Simon Bridges thinks that Jacinda Ardern should tell the Ihumatao protestors to go home. He says that by stopping homes from being built her ” interference at Ihumatao has called into question her commitment to full and final Treaty of Waitangi settlements. She now has no choice but to sort it out.”
The Prime Minister has got involved here where she shouldn’t have and in doing so is setting an appalling precedent. She is rewarding protestors and runs the risk of reopening full and final settlements which is incredibly dangerous and expensive.
Some two weeks on from her interference there is a lack of leadership from the Prime Minister when it’s badly needed. What she needs to do is right the wrong of getting involved by telling protestors to go home and let the landowners build houses for Aucklanders.
When I asked her this week at Parliament what her position was on this clear breach of property rights, she talked about solutions for Maori by Maori with no clear view on how to resolve matters.
Since Ardern involved herself in the protest the protestors have felt empowered but two weeks have now passed since Ardern poked her nose into the Ihumatao land protests. Why is she silent now? She stirred up a hornet’s nest and then walked away.