Privatisation of water into elite Maori iwi hands is the reason behind all the furore over the government’s shambolic unpopular Three Five Waters bill. Yes, they may care about water quality and improvements to infrastructure; however, their crucial goal of Maori ownership meant changes could not be made locally as local government are lobbying for and would be undertaken by a National/Act Government. The entrenchment clause was a foolproof way to keep water ownership in Maori hands for perpetuity once the Three Waters Bill was passed into legislation.
Until it all went horribly wrong.
Spinning like a top, a backtracking, pious and (always) reasonable Chris Hipkins explained to Newstalk ZB on Sunday: the entrenchment clause had been a mistake. However, he was quick to spin it as a way to prevent National from privatising water (when they, likely, return to power next year)
National has repeatedly said they have no intentions of privatising water, but this has not stopped Hipkins and Ardern from using this false accusation to explain why they had to insert the (unconstitutional) entrenchment clause under the cover of a late-night sitting when Opposition MPs were dozing on the job.
The Government (aka Maori) are hell bent on Maori getting control of water; and that would mean each Maori entity, a private company in its own right, getting control of their area. Privatisation: the reason, that dare not speak its name, behind the whole Three Waters debacle.
With the Hamilton West by-election a week away, and the tragic death of the dairy worker still on people’s minds, the Labour Government has been desperately putting out fires everywhere with extravagant promises and money flying in all directions.
This is their latest fire. The Maori caucus will be deeply unhappy over this. They failed to pull the wool; no thanks to National, but courtesy of alert constitutional lawyers penning a letter with their objections to the Government last weekend.
Jacinda Ardern’s disingenuous explanation, “It was not something I would necessarily be aware of,” attempting to distance her involvement in the 60% threshold entrenchment clause, was clearly explained by Thomas Manch in Stuff.
She chaired the cabinet meeting and was privy to all the discussions on how they would proceed, despite advice from experts to desist. As Tyrant in Chief, nothing gets past her; all decisions and media releases must be approved by her. She was not ignorant of this.
Ardern was caught in her own lie, but Chris Luxon did not come out and loudly point it out, for those who had not noticed.
Very few Opposition politicians are given such a gift a week out from a by-election their party desperately needs to win. Where were his advisers? Are they as lily-livered as he is? In their place, I would have been prepared to put my job on the line to make the point! Leaving this in the hands of their spokesperson was not sufficient; it did not receive enough traction.
However given that Luxon continues to (embarrassingly) wrongly finish an oral quotation in parliament with ‘quote’ rather than the correct ‘unquote’ or ‘end of quote’ or a pause, I can only presume he is surrounded by ‘yes men’, keen to keep their jobs and avoid upsetting him, along with his eloquent MPs whose key focus is grabbing the best portfolios in a National-led Government.