There is a bit of a fuss now over this:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350234794/maori-ward-referendum-u-turn-kick-guts-our-people

Now much as I detest NZF personalities, the fact is that they have
convinced party-voters to give them the support needed to get over the
5% threshold in the 2023 election. I don't like that but this is the
way it is.

Looking at the coalition agreement between National and NZF:

https://www.national.org.nz/national_act_and_new_zealand_first_to_deliver_for_all_new_zealanders

(scroll down and download the appropriate pdf).

This is spelt out on page 10: "Restore the right to local referendum
on the establishment or ongoing use of Maori wards, including
requiring a referendum on any wards established without referendum at
the next Local Body elections."

While the Governments actions go further than this (from my reading
the Government intends to require binding referenda on all Maori
wards) this can hardly be a surprise, and such referenda will be part
of the 2025 local body elections so any change will not result in
change until after those elections.

The outcry from this is coming from those that benefited from the
actions of the Labour Government elected in 2020 from the He Puapua
report covertly commissioned by Labour without the knowledge of their then-coalition partner NZF. Note that He Puapua was leaked after the
2020 election.

Much as I detest Winston Peters he is predictable: he rightly felt
totally deceived by the 2017-2020 Labour Government and Winston never
lets a political grudge go:

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/frontier-of-chaos/maori-values#:~:text=concept%20of%20utu.-,Utu,maintained%20social%20bonds%20and%20obligations.

This is Winston's "taua".

Many thanks to Google search results for the 5 minutes it took to turn
this stuff up.


--
Crash McBash

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