Tainui’s Absurd Claim for Auckland
National’s indulgence for Maori separatism is leading to ever more ludicrous claims, this time Tainui for Auckland,
which was announced before the Prime Minister himself, says New Zealand First Leader and Member of Parliament for
Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters.
“Imagine how much taxpayer cash Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Chris Finlayson will need to stump up the
costs for a Crown negotiator for a settlement like this.
“In all seriousness National is keen to put iwi before Kiwi and that’s not something people voted for.
“Only last month Environment Minister Nick Smith confirmed National was negotiating with many iwi over demands for water
ownership. This hitherto had been denied by National.
“And when the Auditor-General found absolutely no evidence of value for money from the $140 million spent on Whānau Ora,
National didn’t scrap it. Instead they massively increased the budget.
“You know this is not the National Party of old when Whangarei MP, Dr Shane Reti, supposedly a medical doctor, stands up
in Parliament to bemoan how little is being spent on ‘Maori spiritual health’.
“As New Zealand First warned, these claims set iwi against iwi and iwi against the rest of New Zealand
“National has indulged Maori separatism and is now attracting patently absurd claims like Tainui’s for Auckland,” says
Mr Peters.
ENDS