Maori Politics

Tariana was on Agenda at the weekend and I have to say she has developed politically. She is very astute at sticking to the line that she will work with either National or Labour, knowing to say otherwise massively reduces her negotiating power post election.

What blew me away was when Simon Dallow suggested she could not possibly work with Don Brash and his views on one law for all, and need not race. Tariana declared she agrees with Don – there should be one law for all and policies should be based on need, commenting that Maori of course have a lot of need. This is very cunning.

Then on the Willie Jackson show they had a discussion on the Maori language. I agreed most with Dennis Dutton who said it was a really good idea to teach all students Maori – BUT – only the basics, not force fluency on everyone. He said it would be good to have everyone understand for example what place names mean, but would cause huge resentment to try and force every student to speak and read Maori.

The person who was most disappointing was Maori Language Commission CEO Haami Piripi (and this was before the SST revealed his threats of civil war). who kept making personal attacks on Elizabeth Rata, and seemed unable to actually articulate what parts of her paper were incorrect.

If Mr Piripi wants to agitate for civil war (and that is what he really threatened), then he should do so without the benefit of his large taxpayer funded salary.