Dame Whina Cooper's hīkoi was for change. This week's hīkoi was for keeping the status quo, the opposite of what the NZ Herald claims.

Today the NZ Herald's front page headline blared, "Hīkoi to Parliament: Tens of thousands energized for change after protest against Treaty Principles Bill .. The time for change is here". How Orwellian. This week's march was a march for the status quo. Its a protest against ACT's Treaty Principles Bill, which seeks to define in legislation what are those principles. The status quo is that the principles continue to be written by the judiciary ("developed" is the legal word). MP Willie Jackson declared in Parliament this week, "The principles are clear - they're clear. They're about partnership .. equity .. active protection .. redress - simple". Who wrote that list? Judges, lawyers. Our Kings Counsels declared in a letter those principles are now part of our Constitution & can't be changed. They state its "uncertain" even whether the full Parliament has rights to alter them.

Whatever your views about those principles, one thing is sure. This week's Hīkoi is to support the status quo - its not a Hīkoi to change anything. The incredible Dame Whina Cooper led a hīkoi whose admirable aim was change - to respect land and property rights that were not being respected. She is quoted as saying, 'the Treaty was signed so that we could all live as one nation in Aotearoa'. But this hīkoi has nothing to do with Dame Whina's hīkoi. Its about not letting anyone change a thing. Good luck to the nation with its political and economic status quo. Dame Whina was not happy with the status quo in her time.

Sources:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/hikoi-to-parliament-tens-of-thousands-energised-for-change-after-protest-against-treaty-principles-bill/O2P5SGS2NJHSXC2BXCYTLTICAQ/

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/people/dame-whina-cooper

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reports fake news nonsense about NZ's Treaty Debate.

You'd think the state-owned broadcaster in Britain, the BBC, could do a little bit of correct reporting on NZ. Instead, its front page news on the Wellington protests summarize what's happening as follows: "The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi is seen as fundamental to the country’s race relations. But .. there’s a concern that the rights won by the Māori community are being eroded. The bill that has been introduced by the Act political party argues that NZ should legally define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi".

Bollocks. The entire point of the protests is that the principles of the Treaty have already been written and "legally defined" .. by our judiciary. Our Kings Counsels assert not only do the principles already exist in law, but they form part of NZ's Constitution, to such an extent that even Parliament has no rights to change them. ACT's proposed legislation is thereby contrary to "the rule of law" - an illegal attempt to rewrite the Constitution. Their argument is that the "government of the day" has no business sticking its nose into the matter. The BBC couldn't have got it more wrong. Maybe it should try accurately reporting what's going on in NZ - how these protests are about where sovereignty lies, the power of the judiciary vs Parliament, and our Constitution, instead of giving the world a wrong impression.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd0qr9mv9mo