning into a grasping and greedy minority.
As has been said before, ad infinitum, before Maori there were others, but they refuse to accept that. And after they got rid of them, they continued on with the ‘might is right' principle, which they are now reverting to again.
But, to be fair to them, this path is not entirely of their own making. There are others behind them who are benefiting greatly from all the turmoil and indeed the whole exercise has become a cash cow for manipulative lawyers and the Maori ‘elite'.
While they deny the above furiously, the rest of us are totally aware of it and watch in complete frustration. One has to feel sorry for ordinary Maori, who seem just as incapable of stopping the process as we are.
With such power, greed and money rule and will not easily be given away.

R. McGuinness, Tauranga.