Protests continue at the long-disputed Ihumatao construction site in Auckland, and protesters are calling in reinforcements from around the country.
SOUL (Save Our Unique Landscape) spokeswoman Pania Newton told the crowd at Ihumatao on Wednesday evening that more people would be arriving the next morning.
Buses would be coming from Hokianga, Taranaki and Wellington, she said.
The group, which had been occupying the land in Mangere for the past three years, were served with an eviction notice on Tuesday, superintendent Jill Rogers said.
Three years… and finally, an eviction notice. Sorry, guys, but even the Treaty doesn’t give you the right to occupy land any time you feel like it. You need to negotiate like everyone else.
Or maybe not.
Yes. Greens co-leader, Marama Davidson, along with Defence Minister Golriz Gharhaman (sarc) and Pharmac minister Chloe Swarbrick (also sarc) were out in Wellington today, protesting…
…against the government?
Green Party politicians Chloe Swarbrick, Marama Davison and Golriz Ghahraman support the Ihumatao protesters. Swarbrick said the Greens sent a letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern about “the need to protect Ihumatao” in March, but never received a formal response.
Stuff.
Well, you know what it is like when you are in opposition. The government doesn’t always pay attention to what you have to say. Oh, wait…
It gets worse.
So the iwi is protesting, the Greens, part of the current government, are supporting them and the government will not intervene… even though they are ‘falling on the side of the iwi and their position’. The iwi wants the government to intervene. Of course, they do. What else are they trying to achieve?
Honestly, my head hurts.
Sue Bradford was the first MP in government that I ever saw protesting. I put that down to the fact that she had spent so much of her life on picket lines, she didn’t know how to live without them. But Marama, Golriz and Chloe don’t protest like Sue Bradford. They turn up in their designer clothes and grab the microphone and the photo opportunities. They don’t do it hard as Sue Bradford did.
Nothing changes though. This is a government protesting against itself. Well, that’s … good… isn’t it?
No. Don’t think so. It is madness.