Press Release

MANA Leader Hone Harawira

“Elegant Solutions” Mean Nothing for Maori

Monday 27th August

“When John Key promised an ‘elegant solution’ to the problem about Maori rights to water, he suggested the deal he struck with the Maori Party over the Marine and Coastal Area Bill as a model” said MANA Leader Hone Harawira. “And it’s easy to see why - under that model not one Maori customary order has been granted”.

“The Maori Party didn’t support the Maori Council claim and actually parroted the Prime Minister’s position that “nobody owns the water” said Harawira. “But when the Tribunal ruled that Maori did have a proprietary right to water the Maori Party immediately switched its point of view and came out in support of the Council as well”.

“So I had to chuckle when I heard them say that ‘it's not acceptable’ for National to breach the Treaty of Waitangi and that National must delay its sales programme, because less than 24 hours later they’re playing down any talk of a rift and happily working alongside the same government who’s ripping their people off”.

ENDS

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