March 14, 2012 1:00pm by David Farrar

Can they ever be constructive?

New Zealand First is refusing to take part in the Government’s constitutional review.

The review is looking into matters such as the size of Parliament, Maori representation, the role of the Treaty of Waitangi and whether New Zealand needs a written constitution.

But New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says it is sham designed to sneak the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi into all laws.

This is so typical. An inability to actually contribute constructively to anything – just mindless opposition. It would be one thing to take part, and then if you didn’t like the recommendations to depart, condemning them. But to refuse to even participate in the first place, means that you have made your mind up to oppose it regardless of what is recommended. And that is a pity because constitutional changes should have as much support as possible.

Peters lies that it is all about the Treaty. In fact many of the issues under consideration are ones he has championed – the size of Parliament and electoral integrity (waka jumping) laws. So NZ First has said we don’t want to even advocate for policies we have supported in the past.