A series of actions by the coalition government has drawn criticism this week, with iwi leaders, health experts and MPs accusing it of deliberately and systematically dismantling M\u0101ori rights and protections, Henry Oliver writes in today\u2019s excerpt from The Bulletin.<\/p>\n
To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday,\u00a0sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Treaty clause review condemned as historic breach at the Waitangi Tribunal<\/p>\n The Waitangi Tribunal\u2019s urgent inquiry into the government\u2019s proposed amendments to Treaty clauses across 19 pieces of legislation wrapped up on Wednesday, after two days of evidence from claimants around the country. As\u00a0Liam R\u0101tana writes on The Spinoff<\/a>, constitutional law expert Carwyn Jones told the tribunal the reforms would amount to \u201cthe most wide-ranging legislative breach of Te Tiriti in modern history\u201d \u2013 and that official advice did not support the changes. Jones said the proposals would shift the Treaty from a foundational constitutional document into \u201cone competing consideration amongst others.\u201d<\/p>\n Iwi leader Tukoroirangi Morgan, who appeared before the tribunal on behalf of Te Whakakitenga o Waikato and the National Iwi Chairs Forum, called the coalition government \u201cthe most racist, anti-M\u0101ori government ever to come to power,\u201d saying the government had undone decades of progress in M\u0101ori-Crown relations in \u201calmost two and a half years flat.\u201d Morgan also rejected the government\u2019s use of the National Iwi Chairs Forum as a consultation mechanism, calling it \u201ca one-stop tick box shop.\u201d<\/p>\n Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, in a written letter to the tribunal, said cabinet decisions were informed by officials\u2019 advice and political judgment, and that consultation would continue through the select committee process. The tribunal is now awaiting closing submissions before publishing its report, expected ahead of the bill\u2019s first reading next month.<\/p>\n Pharmac proposal called \u201ccolonisation in action\u201d<\/p>\n Separately, The Press\u2019s\u00a0Maxine Jacobs reported<\/a>\u00a0that Pharmac is proposing to cut special authority criteria allowing M\u0101ori and Pasifika people with type 2 diabetes earlier access to three heart and kidney-protecting medications. The drugs \u2013 empagliflozin, liraglutide, and dulaglutide \u2013 were made specially accessible to M\u0101ori and Pasifika in 2021 after data showed they face significantly higher risk of cardiovascular and kidney complications. M\u0101ori are almost twice as likely to die from type 2 diabetes and three-and-a-half times more likely to die from diabetes-related causes.<\/p>\n Dr Maira Patu of Ng\u0101i Tahu health body Te Tauraki called the proposal \u201ccolonisation in action,\u201d warning that patients who don\u2019t receive the organ protection the drugs provide \u201cdevelop complications faster, end up on dialysis or having a heart attack years sooner than they should.\u201d Pharmac says it is proposing to widen universal access by lowering the cardiovascular risk threshold, but critics say that in practice M\u0101ori and Pasifika are less likely to reach the point of getting the necessary checks \u2013 and that the diagnostic tools used are calibrated for European bodies. The consultation period closes June 11.<\/p>\n The government wants to ban unelected council members from voting<\/p>\n Local Government Minister Simon Watts has announced legislation to\u00a0ban unelected members of council committees from casting votes<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 even where those votes are advisory only and must be confirmed by elected councillors. Writing in the NZ Herald,\u00a0Audrey Young notes<\/a>\u00a0the move was driven in part by competition on the centre-right: \u201cIt has been a big issue for Act, New Zealand First and Hobson\u2019s Pledge, who have cast it as co-governance in disguise. It was promising to become a campaign flashpoint for them in the run-up to November\u2019s election \u2013 against National as much as opposition parties.\u201d<\/p>\n Te P\u0101ti M\u0101ori co-leader Rawiri Waititi was scathing: \u201cEvery time we think this Government couldn\u2019t possibly harm te iwi M\u0101ori any more, they always find more rights to take away,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are doing everything they can to ensure that M\u0101ori get absolutely zero say in any decisions made on our whenua.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis coalition only cares about democracy when it can be weaponised against M\u0101ori. And they have the cheek to call iwi representation \u2018undemocratic\u2019 while they are pushing through these changes without a select committee process.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEvery Government MP is a hypocrite, and they all know it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A series of actions by the coalition government has drawn criticism this week, with iwi leaders, health experts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[607,29761,42,43,6042,6064,14465,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-462671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-china","tag-diplomacy","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-taiwan","tag-the-bulletin","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}