Don Brash: NZ First Voters Betrayed by Peters
Wednesday, 25 October 2017, 8:25 am
Press Release: Hobson's Pledge
Don Brash: NZ First voters betrayed by Peters
Many who
voted for New Zealand First with their party vote will feel
deeply betrayed, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said
today.
“Before the election, Mr Peters said that one of
his ‘bottom lines’ in any negotiations to form a
government would be holding a binding referendum open to all
New Zealand voters on whether to retain the Maori
electorates,” he said.
“But the Labour/NZ First
coalition agreement, which has a huge amount of detail in
it, has not a trace of anything which could be interpreted
as relevant to his commitment on the referendum, the
Resource Management Act, or Treaty issues more generally,”
he said.
“Over many years, Mr Peters has stressed his
commitment to treating all New Zealanders as equal before
the law,” Dr Brash said.
“Indeed, in the context of a
discussion about the iwi participation agreements written
into the amendment to the Resource Management Act by the
National-led Government, Mr Peters told me that in his view
racial preference was the most important single issue facing
the country at present,” he said.
"Yet the coalition
agreement between Labour and New Zealand First is entirely
silent, both on the referendum and on the wider issue,” Dr
Brash said.
“Betrayed” is certainly not too strong a
word to describe how many New Zealand First voters will be
feeling, he said.
Hobson's Pledge Trust - http://www.hobsonspledge.nz/
ENDS
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