Labour’s heavy, Willie Jackson, has let the cat out of the bag with regard to the dishonesty of Labour in hiding the divisive He Puapua report from their coalition partner in the last parliament:
Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson says he is glad NZ First never saw the contentious He Puapua report, but denies it was “deliberately withheld”.
In his first speech on Sunday since failing to be re-elected, former deputy prime minister Winston Peters claimed the 2019 report, which lays out how New Zealand can realise its commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, was “deliberately suppressed”.
Peters said He Puapua was never shown to his party, despite having four ministers and being in a coalition government at the time.
“This [He Puapua] report is a recipe for Maori separatism,” he told Newstalk ZB.
“They knew it and that’s why they suppressed it till after the election … it was a gesture of ingratitude and bad faith.”
Jackson said Labour had not deliberately withheld the report from Peters, instead saying the “process” had been interrupted and with things like Covid-19 Nanaia Mahuta, the minister at the time, it had not been a priority.
This followed similar comments from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who denied the report had been kept from NZ First to avoid any strong reaction.
“As the Prime Minister said, we went through the process,” Jackson said.
“But, in retrospect, it is probably good he didn’t see it. Imagine what they would have done during the election. It was not deliberately withheld, just other issues got in the way. But I am pleased they didn’t see it.”
NZ Herald
Of course they deliberately hid it from Winston Peters. Had he known about that report, or indeed the secret deal Jacinda Ardern did over Ihumatao, then you can be assured that Willie Jackson’s fears would have been realised. Winston Peters would have campaigned long and hard against it.
Labour are kidding no one by saying they didn’t really hide the report. The reality is that they did, and had to be hauled before the Ombudsman to force them to release the report.
The fact also remains that the Government is pressing on with implementing this separatist policy against the wishes of voters.
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