Post by Kiwi Frontline on Jan 21, 2016 19:14:47 GMT 12
A New Report on the Treaty and the Constitution (11/12/13)
We have pleasure in presenting A House Divided, the newly released report by the Independent Constitutional Review Panel (ICRP) – it can be viewed and downloaded on our website HERE. The ICRP was convened in October 2012 when it became clear that the Maori Party was using the government’s constitutional review in an attempt to entrench the Treaty of Waitangi into a new written constitution as supreme law. With no other groups campaigning against this major threat to our democracy, the ICRP stepped up to the challenge.
We are pleased to see the government’s Constitutional Advisory Panel (CAP) has now expressly ruled out recommending a new written constitution as supreme law for New Zealand. In a report to Cabinet issued last week, they said, “There was no significant support for a supreme fully entrenched written constitution, which empowers judges to strike down legislation and that can only be amended through specified processes.”[1] While we can claim some success for uniting opposition to the Maori Party’s proposal, close reading of the CAP report shows there is no cause for complacency. As the ICRP chairman David Round has observed, their approach replaces “instant execution” with “death by a thousand cuts”.[2]
Far from diminishing, the CAP report shows that the threat that radical Maori separatism will be entrenched into New Zealand’s future constitutional arrangements is now very real. If the government is foolish enough to establish the long term independent working group that CAP has recommended – to continue on their constitutional ‘conversation’ – then it is highly likely that the extremely radical and divisive ideas outlined in their report will be given credence and treated with a respectability they do not deserve. Such suggestions include changing the makeup of Parliament to reflect the 50:50 representation model desired by the iwi elite whereby half of the MPs would be Maori and the other half non-Maori, the establishment of an Upper House of Parliament based on the 50:50 model, and the introduction of independent tribal self rule.
Taken together, the full range of proposals in the CAP report are odious and ominous….
Continue reading the NZCPR report here > www.nzcpr.com/a-new-report-on-the-treaty-and-the-constitution/#more-10177
Read David Round's 'A House Divided' here > www.nzcpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ICR-Report-A-House-Divided.pdf
Independent Constitutional Review > www.nzcpr.com/nzcpr-campaigns/independent-constitutional-review/home/
We have pleasure in presenting A House Divided, the newly released report by the Independent Constitutional Review Panel (ICRP) – it can be viewed and downloaded on our website HERE. The ICRP was convened in October 2012 when it became clear that the Maori Party was using the government’s constitutional review in an attempt to entrench the Treaty of Waitangi into a new written constitution as supreme law. With no other groups campaigning against this major threat to our democracy, the ICRP stepped up to the challenge.
We are pleased to see the government’s Constitutional Advisory Panel (CAP) has now expressly ruled out recommending a new written constitution as supreme law for New Zealand. In a report to Cabinet issued last week, they said, “There was no significant support for a supreme fully entrenched written constitution, which empowers judges to strike down legislation and that can only be amended through specified processes.”[1] While we can claim some success for uniting opposition to the Maori Party’s proposal, close reading of the CAP report shows there is no cause for complacency. As the ICRP chairman David Round has observed, their approach replaces “instant execution” with “death by a thousand cuts”.[2]
Far from diminishing, the CAP report shows that the threat that radical Maori separatism will be entrenched into New Zealand’s future constitutional arrangements is now very real. If the government is foolish enough to establish the long term independent working group that CAP has recommended – to continue on their constitutional ‘conversation’ – then it is highly likely that the extremely radical and divisive ideas outlined in their report will be given credence and treated with a respectability they do not deserve. Such suggestions include changing the makeup of Parliament to reflect the 50:50 representation model desired by the iwi elite whereby half of the MPs would be Maori and the other half non-Maori, the establishment of an Upper House of Parliament based on the 50:50 model, and the introduction of independent tribal self rule.
Taken together, the full range of proposals in the CAP report are odious and ominous….
Continue reading the NZCPR report here > www.nzcpr.com/a-new-report-on-the-treaty-and-the-constitution/#more-10177
Read David Round's 'A House Divided' here > www.nzcpr.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/ICR-Report-A-House-Divided.pdf
Independent Constitutional Review > www.nzcpr.com/nzcpr-campaigns/independent-constitutional-review/home/