Firstly, I am going to start this off by acknowledging all the marae that opened their doors and helped communities affected by the recent severe weather.
When I saw this headline about it, I was not against but after reading your article, I agree with you. Communities (our people) have rallied together in times of disaster but you are right. Just words of thanks so yes paying over 1.3 mill to maraes is a political bribe. Thank you for bringing it out, made me look properly and I agree with you.
It’s genuinely good that marae stepped up, credit where it’s due. But in natural disasters across New Zealand, everyone steps in. Schools, sports clubs and community centres have been doing this since day dot, without asking for handouts or expecting special treatment. So why is it only marae that get singled out and funded?
It’s pretty much standard Māori protocol for Luxon who after all takes “cultural haka” groups with him on his big tours. Māori see through it and so does anyone else with half a brain.
The man is still “half a child”. We see it in his rushed talk delivery….like he’s running scared. Because he is…..maybe he should retire to that big joint at Palm beach, learn meditation or something. We’re desperate for a leader with courage. There are at least 3 of them available. Will
I won't be volunteering my time and energy in future natural disasters. The government is paying the Māoris to do it so let them work for it. I think of people like Dame Jane on Twitter who set up The Dinner Club to feed people after Gabrielle - for months - nobody gave her any funding and what people like her did was a lot more than a couple of days of dividing a place to be.
Exactly. Dame Jane did an exceptional job, and instead of gratitude she was rewarded with a coordinated campaign to get her book cancelled. No thanks, no respect, just ideological spite. That tells you everything about how warped things have become.
Maybe next time, instead of shouting from the sidelines or policing language online, some of these loud Māori activists could actually turn up and help during a disaster. Do some real mahi. Get their hands dirty. Earn some money the same way the rest of us do.
What should happen is they submit an invoice for the direct costs they insured for food etc. I'm in coastguard and if police or anyone other than our members ask for assistance they are presented with a cost recovery invoice
In my many decades of life in NZ, I have never met any Maori, man Jack or woman Jill, that respected weakness and compromise.
Luxon has never learned this. His doling out largesse just gets him seen as a chump to be manipulated. They still neither respect nor like him and never will. He will find out at the election the rest of us don't either.
its about buying votes - no difference between giving a bunch of McDonald vouchers for the toxic shot.
Māori voters are unlikely to ever support National in significant numbers.
When I saw this headline about it, I was not against but after reading your article, I agree with you. Communities (our people) have rallied together in times of disaster but you are right. Just words of thanks so yes paying over 1.3 mill to maraes is a political bribe. Thank you for bringing it out, made me look properly and I agree with you.
It’s genuinely good that marae stepped up, credit where it’s due. But in natural disasters across New Zealand, everyone steps in. Schools, sports clubs and community centres have been doing this since day dot, without asking for handouts or expecting special treatment. So why is it only marae that get singled out and funded?
15+ years since the Canterbury earthquakes and a huge amount of people stepped up and donated both locally and nationally to the region.
Some Govt support for disaster relief, to ensure people have food and shelter in a huge natural disaster is fine.
A lower scale event should involve local authorities primarily and the allocation to the Mayoral relief fund is an example of this.
The Govt again needs to be careful about creating an expectation with this sort of glib 'two tier' splash the taxpayer's cash stuff.
It's a slippery slope. (No pun intended)
It’s pretty much standard Māori protocol for Luxon who after all takes “cultural haka” groups with him on his big tours. Māori see through it and so does anyone else with half a brain.
The man is still “half a child”. We see it in his rushed talk delivery….like he’s running scared. Because he is…..maybe he should retire to that big joint at Palm beach, learn meditation or something. We’re desperate for a leader with courage. There are at least 3 of them available. Will
kiwis be canny enough to recognise it.
Just another message from politicians, we live in a two tier society. Hopefully he’ll find out next election
I hope so too.
I won't be volunteering my time and energy in future natural disasters. The government is paying the Māoris to do it so let them work for it. I think of people like Dame Jane on Twitter who set up The Dinner Club to feed people after Gabrielle - for months - nobody gave her any funding and what people like her did was a lot more than a couple of days of dividing a place to be.
Exactly. Dame Jane did an exceptional job, and instead of gratitude she was rewarded with a coordinated campaign to get her book cancelled. No thanks, no respect, just ideological spite. That tells you everything about how warped things have become.
Maybe next time, instead of shouting from the sidelines or policing language online, some of these loud Māori activists could actually turn up and help during a disaster. Do some real mahi. Get their hands dirty. Earn some money the same way the rest of us do.
Who is Dame Jane? I'm not on any social media so I'd like to know.
What should happen is they submit an invoice for the direct costs they insured for food etc. I'm in coastguard and if police or anyone other than our members ask for assistance they are presented with a cost recovery invoice
That's exactly how it should be.
In my many decades of life in NZ, I have never met any Maori, man Jack or woman Jill, that respected weakness and compromise.
Luxon has never learned this. His doling out largesse just gets him seen as a chump to be manipulated. They still neither respect nor like him and never will. He will find out at the election the rest of us don't either.
How many blankets and feeds could you buy for one million?
It's pandering, extortion and madness all rolled into one big handout.
Back home we called this pork barrel politics
I just had to search the definition of pork barrel politics. Thanks for teaching me something new!