MONEY NO MANA

Good on brother Tau Henare blowing the whistle on ACT Leader Rodney Hide. The National Party list MP spilled the beans on Rod’s threats. The thing about Henare is that he is the government, unlike Rod who signed up to the governing party. So if John Key calls the bluff on the 1% poll pulling party leader – Henare will still be there governing. Remember Henare’s the one that stepped out Mallard a couple of years back after the Labour MP took offence to a sly personal comment.

In addition, Henare is an Aucklander from the West. He and his whanau have contributed to the community at flaxroots via kohanga and kura. Like all other Maori in Tamakimakaurau Henare has a vested interest in the City and its future.

So Henare has plenty of fight in him and so too do Maori.

This fight isn’t over until it’s over.

The issue of mana whenua seats is about money – big money. $28 billion of assets is at stake here and there’s no way Rod wants tangatawhenua snooping around those assets. What will happen if mana-whenua representatives oppose the privatisation of previously run council services, what happens if they oppose any port of Auckland developments? Mana whenua opposition will cost the Supercity minders billions of dollars of profit, money and assets that belong to the people.

Rod’s rejection of Maori seats is about money pure and simple.

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!