MANA MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hone Harawira
20 November 2011
The Maori Party are Paying the Price

Leader of MANA and MP for Te Tai Tokerau Hone Harawira says today we are learning the price the Maori Party are paying for sitting at the Cabinet Table with National and ACT when they are invited.

Mr Harawira says after it was suggested by Pita Sharples that Iwi corporates would receive preferential treatment for their cut of shares from the sale of state assets, John Key outright dismissed the idea.

“Also today the Maori party’s Te Taitokerau candidate Waihoroi Shortland is said to be astonished at the Minister of Education Anne Tolley’s decision to close a successful Maori secondary education class in Moerewa.

“He forgot to mention that his leader, the Associate Minister of Education Pita Sharples, sat by and did nothing over the verdict.”

Mr Harawira says these decisions fly in the face of the Maori Party argument that sitting around the table is a good thing for Maori.

“Our people are constantly asking the leadership to declare their hand when it comes to what major party they support. The leadership have stated that they will consult with their supporters after the election.

“I wonder if they will follow the same path of not listening to the people when their voters told them they couldn’t stomach the rise in GST, when our people did not want the Maori Party to help pass the Marine and Coastal Area Bill or when whanau are being made to foot the bill of big businesses under the ETS legislation?

“An interesting survey was released over the weekend by Massey University. It said that 85% of voters who support the Maori Party indicated that Labour, NZ First and the Greens were their second choice.

“That means that overwhelmingly Maori Party supporters do not want their party to side with National and ACT. Yet despite this fact, the Maori Party leadership are not listening and have refused to rule out working with National and ACT.

“It’s great that voters are seeing this for what it is - that a vote for the Maori Party is a vote for National and ACT.”

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