Foreshore and Seabed Act repeal/ Waitangi Day - who really cares...

Foreshore and Seabed Act repeal/Waitangi day - who really cares? I couldn't care a less. When's the next flight to OZ?

Prime Minister John Key has told those gathered at Waitangi's lower marae that the Foreshore and Seabed Act could be repealed this year. So, who really cares?



Prime Minister John Key made the statement while addressing Waitangi's lower marae. Mr Key says there are a number of ideas and some elegant solutions that will work for all New Zealanders.

"But again, like everything it's a negotiation. And there'll have to be give and take on both sides. But we've made our bottom lines pretty clear - which is access rights to all New Zealanders." But who really cares?

Mr Key says a solution is potentially reasonably close. But he says they are at that point of negotiations where the Government and those involved need to ensure progress.

The Prime Minister has told those gathered at Te Tii Marae that Waitangi Day is a day of unity. His visit to the marae has gone relatively smoothly after last year's attack by two protestors.

Mr Key joked and smiled with the public, accompanied by Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples and Northland MP John Carter.

In his address he also touched on the treaty settlement process and National's year-long relationship with the Maori Party. He says there is give and take and mutual respect between both parties. But who really cares?

Mr Key is relaxed about Ngapuhi asking the media to pay a $1,000 fee. Northland elder Hama Apihama told reporters and cameramen that they would not be allowed onto the lower marae unless they paid.

It is understood Maori Television and TVNZ paid the full fee, while TV3 refused and instead offered a $500 koha.

The New Zealand Herald gave $50, while the Northern News put forward $45. Newstalk ZB refused to pay.

Mr Key says he was not aware that money was changing hands. But he says the lower marae is private property and therefore it is up to those who control it.

Labour MPs have been welcomed onto the lower marae at Waitangi without incident.

Titewhai Harawira greeted Phil Goff warmly and kissed her on the cheek before briefly taking her arm. Maori Affairs spokesman Parekura Horomia and Northland-based MP Shane Jones both accepted challenges in the powhiri.

Former Labour MP Dover Samuels is upset the tino rangatiratanga flag is flying at Waitangi this year. He says his ancestors who died fighting overseas did not give their lives to see New Zealand with what he says is the 'separate' attitude symbolised by the flag. Don't worry about the dickheads, Dover!

"Most of the people in this country wouldn't understand what tino rangatiratanga means. It means absolute soverignty. And I think people should think about it very carefully." There is but one Government in this country, and it is based in Wellington.

Mr Samuels says the flag has been manufactured by Hone Harawira and his whanau

Who really cares? They can keep their 'private' marae! They can also fly their flags on Waitangi/Harawira Day too. Who really cares? Waitangi Day is a crock and meaningless to a majority of non-Maori New Zealanders. We need a new national day, perhaps Dominion Day. Something that will be respected as a national day.

Waitangi Day is not the real New Zealand Day celebration in my book!

Waitangi day is not the real New Zealand Day celebration in my book! Not any more. The divisiveness caused by the radical Maori leadership up in Waitangi for many years now has destroyed for ever any notion that Waitangi Day can be a day for New Zealanders of all races to embrace the concept of real nationhood in this country; radical Maoridom doesn't want it. It has some concept of its own in this regard. It is obsessed with the colonialism of the past - something now despised by non-Maori as much as the present generation of Maori society. I'm of Scandinavian/ Celtic descent and don't hold any brief for the former British empiracal social concept.

Twenty years or so the Waitangi Day holiday was popular by most New Zealanders of all races and was universally celebrated throughout New Zealand. For a short while it was renamed "New Zealand" Day by the late humanitarian prime minister, Norman Kirk, remembered historically for taking the hand of a young Maori boy as he strode up to the Marae at Waitangi. It was quickly changed back to Waitangi Day by Robert Muldoon a few years later; a man and prime minister ironically known for his own particular brand of political divisiveness. Norman Kirk wanted February 6th to be known and remembered for more than just its historical significance - he wanted it to have the same meaning among New Zealanders as Australia Day has with Australians, and Independence Day has with Americans. Sadly it has been demeaned by representatives and descendants of one of the so-called partners of the Treaty of Waitangi - the tangatawhenua - Maori themselves, who lack cultural respect for the descendants of the other partner to the treaty, and all those other non-Maori who have become New Zealands by birth or through immigration to these shores since 1840. It is really of historical significance that Maori are immigrants to New Zealand as well - they are the first people of this country who arrived here in the 13th century and adopted this country as their own after the great migrations during that century; they are not indigenous to New Zealand which was not inhabited by humans until they arrived.. They came from the general South Pacifica area of modern day Rarotonga and Tahiti - migrating here by ocean-going waka or canoes. This fact alone is one of the great migrations of the last millenium.


I personally believe that another day should be set aside to recognize and celebrate New Zealand nationhood, perhaps Dominion Day which commemorates that day in 1901 when NZ ceased to be a colony of England and Britain. Waitangi Day can continue to be celebrated for its historical significance. Once the outstanding treaty claims are resolved during the next ten or so years, the treaty will gradually lose much of its significance and become more of a historical founding document.