Press Statement From The Independent Constitutional Review Panel

- immediate release

David Round: Coddington Pushes Separatism

Deborah Coddington’s claim that everyone "accepts the Treaty of Waitangi as our founding document" gives the lie to her claim that her Constitutional Advisory Panel is "there to listen" and to "reflect [our] views fairly and accurately". [New Zealand Herald, December 4, 2012]

"It is quite clear that the ‘treaty’ she is thinking of is the reinvention of the Treaty as a vehicle for Maori separatism and deteriorating race relations", Mr Round said.

Mr Round is the spokesman for the Independent Constitutional Review Panel, a diverse group of New Zealanders who share a common concern that an out-of-control Treaty industry threatens New Zealand's prosperity and survival as a nation.

"Everything that this stacked panel does is predicated on this untrue and impossible interpretation", he said.

"Captain Hobson expressed the Treaty’s meaning perfectly on that beach at Waitangi ~ ‘He iwi tahi tatou ~ Now we are one people’".

Mr Round said that he was not surprised, however, to see Ms Coddington claim that the "many groups" which the panel had spoken to were keen to "help the panel in its task".

The amount of money that the panel has allocated to consulting non-Maori New Zealanders is risible, he claimed. He said that there was $2-million for consultation with Maori, and only another $2-million to cover speaking to all those New Zealanders merely lumped together insultingly as "non-Maori".

"The only people the panel will hear from are the carefully selected groups it has already chosen to fit in with its own disastrous subversive agenda. They will indeed be keen", Mr Round said.

The Independent Constitutional Review Panel supports the Declaration of Equality which:
1. Rejects any reference to the Treaty of Waitangi or its principles in any constitutional document.
2. Requires that such references be removed from all existing legislation.
3. Requires that race-based parliamentary seats be abolished.
4. Requires that race-based representation on local bodies be abolished.
5. Requires that the Waitangi Tribunal, which has outlived any usefulness it may have had, be abolished.

The ICRP Panel is chaired by Canterbury University law lecturer David Round and consists of Auckland University Associate Professor Elizabeth Rata, Massey University Emeritus Professor Martin Devlin, Queensland University Professor James Allan, New Zealand Centre for Political Research Associate Mike Butler, and NZCPR Founder and Director Dr Muriel Newman.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>