INDEPENDENT NEWS

Treaty Fatigue No Wonder

Published: Wed 5 Feb 2003 05:14 PM
Treaty Fatigue No Wonder
If the Government was applying the actual Treaty of Waitangi, instead of its spurious principles, the Human Rights Commission would not be reporting Treaty Fatigue, ACT Treaty Spokesman Stephen Franks said today.
The Prime Minister has promised more resources to the Human Right's Commission for race division propaganda. None of this would be necessary if they simply respected the Treaty and its straightforward assurances of property rights and equality before the law. However, it is because they want us to worship their non-existent principles, that people are becoming confused.
"Both the Human Rights Commission and the Government persist in thinking that their political difficulties with the Treaty will be solved if they could only get everyone to think the same way. Instead, people are intuitively correct when they reject Government attempts to have them define themselves in terms of racial origin.
"It's no wonder people say they know little about the Treaty of Waitangi - they never get to see its simple words. Instead, the Government continually refers to the principles of the Treaty - but can't tell us what they are. There is no definition anywhere in law. The Government is even trying to submerge a Justice & Electoral Select Committee move to hold an enquiry, to find out what people think they might be.
"Any more money spent on Treaty education will be totally wasted if it is only about the principles. If all references to principles in legislation were replaced with the Treaty's actual straightforward words, then people would not need to know the arcane political gibberish the Courts and Government politicians use - any more than they need constant re-education about laws against stealing, cruelty to animals, or looking after your children.
"The Treaty would be clearly understood if only it were applied, instead of the spurious principles invented by the Labour government only 15 years ago," Mr Franks said.

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