Clark’s talk-fest nothing more than a diversion

National Leader Don Brash says we do not need to waste a generation with a never-ending inquiry in order to address the problems associated with the Treaty.

“An incoming National Government is committed to fixing these problems,” he says.

National will:

o Ensure the beaches and lakes remain in Crown ownership for all New Zealanders.

o Require all Treaty claims to be lodged by 2006 and to be settled, fully and finally, by 2010.

o Treat people on the basis of need, rather than race.

o End the rorts associated with ‘iwi consultation’.

o Abolish separate Maori electorates.

“National has placed its cards on the table and we are prepared to go to the election on that and let the people decide,” says Dr Brash.

“We cannot trust Labour with this. They have shown their true colours this year with secret deals on the ownership of the foreshore and by reopening settlements that were to have been full and final deals – such as ownership of the Rotorua lakes.

“Helen Clark continually avoids saying where she stands on the principles of the Treaty and the role they will play in our future. New Zealanders are sick of this procrastination.”

Dr Brash says Labour’s inquiry is nothing more than a convenient diversion designed to take the issue off the agenda until after the election.

“Helen Clark should come clean about where she stands and give New Zealanders a clear choice rather than just more talk and more excuses,” says Dr Brash.

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>