A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.
Opinion
Re: Hapu independence is tino rangatiratanga, February 8 letter.
Whatever Jason Koia may claim, in 1840 “tino rangatiratanga” meant “full possession” — of land, homes and ordinary property, guaranteed to all the people of New Zealand without distinction . . . ordinary rights indeed of British subjects of the time,
and that is all.
Since, by the Treaty, “tangata maori katoa” (lower case, their slaves included) became fully entitled British subjects, those were and are their rights, no more and no less — precisely the Treaty rights which Jason Koia exhorts Ngati Porou hapu representatives to inform themselves about; the same as those of everybody else.
Foreshore and seabed deals of recent years are the consequence of High Court judges breaking long-established precedent with flagrantly racist decisions.
Bruce Moon
