Section 9 and The Treaty Protects Us All

Waitangi Day brings out all those who suffer from Maori envy, people who see every Treaty settlement and claim as pure greed and a lucrative gravy train, and yet I would say it is Key’s mates, the business elite,  who are on on a gravy train. More than half the the settlements for individual iwi were for smaller sums than what Andrew Farrier has earned as CEO of Fonterra and three of them for less than Tony Marryatt’s annual salary. The Government’s donation to the America’s Cup challenge was also bigger than most treaty settlements. It also cost us twice as much as all the treaty settlements together to bail out South Canterbury Finance (over $400 for every man, women and child in NZ).

Rather than attacking Maori I think we should be building alliances with them with the common   objective of restricting asset sales. We have far more to worry about regarding losing our nation’s sovereignty over our land and core infrastructure then perceived treaty entitlements. Section 9 is a potentially useful measure to protect all New Zealanders from mass sell outs to overseas interests.