Mana | Movement of the People

 

MANA in Parliament, 21-23 August

He aituā

The week in Parliament started with a Government Motion on the deaths of Corporal Luke Tamatea, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, and Private Richard Harris in Afghanistan on Sunday. Hone spoke to the motion and alongside his mihi to the whānau, he told Parliament it was customary during tangi to openly ask questions about why and what could have been done. In this spirit, he put forward the questions sent to him by families of soldiers still in Afghanistan, including – why in the face of escalating threats and deteriorating security has government support for NZ troops in Afghanistan been scaled down or withdrawn? Why doesn’t the government accept that the situation has changed so radically that a new plan is needed? MANA has called for an immediate enhancement of security for those on the ground until such time that they can be withdrawn as soon as possible, or, an immediate withdrawal of all NZ troops from Afghanistan. See the MANA website for Hone’s statement.

Government Bills

The debate on the Appropriations (2012/13 Estimates) Bill was completed this week – which sets in place how the government will spend our tax money, and which MANA opposed. Also up this week was the committee stage of the Taxation (Annual Rates, Returns Filing, and Remedial Matters) Bill which, amongst other things, sets the tax rates for the year. Given that low income earners pay too much tax and the very wealthy pay very little, MANA opposed this bill. Another bill up this week that requires whānau to pay more because big business pays less was the Climate Change Response (Emissions Trading and Other Matters) Amendment Bill. By failing to make big polluters pay, and making it law for them to not have to pay any time soon, the cost of their emissions will fall on whānau even more than it does already. And the change means that big polluters now won’t even need to try to be less polluting. Over the next 40 years, NZ families will pay to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, and Papatūānuku and Ranginui and all of our atua tūpuna will pay most of all. Needless to say, MANA opposed this Bill and wants the whole ETS system scrapped in favour of a regime that will lead to a genuine reduction in carbon emissions in a fair and just way.

The NZ Māori Council’s water claim, the Waitangi Tribunal, and asset sales

On Tuesday MANA had an oral question in the House. Hone used it to ask the Minister for Treaty Negotiations – Chris Finlayson – whether the government was holding any secret meetings with Iwi on water ahead of the Tribunal’s report on the Māori Council’s fresh water claim due out on Friday. The Minister of course denied this, but that didn’t stop a last minute secret meeting from happening on Thursday – and it didn’t stop the flood of media interest in the government playing their usual divide-and-rule game. As demanded by the government, the Waitangi Tribunal released their interim report on the Council’s fresh water claim on Friday. In it the Tribunal agreed with claimants that Māori do indeed have proprietary rights to water that are akin to ownership, and recommended that the government stop their plans to sell public power companies (that rely on water flow in rivers to produce power) until these rights have been properly determined and settled. It was a huge win for Māori, and indeed the 80% of New Zealanders who oppose the government’s asset sales agenda. See the MANA website for Friday’s media statement on this. All eyes are now on how the government will respond, and on how strong the Māori Party will be in holding the line.