Celebrating 25 Years of Scoop
Licence needed for work use Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

English Asleep at the Wahi-Tapu Wheel


English Asleep at the Wahi-Tapu Wheel

Libertarianz leader Russell Watkins describes the National Party as "deceitful, unprincipled parasites to whom property rights are just another principle to trade away."

An aghast Watkins had just heard National leader Bill English tell Welcome Bay property owners that “National will uphold property rights in the face of political correctness.” Watkins says he was astounded to hear this “outrageous hypocrisy” from the leader of the party that introduced much of the political correct law that is responsible for killing off landowners’ property rights.

“Was Bill asleep for the last decade while his party shredded property rights, and upheld political correctness?” asked Watkins. “Did he not watch and do nothing as his party introduced and administered the Resource Management Act (RMA), which removes landowners’ property rights in favour of politically correct mush such as ‘kaitiakitanga,’ ‘the relationship of Maori with their waahi tapu,’ and obligatory references to ‘the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi’ – principles which no one has been able to define convincingly for nearly two decades.”

“Did Bill not watch as his colleague Nick Smith wrote and introduced the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park Act; that Act so loved by the good people of Whitianga who rallied against it; that Act which takes away landowners’ property rights in favour of the protection of such politically correct crap as the ‘spiritual relationship’ that “tangata whenua” might decide they have with much of the most populated part of the country!”

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

“Was Bill asleep, or is he just a hypocrite?” wonders Watkins. "These Welcome Bay landowners came to this meeting expecting to hear what the National party intends doing to protect their property rights from witchdoctors and voodoo. What they heard instead was National MPs explaining they will ‘move Wahi-tapu legislation over to the RMA (sic)’ so landowners will be able to appeal. Predictably,” says Watkins, “this announcement was greeted with a resounding silence. Clearly, the Welcome Bay landowners remembered more of what the National Party had done to destroy their property rights than English did.”

Watkins concluded by saying “the National Party of the nineties oversaw some of the most repugnant private property rights violations in the history of this country; they should therefore be treated as the contemptible Janus-faced bastards that they are."


© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.