The Good Oil on Water and Taxes | Ae Marika | 7 Aug

Posted on August 7, 2012 by admin in Ae Marika

Last week, Te Whanau a Apanui celebrated the dismissal of all charges against Elvis Teddy, captain of the iwi fishing vessel, San Pietro. The dismissals came more than a year after police boarded his vessel and arrested Teddy during protests against deep sea oil survey operations in the Raukumara basin conducted by the Brazilian Oil Company Petrobras. Teddy had always maintained that his actions were not a protest, and that he was in fact “defending tribal waters and our rights from reckless government policies and the threat of deep sea drilling”.

Teddy’s actions will be an inspiration to those in the Tai Tokerau opposed to governments “drill at all costs” philosophy

I have asked the Minister of Energy for an update on all oil and mineral prospecting and exploration activity in the Tai Tokerau and I will post those on my website when they are available

On another positive note, last week the Waitangi Tribunal made an interim recommendation that the Crown halt the sale of shares of the nation’s energy companies until the Tribunal has reported back on stage one of the Maori Council’s freshwater and geothermal resources claim.

This was a significant step for Kiwis opposed to government plans to sell state assets and my congratulations go to the NZ Maori Council and those hapū and iwi claimants, for taking this case on behalf of Maori and in the best interests of the majority of New Zealanders. In particular I’d like to congratulate the Tai Tokerau District Maori Council and those northern hapu and whanau who led the claim which was heard at Waiwhetu last month.

The Prime Minister has been dismissive of both the Tribunal and the Council during this hearing, but it looks like his plans to sell off our assets will have to at least be delayed and with a bit of luck, may have to actually be abandoned.

And on a third note, it was also heartening to hear the French government announce its intention to introduce aFinancial Transactions Tax in its budget released last week.

What’s that got to do with us I hear you say? Well, it’s exactly the same as the Hone Heke Tax that I talked about during last year’s election.

The French tax will only be 0.2% on shares traded in their top 100 companies but it is expected to bring in $NZ230 million this year and $NZ750 million in 2013. This is exactly the sort of levy New Zealand should be introducing, because along with a very small tax on all trading on the New Zealand dollar we could raise enough money to completely scrap GST.

The rich have the capacity to pay a bit more in tax and the poor deserve the opportunity to get a few more dollars in the pocket to pay for basic necessities like food, power and rent. 

Back when I was talking about it last year, nobody else was brave enough to even discuss the Hone Heke Tax, but now that it has been adopted by France it will be given far greater weight in any future discussion.

 

 

AE MARIKA is an article written every week by Hone Harawira, leader of the MANA Movement and Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau. You are welcome to use any of the comments and to ascribe them to Mr Harawira. The full range of Hone’s articles can be found on the MANA website at www.mana.net.nz.