Some Accuracy on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill

Some are for this bill, some are against it, but I think what I am seeing is inaccuracy, xenophobia and hysteria around the bill in general by a few loud voices who are being listened to and believed as if they were Jesus Christ himself spelling out the Gospels.

For me, I don’t have a huge issue with this bill, I never have, and I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories that all of a sudden NZ coastlines will be under lock and key with local Iwi denying access.

But rather than an opinion piece today, let’s just start with some facts about the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill.

In 2004 the then Labour government blocked Maori the ability to have their day in court and challenge to see whether ownership of the foreshore and seabed was their right, this Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill redresses this.

So what does the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill do now that it has passed?

The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill allows Maori to go to the courts to put their case for ownership (of sorts) to their ancestral foreshore and seabed. Maori can also negotiate with a Minister one on one, but if they do the negotiated agreement must then be put before parliament to be either approved or not. What the bill doesn’t do is hand the keys to our beaches over to Maori to the detriment of every other person living in NZ. There is due process to go through and Maori have 6 years to lodge a claim.

Maori need to prove exclusive use and occupation of the foreshore and seabed since 1840, which I think will actually be very difficult to do but if they do they will then be granted a new form of property right called ‘Customary Title’

What is Customary Title?

Customary Title is a new form of ‘ownership’ that has many provisions attached to it. If an Iwi get Customary Title they cannot sell the land and they cannot block access for any recreational use of the beach such as swimming or recreational fishing and boating. Under Customary Title Maori can say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to developments on that land including things like marinas and wharfs, they can make money out of minerals excluding gold, silver, petroleum or uranium as they are owned by the crown (which is another conversation altogether). Under Customary Title Maori can also charge developers for the right to build on the land and they will have a say in decisions around planning and conservation. Finally Maori will be able to protect sights deemed culturally significant.

All these provisions apply to the foreshore and seabed, which is the from high tide mark out to sea about 26m kilometres. It doesn’t include above the high tide mark, and it doesn’t include any land adjacent to the beach itself.

Let’s bring some context to this idea now.

The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill will affect about 2,000 kilometres of our coastline, or about 11%, and we have groups like the Coastal Coalition and ACT scaremongering that Kiwis will lose access to all beaches.

In 2003, prior to the whole Foreshore and Seabed Act debate starting, the then Labour Government was looking into the Queens Chain. The Labour Government released some figures showing that of the “18,000 kilometres of New Zealand coastline, around a third, is in private hands.” So right now, about one third of our coastline is owned privately, mostly by non-Maori. Those private owners can have say over what developments happen on their land, they can make money off developers and they have say over planning and conservation. But most importantly you can be denied access to those beaches because it’s private land.

ACT and the Coastal Coalition seem to not have mentioned to NZ that this is the case already, surely if they had the courage of their convictions if would be better for New Zealanders if they started the process to take back one third of our coastlines from those who already own it, and have a much more detrimental legal use of them than the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill will ever give Maori.

Here’s the thing, what you are hearing from those loud voices telling you that you will be denied access to the beaches is opinion, not fact. Now everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how ignorant it may be, but my desire is for people to make their own opinions based on the facts laid before them, which is hopefully what I have done in this post. My one concern is that New Zealanders are hearing opinion, taking it as fact, and spreading it as if it is Gospel.

If you read this article, and come to the same opinion as the ACT party, then bless you, at least you can’t claim ignorance. For me, as I said at the start, this Bill is not something I am worried about, and I think that if anyone is being divisive in this conversation it’s those spreading opinion and rumour as fact.

According to MSNBC...American's are liberal

Happy Waitangi Day everybody!!!!

I hope you're all doing something fun today.

I just wanted to be the first to say to you..."Happy Waitangi Day!"

Pat

TVNZ Stitch up Hone Harawira

I read about the ‘lone’ protestor at Waitangi today on stuff.co.nz this afternoon. He is Wikitana Popata, nephew of MP Hone Harawira. I read that he took to a megaphone and claimed that John Key is the author of all that is wrong in Maoridom, here is what he said of John Key in a post protest interview…

“Many of my people still live off our rivers in Aotearoa, he is the one responsible for murdering and killing a lot of our people.”

“He is the one responsible for mining throughout Aotearoa.”

“He is the one responsible for stealing our foreshore, for stealing our land.”

“He is the one responsible for the injustice to my people.”

For video you can visit stuff.co.nz

Of course NZ knows that this is not the case, however we live in a free and democratic society where we have the right to air and voice our opinions even if most of us would disagree with them. In fact we probably should be encouraged to voice our opinions more often. Most of us would be more comfortable with a more ‘sanitary’ version perhaps than what we saw today…however I think that is the point of today’s protest.

I then read that Hone Harawira has told reporters that he was proud of his nephew for standing up for what they believe in and voicing their beliefs in the only way young people know how to do.

Fair enough, I thought, he hasn’t gone as far as to back the content of the protest in full, he has just said that he was proud that his nephew was passionate enough about a topic to make his views known.

Then I was watching OneNews tonight and I saw that they spun this story to imply that Hone Harawira is fully in support of what was said.

Jessica Mutch on voiceover “Hone Harawira’s chances of uniting with Labour or National are slim when he says things like this about Wikitana Popata protesting against the Prime Minister, “I was quite proud of the protest actually”

I think TVNZ has stitched up Hone Harawira, but is it an innocent mistake, or is there some malice here? Either way they portrayed Hone Harawira’s statement without the context that I read on stuff.co.nz this afternoon.

Now the truth is that Hone Harawira may agree entirely with what his nephew was saying, but that’s not how it has been reported (except by TVNZ). He picked his words carefully, even to the point of not wanting to comment on what was said because he wasn’t there and, according to numerous media sources including the ODT, didn’t hear everything that was said.

So why did TVNZ imply that he supported what his nephew had said?

Was it poor journalism? Was it a genuine mistake? Was it context that wasn’t shown in the Stuff article?

Or is it that we are wanting a villain in this election year? Winston Peters turned out to be the villain last time around with the debacle around Owen Glen, and you have to admit, Hone fits that mould pretty easily.

For me I think that Hone Harawira is not playing a smart hand right now, I don’t mean to offend or incite by that comment, I just think when you’re on the inside you can make a difference without losing your mana or compromising your principles. The people of Te Tai Tokerau love Hone, and if he chooses to run in the upcoming election he will be there next term. I just wonder how he will forward the cause of his constituents by standing on the outside throwing stones at those on the inside.

Waitangi Day BBQ Challenge

On Jan 8th I emailed the leaders of all seven of the political parties currently in government, and also Winston Peters for good measure, and asked them if they would care to support the drive for Kiwi's to own their national holiday, to get over the bickering and fighting and laid down the challenge that Waitangi Day "is for people to own the day, and celebrate it!"

Over the past week I have heard back from five parties (National, Labour, Maori Party, United Future and Jim Anderton's Progressives) with statements of support around the idea.

For the full run down of the concept visit www.waitangiday.org.nz but for now the statements of support are below.

John Key
"Waitangi Day marks a very important day in New Zealand's history. It's a day to celebrate the unique and ambitious treaty signed by our forebears in 1840, and the growing unity between Maori and other New Zealanders in our communities. I'm proud to be Prime Minister of this great country, and I look forward to Waitangi Day celebrations on February 6."

Phil Goff
"Waitangi Day is the day we celebrate the foundation of modern New Zealand. It reflects the bicultural foundation of our country. But it is a day for all Kiwis to come together and celebrate a country that has much to offer its people. It should be a day to celebrate ourselves and to value how really special - and what beautiful country it is. It is a country where people of all different origins live together in respect and harmony and it is a country with real potential to deliver a decent life to all its people."

Pita Sharples
"Tautoko Pat!
The Treaty is for all New Zealanders to celebrate how we came together, and the shared values that keep us living together in peace. We all value our own histories and traditions, and with mutual recognition and respect, co-operation, and the utmost good faith, we have unity in our diversity. So gather round the barbie, and give thanks for what our ancestors have given us.
Kia ora,
Pita Sharples."

Peter Dunne
"Pat, I agree entirely with your sentiment. UnitedFuture has long held that New Zealand needs a National Day it can be proud of, not just another excuse for a holiday or long weekend. Waitangi Day is a day for all of us, whatever our background, to celebrate the greatest thing we have in common - the fact that we all live here."

Jim Anderton
"Waitangi Day for me is when we should celebrate the new New Zealand – with our diversity of culture and the development of what I call our Ngāti Kiwi nationhood.


On this day, we celebrate the uniqueness of New Zealanders – where we have all come from and what we have and can become.


It is the day on which we should, in particular, celebrate the strong and enduring relationship between Māori and non-Māori, which is the true reality of the New Zealand I love."

The challenge is now out there to you and I, to take this fantastic gift we have of living in Aotearoa, New Zealand...truly GodZone and celebrate it on out national day.

Speaking about waitangiday.org.nz

Flava Friday 21st January


Classic Hits Gisborne Monday 24th January

2011 a year for new perspectives

Albert Einstein said the definition if insanity is "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I think we as a nation have begun doing this habitually and in 2011 we need a new perspective.

We hear today about another horrific death of a baby at the hands of family members, according to stuff.co.nz "Mikara Ranui Jarius Reti died shortly after family members on his maternal side took him from Flaxmere to Hawke's Bay Hospital last Tuesday."

This is a story we have heard far too many times in the past, and one sadly that we will hear far too many times in the future.

It is time to do and say something different about this, I say it's time to look at this issue again with a new perspective and try to figure out why it is happening. Now many right now will just simply say "it's an issue that just needs to stop!" And you'd be right, it does, however this is where I come back to Einstein's theory on insanity, we've been saying that for years...and it hasn't, we've been pointing the finger at Maori and it hasn't changed, we've been talking about the underclass and it hasn't changed. Surely it would be insane to not at least look at some other influences out there that we haven't looked at so far to actually help the issue.

Let me be clear in this, in this hideous crime Maori are over represented, but it is not "almost all exclusively Maori" as people like Michael Laws would have you believe. In fact former Child Commissioner Ian Hassall says “Roughly the same number of Maori and non-Maori children are killed in New Zealand.”

I want 2011 for me to be a year of looking at issues from angles that are currently not spoken about, and while I pray this doesn't minimize the terrible tragedy of children being killed, I think it's time to look at why this is happening. We can continue to bleat, and finger point, and as I heard John Tamihere say today, do "slit your wrist talkback"...but none of that helps the issue.

I do not take away any of the responsibility that has fallen upon the shoulders of the Maori Community to address this over representation in this crime...or any other for that matter, however I, as a citizen of this country, want to see these kinds of problems solved...and what we are doing at the moment is not working.

I want to see research on child abuse in areas of poverty and lack of eduation. I wouldn't be surprised, taking Michael Law's premise, that child abuse is almost all exclusively and issue of poverty and those lacking in education. And because Maori make up the biggest party of the poor and undereducated in this country, of course they are going to be represented highly in these figure.

You don't hear of many educated, wealthy Maori killing their kids do you?

Looking at this from a different angle prompts me to think that if we address poverty and education amongst the most vulnerable in society...maybe this would be a way to address these kinds of problems....maybe.

Do we really want a Center governement?

I wonder sometimes if what we say we want...is actually what we want in politics.

It seems that what we hear over and over again is the viable third party...a party for all New Zealand, a party that represents the majority of us, a Centrist Party!

John Key is a very centrist politician...in some areas he is more left that Labour and in other areas he is very right. I interviewed him last year and he described himself as socially liberal and fiscally conservative. He is somewhat left, somewhat right...he is in fact as close as we've seen to a centrist politician in quite a while.

Here's the problem, when you position yourself in the centre, it means you please a lot of people, but annoy many at the same time.

Ratifying the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, seen by many as a very left position to take. This has the possibility of alienating his traditional right supporter base. Also the rise of GST and changes to income tax, seen by many as a typical right government move but will this just confirm to the middle-left support base John Key may be gaining that nothing has changed?

When you are in the middle you are in danger of being a jack of all trade, but master of none.

If National annoys more people than it pleases they may be a one term government, if they please more than they annoy then they could be here for a while. And by looking at the polls right now you'd have to say that NZ is basically happy with a Center-Right Government with a Centrist Prime Minister

Winston Peters is NZs 'Virgin Mary'

If you have a critical word to say about Winston Peters some people lose their mind.

This morning the topic of conversation was around Winston, and my opinion that he says lots of words but no substance ever really comes out. A perfect example of this is Close Up last night where the debate was about the retirement age (I have no idea why Winston was on anyway, he isn't in Government and he isn't any kind of specialist in the area of retirement...but he is good press). The Retirement Commissioner was on and had some really sensible things to say about address the aging population now, not in 20 years when it's too late, and saying if we give someone 20 years pension (on average) then in 20 years life expectancy will have gone up from 85 to 87, so we could raise the pension age then to 67. Winston's response was all bluster, rhetoric and slogans.

'Our economy is in the poo and you're blaming the elderly'
'If Norway and Singapore can do it, why can't we?'
'In 1997 we had the right idea'

So I called him on it...and people lost their minds!!!

Over this year, I have critiqued many MPs...always for reasons that have been put in the public eye...Shane Jones, Chris Carter, Bill English, Melissa Lee, Pansy Wong, The Greens, David Garret, Rodney Hide...and the list goes on...but one criticism of The Right Honourable you get emails like this from Lorane, "All what you said about Winston Peters this morning should warrant immediate dismisal" and from Betty Harrington of Hutt Valley directing me to the mesage board because I am "Not too popular Pat."

Winston Peters is the ultimate politician, he is so good, that he takes an issue that is for the 40 years old and under...and uses it to gain support from his constituents. The issue on Close Up last night wasn't for the 65+ brigade, but Winston made it about them. See if we up the retirement age in 2033...it people like me that are affected by it. If you are retired now it won't affect you. But when Winston said "It's attacking the elderly" that's when his political nous is clear to see...It's not attacking the elderly, if anything it's attacking those under 40...as we are the ones that will have the retirement age put up.

What I realised when listening to how people spoke last night is that NZ First is a religion and Winston is their Virgin Mary. When Te Papa showed the Virgin Mary in a Condom piece, Catholics lost their minds...and more obviously when C4 ran a South Park episode where a statue of the Virgin Mary was said to menstruate there were catholic groups protesting outside the studios. South Park every week takes the mickey out of Jesus, Catholics say nothing...but the Virgin Mary is slighted and they lost their minds.

Mary would seem to be holier than Jesus, just like Winston is more sacred than any other member of NZ First...and any other politician that gets criticised. He is our 'Virgin Mary'.

Winston Peters is all full of rhetoric and bluster before an election, he calls everyone on everything, he speaks like he is going to change the world...but in recent years is quite timid in parliament, he is actually quite centrist and moderate...but that won't get him elected.

Winston Peters is a political genius, and he has a constituency of older Pakeha voters. Winston Peters needs to push those buttons to get their support...so for the next 12 months you'll hear from him...

* Retirement age
* Foreshore and Seabed
* Immigrants
* The three M's - Muslims, Maoris and Migrants
* Supergold Card

And we may well see him back in politics because people will buy it.

From this whole debate, what is clear is that we don't have a decent third party. Is NZ First the best we have? If that is so what a shame for New Zealand.

It’s more important to be accurate and truthful, than to win every battle

As a talkback host I am often in a position to spar with people over topics, it’s probably a weakness that I enjoy it a little too much as on occasions I may lose the context of a conversation, or the importance of an issue, to 'win' the argument.

I am growing as a person and a talkback host and think this is an area that I can, and have worked on. I am a bit of a stickler for facts and accuracy; I don’t like sweeping statements and regularly call-out someone using them. This isn’t to say that I am not guilty of that same ‘sin’ at times, I am sure we all are.

In the last 24 hours I have had occasion to think through this ‘win at all cost’ mentality over an interesting email I received.

It’s headed up “FW: Islam Mass Marriage of girls aged 6-10yrs” in which the claim is made that 450 Muslim men, supported by Hamas, in Gaza married girls aged between 6 and 10. Have a look here to get the guts of the email.

I get dozens of these types of emails from friends, family members and listeners, and always approach them with caution as I have found in the past that not many of them are completely accurate. This email stood out to me as a hoax just simply from a logical point of view, Hamas is a terrorist organisation, a well oil, well organised (albeit democratically elected) terrorist organisation, so I found it hard to believe that they would put themselves in front of the world showing them supporting paedophiles. It makes no sense.

I started to search the interweb to see if I could either disprove…or indeed prove the claims of the email.

What I found is that this email, or versions of it, have been circulating the globe for over a year, there are hundreds of website references and one must assume that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people have read them, many will have forwarded it on, or sent links to the claims. So many people out there believe this story to be true, but forwarding on someone else’s email, or putting all the information onto your blog doesn’t mean it’s true, it just means you buy it.

I still wanted to know whether it was true or not.

The sad part of this story is that the truth was revealed within about 5 minutes or looking…the story is a hoax.

You can look here which may not be the most reliable/official place to find inaccuracies, but it’s out there.

If you want more you can go to websites like this one that put the original story up, then retracted if after they realised it was a hoax, again though not an ‘official’ source.

How about this one, a Jerusalem publication, it doesn’t either confirm or deny the claim, but one would think if any area of the world was going to want to give Hamas a black eye it would be in Jerusalem, if the story about child brides were true, then this is the exact kind of publication to support it.

The most accurate way to see if there were indeed child brides or not, is independent eyewitness testimony. Tim Marshall is an English reporter for Sky News, he was there at the ceremony and when he saw the ‘Christian’ world starting to spread this disgusting rumour he started getting onto the websites posting things like this...(this is one of his posts)

“Hi. I was there. The girls are relatives, nieces etc. Dressed up having fun. Brides were in the audience. It’s always like this. Hamas does enough terrible things without anyone having to make up nonsense about child brides…

I was there at the Wedding ceremony. We filmed the event. These young girls are NOT the brides. The brides are among the 5,000 or so audience. Where is your proof they are child brides. It is a cultural thing among the conservative Gazans to do things this way. It is grossly unfair to portray ordinary Gazan men in this way. Hamas does enough terrible things to write about without having to resort to making things up. The girls are having fun dressing up. Its been like that for years.”

You can real a full post from him here.

It’s more important to be truthful and accurate than to win the fight every time. Sometimes the right thing to do is get a proverbial black eye, be a little embarrassed, but retract and set the record straight.

For Christians out there, who has believed this lie, and then passed it on as fact, you are implicit in this deception. The Christ you serve isn’t into deception, He is into truth.

If you read this post, or Tim Marshall’s, or others out there…and you still believe it to be 450 child brides getting married then there is no evidence that can be put before you to convince you otherwise.

Christians out there, please love the Muslims…that your job…that’s your God mandated job, not to judge them, not to try to ‘win the argument at all costs’, not to put them in their place, not to defend your faith by bringing theirs down…none of that…just love them.

There are also real issues that we need to be concerned about in the world, Hamas is actually one of them, as is child prostitution and paedophilia, but you cannot beat evil…by being involved in evil things. You cannot win against lies…by lying, whether the lie is intentional as the originators of this email must be, or unintentional by forwarding on something you believed to be true.

I also want to make clear that this 'rant' is not aimed at the actual Child Bride email, or anyone person who has sent it on, but at the idea of how important truth is, how important it is to be a purveyor of truth whenever possible. It’s more important to be accurate and truthful, than to win every battle.

When you get the next chance to score one for Jesus by taking a group down a peg or two, whether it be valid or not, just ask if you think this is this going to bring the ‘one’ closer to the God you know, or will it give the ‘ninety nine’ something to snigger about?