The government has no business wading into the Ihumatao deal. The only thing that the government had a duty to do was to ensure that the law was upheld and that the police were used to move the protestors off the land.
They failed to do their duty and to uphold the rule of law. They failed to protect private property rights and now they are rewarding the law breakers by looking into “solutions” that require the long suffering taxpayer to pay out large sums of money.
[…]Sources have told RNZ the Crown is considering lending money to the council so it can purchase the land from Fletcher Residential, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fletcher Building.
Fletcher is seeking $40 million for the property – more than double the $19m it paid in 2014.
Grant Robertson describes the government’s involvement in the dispute as “playing a facilitative role” but if the loan goes ahead the government will be the only reason why the legal owner will be persuaded to walk away from a deal that was mutually beneficial both to them and those they purchased the land from.
[…] Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told Morning Report today: “The only thing I can confirm is since the king and kiingitanga handed to us some of the outcome of their work with mana whenua that we have been working really hard on finding a solution and that’s work that’s ongoing so I cannot confirm any final resolution, any details around anything beyond the fact that we in fact have remained involved in this issue since July and continue to work hard to find a solution.
rnz.co.nz/news/political/403588/ihumatao-crown-considers-loan-for-auckland-council-to-buy-lan
The simplest “solution” would be to uphold the rule of law and to protect Fletcher’s rights as the land owner. If the government do not do that they will be enabling further law breaking and illegal occupations as well as undoing all the “full and final” treaty settlements. Their actions will dissuade anyone with any sense from ever purchasing land from Maori, as the message sent to the public will be that no matter how legal your land purchase is, if a rent-a-mob set up camp on it the government will not defend your land rights.