OPINION
Let me say at the outset that it is not my intention to be overly harsh in my critique on Willie Jackson, but it is hard to take the man seriously, except on the issue of Maori rights otherwise known as co-governance: it is important to take him seriously in this matter, because Willie has effectively put this country’s democracy at stake. He doesn’t think so, of course, because he’s redefined the original meaning of the word democracy to suit his narrative.
In Willie’s world, democracy as we know it – that is living freely as one people under the same laws – is absolute anathema. Willie argues that there’s no way Maori can get ahead while this form of democracy is in place. Willie has determined that the tables must be turned. What this means is Willie and his elitist brothers and sisters are in charge of the motu and everyone else is in the waka paddling subserviently to them.
For example, this has to happen because according to Willie, under the current form of democracy, nobody votes for Maori at a local government level so they never get elected. That is patently untrue. A local government report said the increase in Maori numbers elected to councils compared to previous elections was notable in 2019 – 13.5 per cent. There are at least five mayors around the country with Maori ethnicity.
Willie needs to remember he represents only about 18 per cent of the population and just because he thinks he beached his waka first doesn’t give him or anyone else the right to ride roughshod over the rest of us, the majority. That however is precisely Willie’s argument. As an example, he says Maori own the water as per the Treaty. Unfortunately for Willie, today’s water is not the same water that was there the day the Treaty was signed. A lot of water has gone under the Waitangi bridge since then.
Willie needs to understand the tide goes in and out and at this point in time it’s going out for him. We don’t want his form of democracy dressed up as co-governance. Nobody owns the water as such. It’s a natural resource that falls from the sky. (Willie no doubt thinks he owns that too.) The only ownership to do with water is the infrastructure owned by the councils, courtesy of the ratepayers. It is not the property of the Maori elites who, given a chance, would extract money from the peasants every time they turned on the tap.
Willie has a habit of engaging his mouth before that other piece of gadgetry he’s supposed to possess – his brain. This was evident a couple of weeks ago in the House. He was answering questions, on behalf of the Minister of Housing, from Chris Bishop. He was asked about rent increases and his reply was they had increased by $170 a week since Labour came to office. He then proceeded to skite about the number of houses Labour had built to sort the rent problem out, namely 13,000. That, although Willie didn’t realise it, equates to a pathetic six per day, which is why the house waiting list has quintupled in six years.
When Bishop asked how a rent increase of that size could be justified, he replied that “this government had been so good to the average New Zealander it’s not funny”. He was though (funny). He raised the level of comedy by adding, “It could never be better for our people at the moment.” When asked what a family with hundreds of dollars added to their mortgage were expected to do in a cost of living crisis, Willie said he expected them to vote for the Labour Party as they had been well looked after. Even Bishop was laughing.
Fortunately, not many listen to Question Time and it’s easy to see why. What’s unfortunate is some will vote for that nonsense by ticking the party of which he is, sadly, a member. What I have just written highlights either a problem with MMP or with Labour’s selection process because when we are looking for someone with intelligence to serve and represent our interests we get Willie. I’ll go with Labour’s selection process as the problem, because we also got Carmel S, Kelvin D, Megan W, David P, Kieran McA, Ayesha V, Jan T and Ginny A, among others. Along with Chippie they are all next to useless, having achieved sod all in two terms of government.
A change is desperately needed. Roll on October 14. As for Willie, he should try breathing through his nose. For him, the opening of the mouth is a high-risk strategy which, up to now, has been to his detriment.