Attack Politics has had its day says Maori Party Candidate

Te Awanuiarangi Black, Maori Party candidate for Tauranga

“Cheap shots Annette.” said Tauranga candidate for the Mâori Party, Awanui Black in response to the latest campaign tactics employed by Annette Sykes.

‘The focus on division has got to stop. The tactic is clear; character assassinate to lead our people astray, using a calculated formula of rhetoric that goes like this - ‘fact, fact, fib, fact… Nek minute…..’

“There’s no mana in that. Shame. If the strategy is attack the Māori Party on everything and then cannibalise our vote, well, not on my watch bro.”

“She’s tried to pin asset sales policy on the Mâori Party. We are NOT the National Party and their asset policy has nothing to do with us. Our policy is crystal clear – we do not support asset sales.” Black said

She reckons that the ‘Maori Party has been silenced after making a deal with the devil’, “How many times does it need to be said, we’ve voted against National nearly as much as Labour! The devil ain’t in our camp. Fact. We’ve consistently advocated a Māori position since day one seven years ago when we entered parliament. We will never be silenced when our people are on the line!”

‘Crumbs from the masters table’ is the latest one. If awesome gains for our whānau, 6,000 insulated homes for low-income Māori, New Zealand’s support for the Declaration of Indigenous Rights and better outcomes for te reo as highlighted in the Paepae Motuhake review are ‘crumbs’, then all Māori should feel insulted by these comments. She must be totally convinced that if they (Mana) get in they’ll get the whole loaf of bread. I challenge them to achieve even one of their own policies. Remember neither National or Labour will work with them.

“At a local level, I have nothing but praise for Te Ururoa Flavell, who has been there through the hard times – advocating our position on Treaty settlements with the Government; calling the Government to account regarding the treatment of Tuhoe by successive regimes; and working relentlessly during the recent crisis around the Rena oilspill to ensure that mana whenua were involved in every decision made concerning our rohe. without once jumping in front of a camera to make political mileage out of the pain of my Tauranga people. He was there on day one. He’s at our marae when we call and our voice is heard in the House. He’s still there today.”

“I’m hoha with all the hot air. We need solutions that are driven by our people – and that’s exactly what the Maori Party does – and that’s why I’m still there and why our support must continue to the only party that can yield Influence with Integrity when it comes to whanau, hapu and iwi fortunes”.

“ I trust our people to be able to tell fact from fiction. The Māori Party is all about what’s real and what is kaupapa, not just what sounds good.”

Authorised by Te Awanuiarangi Black, 1 Kaiwha Road, RD 5 Tauranga

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