Hone Harawira, Treaty and Constitution Spokesperson

Thursday 6 March 2008

'Rhetoric Risky' says Harawira

The Maori Party today warned other parties to tone down their rhetoric on abolishing the Maori seats, in case they compromised any potential post-election arrangements.

"It took us 150 years for our voice to be heard in the halls of power," said Treaty and Constitution spokesperson Hone Harawira, "and our people won't stand for anyone trying to take it away again."

"Political parties may be pushing for deadlines on lodging claims, but they shouldn't for one minute think that settling claims for less than 3% of their value means that Maori will accept having their independent voice in parliament choked off at the same time.

"The polls are showing continued growth in support for the Maori Party, because Maori people can see that the major parties in Parliament simply cannot properly represent Maori interests.

"Since the birth of the Maori Party, Maori have shown much more interest in politics than they have done for many a year, and they'll be expecting us to heed their views when it comes to making arrangements after the election."

"We won't be doing deals with parties who plan to silence our peoples' views" he said.

ENDS

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