MALLARD THE MALLET

So Labour MP Trevor Mallard thinks the whanau of five in the Janet Moses High Court case, escaped prison because they were Maori.

"I am certain that a Pakeha exorcism that resulted in torture and death would result in a prison term - albeit not necessarily a long one.

The fact that they weren’t sent to prison because they are Maori just doesn’t seem right to me."

He’s so wrong. The Moses whanau were lucky to have escaped jail given all the statistics regarding Maori and sentencing.

Relative to numbers in the general population, we Maori are over-represented at every stage of the criminal justice process. We are 12.5% of the general population aged 15 and over, but 42% of all criminal apprehensions are Maori. Our men make up 50% of prison numbers and sadly our women make up about 60% of the female prison population.

So no, this whanau didn’t get slapped with a by-pass-jail-because-you’re-tangatawhenua ticket.

But Mr Mallard likes to slap around the odd Maori. Remember a couple of years back in 2007 he cuffed Tau Henare after the National backbencher teased the then Cabinet Minister about his love-life. The boys took the argument outside, Mallard whacked Henare and the pair had to be prised apart.

A few years before that Mallard tried to pass himself off as tangatawhenua. In a speech he made as Race Relations Minister in 2004 he reckoned, "Maori and Pakeha are both indigenous people to New Zealand now.”I regard myself as an indigenous New Zealander – I come from Wainuiomata."

Yes Mr Mallard certainly is pro-Maori…yeah right!

PORN KING MADE A BOO BOO

This would have been a marriage made in Sponsorship Hell.

Crow wants to legitimise his Porn Business by giving to a very worthy cause, a cause in need of more support and if Breast Cancer Foundation accepted the $7500 then it would have been a great PR job for Crow and Boobs on Bikes.

New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation made the right decision to distance themselves from the boo-boo King.

You know that Crow's offer wasn’t a legitimate act of support because when the foundation turned him down he spat the dummie in an email:
".....a perfectly legal and valid source. What right do you, or anyone else in your organisation, have to turn down funding much needed by the women of this country?

If that wasn't enough Daddy Pornster then got in a real tangle and wrote:"Is the Foundation so flush with cash that it does not need money to help New Zealand women combat and/or live with this horrible disease? If it is, that is wonderful – I look forward to soon learning that all New Zealand women are eligible for unlimited free screening and treatment for breast cancer."

If he was legitimate – about giving to the cause he should have made several donations anonymously and then devised a strategy to support aspects of the Foundation without compromising the Foundations aims and objections.

It got the highest number of blog feedback comments in the stuff.co.nz website over 220 comments.

OH! NO MORE PERKY NAANAA'S FOR NZ MP'S

Good ole Sir Doug Graham he’s a character. The former Treaty Settlements Minister reckons he’s worked hard he deserves his perks – and when he’s too hobbly and wobbly to travel he’ll take the cash - you gotta love him.

Ian Shearer former National MP from 1975 to 1984 referred to the bad old days when there were no electorate offices and the wives had to take all the calls and play secretary as one of the reasons for protecting perks… by rights then it’s the wives that should get the travel allowances. But what happens to the poor ole missus if there’s a divorce! Oh! No more perk - just RSI from note taking all them years back. Even if they’re not divorced it doesn’t mean the hubby will take the spouse along on an overseas trip. It apepars as though the poor ole missus misses out al'round.

But Rodney Hide’s right - which is very rare for the little man. Perks of Parliament are part of a by-gone era and not relevant now it was bestowed by Cabinet not an Independent Body and the real value or impact on tax payers was not fully realised and should now be scrapped.

So scrapping subsidies, purging perks, will also eliminate the likes of Taito Field from receiving his perks.

TONGAN FERRY TRAGEDY

The Tongan Government brought a heap of junk. It knowingly bought the Ferry Princess Ashika a rusty bucket of disaster waiting to sink, that’s according to the Fijian Government.

According to the Fijian Government, it de-registered Princess Ashika in May this year, a month before it was sold to Tonga. Fiji carried out a sea-worthiness survey of the ship, prohibited the vessel from servicing within Fiji waters and approved it, for one last trip between Levuka to Suva. Presumably this final voyage was to be its death march. But rather than scrapping the vessel it was instead sold in a private deal (so the Fijian Governments says) to Tonga in June-July.

Tongatapu is a tiny nation made up of 169 Islands 39 of which are populated. They are King and God faring people they are a poor nation. But its monarchy are hugely wealthy.

Princess Pilolevu, 54, became a multi-millionaire by helping herself to a sovereign asset, Tongasat. She effectively holds the right to geostationary satellite orbits.

Prince Tupouto'a, 56, has linked up with Tongan-Indo-Fijian businessmen brothers, Joe and Soane Ramanlal, and taken over electricity generation and the mobile phone company. He already has a brewery and according to insiders is now looking to seize Tongasat from his sister.

Tonga tapu is a kingdom of have’s and have not’s.

I grew up in Tonga. My father built the Queen Salote Wharf in 1963-66 in Nukualofa. I still have whanau ties in the Kingdom. So the Ferry Princess Ashika tragedy is very close to my heart.

My friend and a great Photographer John Miller from Auckland put it in perspective for me by comparing the magnitude of tragedy in terms of scale; if it happened in NZ relative to our population of 1.4 million we would have lost 3,400 people and of that number 1,462 would have been women and children. In this Tongan tragedy 33 women and 10 children aboard were aboard and none of them survived.

There were 119 presumed on board although 149 names appear on the manifest and some of these names are duplicated. 54 men were rescued. 2 bodies recovered, one of them Vaefetu'u Mahe - she was 22, but her 3 year old baby and husband are presumed drowned. The other is Daniel Macmillan a Brit living in NZ for the past 5 years.

NZ, Australia and Japan will contribute to a new ferry. Independent inquiry ordered, likely to get NZ help. Royal commission of inquiry will publish findings end of November.

There’s a march and memorial service for the victims of the Princess Ashika to be held on the wharf near the Maritime Museum here in Auckland 10am, August 23. Flowers will be placed in the water. Everyone is welcome to attend.

What a big week for Maori. We’ve seen a Maori man shot by police, a Maori Radical Group hold up Court proceedings, an apology by the Crown to Taranaki ki Whanui which reciprocated a statement of forgiveness and it’s Maori Language Week.

TIMES HAVE CERTAINLY CHANGED

The High Court hearing bribery and perversion of justice charges in the former MP Taito Phillip Field trial was adjourned by Judge Rodney Hansen when he was interrupted by Te Tai Tokerau Kaumatua Tass Davis on Thursday. Justice Hansen immediately called for an adjournment, and when he returned 45 minutes later he warned people in the public gallery they would be removed if they interrupted again.

Times have changed.

Ten years ago even five years ago this lot would have been arrested, charged with public nuisance and causing obstruction fined and barred from the High Court (unless they’re appearing in the dock being charged with some offence).

Leading the protest group Mauri Nation State Hapu is Davis a 75-year-old former Auckland police constable. He claims to represent "rangatira of the land."

The group returned to the High Court today with a larger more ‘intimating’ group of black-t shirt wearing rangatahi youth. One of the protesters was apparently warned repeatedly by police to stop filming in the courthouse lobby but refused. Group spokesperson Tane Rakau told a court official to go back to China and claimed the group's members were able to film because they were tangata whenua. Why the police didn’t throw them out of the court house is unfathomable.

Davis reckons they’re embarking on a "non-violent campaign" aimed at illustrating "frustrations ... borne out of a legacy of 160 years of colonial oppression". Davis says the Government need to enter into serious discussions over demands for Maori self-determination.

The Mauri Nation State Hapu group had already carried out two protest practice runs. A 22-strong group of "mainly elderly with walking sticks" had marched past the homes of two judges in Auckland. The group stood outside the homes, then moved on. Some motorists honked, but Davis reckons the judges didn't realise they were there.

Black t-shirt wearing rangatahi causing mayhem is a big step up from 70-plus year old Kaumatua limping down leafy suburban lanes. If they’re going to use intimidating methods to put their case across, no one will support them.

On the one hand they support Taito Phillip Field and afford him tangata whenua status and then one of their group abuse an Asian Court worker!

This lot's seriously confused.