If the proposed policy did reach Royal Assent and “outcomes” for Māori did deteriorate - considering how bad conditions are now, I feel like “being held accountable” by simply not being re-elected isn’t really being held to account. Thousands of people that are negatively impacted, through actions of the sitting government, don’t get any justice if this goes awry, they just get passed on to the next sitting government and we start this all over again. Meanwhile, the very real issues that come about don’t disappear, they’re added on to a long list of historic trauma Māori experience and have to contend with.
Māori have higher rates of crime (or at least convictions), which split households, disassemble families and the root cause is societal. If we’re to make productive changes to the treaty in terms of clarifying terms, it should not be attempted without first genuinely acknowledging the situation Māori are facing. With a large number of Māori children having family members incarcerated, the capacity for their children to commit crime increases (I saw one documentary where a young boy aspired to go to prison like his dad). So, the children of families affected by societal shortcomings are now free to be stolen from their families, forced into camps and broken down into productive little state soldiers.
Within the context of New Zealand, the governments attempt at guiding conversations surrounding the treaty strike me as a concerted effort to further destabilise Māoridom, and if I had to guess, it would be to free up land for development, cut funding for Māori initiatives and reduce the influence of Māori culture in this country.
Excellent comments, thank you Peter! Even if they left the Treaty alone, the present government's policies won't do anything, as far as I can tell, to ameliorate the situation Māori are facing. You're right to say that the next election isn't really an encouraging prospect. The Labour Party has work to do to come up with a convincing alternative in the meantime – and to make it connect credibly with their potential coalition partners. But can they?
If the proposed policy did reach Royal Assent and “outcomes” for Māori did deteriorate - considering how bad conditions are now, I feel like “being held accountable” by simply not being re-elected isn’t really being held to account. Thousands of people that are negatively impacted, through actions of the sitting government, don’t get any justice if this goes awry, they just get passed on to the next sitting government and we start this all over again. Meanwhile, the very real issues that come about don’t disappear, they’re added on to a long list of historic trauma Māori experience and have to contend with.
Māori have higher rates of crime (or at least convictions), which split households, disassemble families and the root cause is societal. If we’re to make productive changes to the treaty in terms of clarifying terms, it should not be attempted without first genuinely acknowledging the situation Māori are facing. With a large number of Māori children having family members incarcerated, the capacity for their children to commit crime increases (I saw one documentary where a young boy aspired to go to prison like his dad). So, the children of families affected by societal shortcomings are now free to be stolen from their families, forced into camps and broken down into productive little state soldiers.
Within the context of New Zealand, the governments attempt at guiding conversations surrounding the treaty strike me as a concerted effort to further destabilise Māoridom, and if I had to guess, it would be to free up land for development, cut funding for Māori initiatives and reduce the influence of Māori culture in this country.
Excellent comments, thank you Peter! Even if they left the Treaty alone, the present government's policies won't do anything, as far as I can tell, to ameliorate the situation Māori are facing. You're right to say that the next election isn't really an encouraging prospect. The Labour Party has work to do to come up with a convincing alternative in the meantime – and to make it connect credibly with their potential coalition partners. But can they?