Speaker Gerry Brownlee suspended the House and ordered the public gallery cleared. Video / Parliament TV
Opinion by Shane Jones
THREE KEY FACTS:
Shane Jones has Māori (Te Aupōuri and Ngāi Takoto) English, Welsh and Croatian ancestry.
He is Deputy Leader of NZ First and the Minister for Regional Development.
He advocates for pro-development and pro-mining policies and is fluent in te reo Māori.
Shane Jones is the deputy leader of NZ First.
OPINION
Shakespeare wrote that those who smile, have mischief in their hearts. His words are from the play Julius Caesar, of the 1600s. Centuries have passed but this epic got a figurative rerun in Parliament last week. Caesardid not perish but our international image was skewered.
Players justifying their actions as being honourable and for the greater good of Rome, or in this case Aotearoa or New Zealand depending on your political diet. Although we all know the Treaty Principles Bill will not pass, the two sides of the argument are confident they are saving the Republic.
The Māori Party is hellbent on creating parliamentary disorder to boost their membership. Performing a haka akin to playing the pied piper. The lemmings from the Green Party and Labour followed accordingly. A choreographed clobbering of parliamentary convention, a display of contempt.
Middle NZ is gobsmacked that this jarring spectacle has electronically zipped across the globe. They are repulsed that this will be the new screen shot of Godzone. More importantly they are fed up with the division and are aggrieved their MPs were stopped from voting.
NZ First minister Shane Jones. Photo / Mike Scott
The international image of all our MPs is being pickled in a solution of division, ignominy and parliamentary trashing. A problem of House management and political duplicity. Hezbollah loving Greens and impotent Labour applaud this tainting of the highest court in the land.
The Kiwi electoral midriff may be slow to stir but they are infuriated. They can sense manipulation. The hikoi, the car-koi or koru-koi, given the significant number of protestors jetting to Wellington, is a Green, Māori Party recruitment drive.
What to do however? Severe penalties must be handed out to MPs who treat their place of work as a platform for personal menace. Justifications of cultural entitlement are hogwash. Some are saying that the haka included gestures of holding a gun, if so,’ gone girl’ time. The rules of parliament exist for good reason.
Shane Jones says New Zealand First will deliver a statutory haircut to the Waitangi Tribunal. Photo / Tessa Chrisp Photography
As the Bill moves around the country for the next 6 months, chalk and cheese will rail at each other. The wording will be dramatized or hailed depending on your perch. For what purpose? The Bill will not pass.
It is true that much of our legislation is awash with Treaty references. This has worsened under Labour. They have indulged tribal sovereignty fancies and distorted the role of the Treaty. They have elevated the woke class above the working class.
New Zealand First will prune Treaty references and deliver a statutory haircut to the Waitangi Tribunal. It is rubbish to call this a cancellation of Māori identity or the actual Treaty. Neither the modern far-right or far-left can re-word our foundation document.
The Māori Party say that our legislature must bow down to the Treaty. Well at least their interpretation of it. Fortunately, the legitimacy of Parliament lies with all the people. It is their House of Representatives. A truism beyond of the grasp of the Waitangi Tribunal.
As Kiwis head to Xmas we know there are major challenges in our economy. Infrastructure, health, education, and security. Our fortunes depend on other nations funding our deficit, buying our goods and services such as tourism. The parliamentary images from last week makes that job a lot harder.
Over recent decades we have endeavoured to settle Treaty historical grievances. It seems to count for nothing to the wide eyed faces of the hikoi. NZ First knows economic development pays the bills before Green rhetoric or tikanga Māori contrivances.
The haka, Ka mate ka mate, like 10 guitars and Pokarekare ana, have been hearty staples Kiwis have turned to for joy and rage. Misadventures in Parliament won’t change this. We know that there is another classic, How Bizarre, a one hit wonder.
A tale of rags to riches and then back to reality, a planet not occupied by the opposition parties.
