Post by Kiwi Frontline on Oct 13, 2020 10:32:21 GMT 12
Northland Age 13/10/20
NONSENSE
Commissioner for Children, Judge Andrew Becroft is reported (One News Morning Briefing October 8) as saying that appointing the country’s first Assistant Maori Commissioner for Children. “is about sharing power as expected under the Treaty of Waitangi”.
This is nonsense and must indeed raise serious questions about his fitness for the office which he holds.
The Treaty of Waitangi was drafted in simple language by a competent British Naval Officer, Hobson, and translated to the Ngapuhi dialect of Maori by two similarly competent scholars, Williams, father and son.. By signing it, the chiefs agreed to cede sovereignty completely and for ever to the Queen and all Maoris were granted the same, repeat same, rights as the people of England. That, in essence, is all. It was a plain and straightforward document and it is clear from the words of the chiefs recorded at the time that they understood what it said.
Yet Geoffrey Palmer has made the deluded assertion that it is a “Delphic” utterance (National Radio, 8/2/94) and that it “is so vague that that is its primary problem” (Australian television, 6/3/90). The Minister for Crown/Maori Relations, Kelvin Davis has held meetings with a group claiming to focus on constitutional matters and consisting of Annette Sykes, Carwyn Jones, Paul Beverley, Mark Hickford, Geoffrey Palmer and Linda Te Aho. This group has made several blatantly false statements about the Treaty, compounded by their absurd claim that “Pakeha do not really know what it means.” (Reported by “Democracy Action”, 4/7/18)
If Becroft has listened to them, it is hardly any wonder that he suffers from similar delusions.
Now of course, it is a fact that there is a disproportionate number of children of part-Maori descent who need the good offices of a children’s commissioner but that needs skills which are irrelevant to whether that commissioner has a part-Maori assistant or not. This brief letter is not the place to attempt to identify those needs and why they exist but most thoughtful people will have a fairly good idea about them. Of just one thing can we be entirely certain: that spurious reference to the Treaty of Waitangi gives no justification whatever for any action of any Commissioner for Children nor assistance to those who need it..
BRUCE MOON, Nelson
www.kiwifrontline.nz/media/letters-to-the-editor
NONSENSE
Commissioner for Children, Judge Andrew Becroft is reported (One News Morning Briefing October 8) as saying that appointing the country’s first Assistant Maori Commissioner for Children. “is about sharing power as expected under the Treaty of Waitangi”.
This is nonsense and must indeed raise serious questions about his fitness for the office which he holds.
The Treaty of Waitangi was drafted in simple language by a competent British Naval Officer, Hobson, and translated to the Ngapuhi dialect of Maori by two similarly competent scholars, Williams, father and son.. By signing it, the chiefs agreed to cede sovereignty completely and for ever to the Queen and all Maoris were granted the same, repeat same, rights as the people of England. That, in essence, is all. It was a plain and straightforward document and it is clear from the words of the chiefs recorded at the time that they understood what it said.
Yet Geoffrey Palmer has made the deluded assertion that it is a “Delphic” utterance (National Radio, 8/2/94) and that it “is so vague that that is its primary problem” (Australian television, 6/3/90). The Minister for Crown/Maori Relations, Kelvin Davis has held meetings with a group claiming to focus on constitutional matters and consisting of Annette Sykes, Carwyn Jones, Paul Beverley, Mark Hickford, Geoffrey Palmer and Linda Te Aho. This group has made several blatantly false statements about the Treaty, compounded by their absurd claim that “Pakeha do not really know what it means.” (Reported by “Democracy Action”, 4/7/18)
If Becroft has listened to them, it is hardly any wonder that he suffers from similar delusions.
Now of course, it is a fact that there is a disproportionate number of children of part-Maori descent who need the good offices of a children’s commissioner but that needs skills which are irrelevant to whether that commissioner has a part-Maori assistant or not. This brief letter is not the place to attempt to identify those needs and why they exist but most thoughtful people will have a fairly good idea about them. Of just one thing can we be entirely certain: that spurious reference to the Treaty of Waitangi gives no justification whatever for any action of any Commissioner for Children nor assistance to those who need it..
BRUCE MOON, Nelson
www.kiwifrontline.nz/media/letters-to-the-editor