Shane Jones winds back Treaty rhetoric and says New Zealand First is ready for Ratana and Waitangi

New Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones says his party wants to counter some of the overblown rhetoric about Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Jones says New Zealand First will front up at Ratana next month and Waitangi in February, where he expects many of the new coalition Government’s policies will come under fire.

He says Aotearoa Tuatahi has deeper concerns about the economic challenges facing the country rather than fashionable new interpretations of the Treaty.

“I’m going to call time through our part on this frothy rhetoric that the Treaty is a charter of indigenous sovereignty,” Jones told WaateaNews.Com.

NZ First leader Winston Peters and his deputy Shane Jones. Photo / Adam Pearse

“That is a view people are entitled to argue. It is not the view of New Zealand First and you cannot continually revise the Treaty or tug it in all nooks and crannies of parliamentary legislation without standing back and saying ‘hold on a minute, is this actually enriching, emboldening or enjoining our nation to a common purpose?’ No it is not.”

Jones says the Waitangi Tribunal is coming up to the 50-year mark, and it’s legitimate for a Government to review its writ and if necessary change it to something more appropriate to the time.

WaateaNews.Com