National and the Maori Party’s confidence and supply agreement is out.

Two Maori Party MP’s get portfolios outside Cabinet:

Dr Sharples gets Maori Affairs Minister, Associate Education Minister and Associate Corrections Minister.
Tariana Turia gets Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector, Associate Health Minister and Associate Social Development Minister.

Policy Concessions Include:

• National offered a review of the Foreshore and Seabed Act to see if was working and whether there were any better alternatives.
• National will drop its opposition to the Maori seats and in turn, the Maori Party would drop its pursuit of entrenching the Maori seats and a group will be formed to look at constitutional issues including Maori representation.

Good on the Maori Party for pushing the Foreshore and Seabed Act issue. It is a shame to see that National has not framed the issue in terms of the affront to due process and instead is talking about all New Zealander’s being able to access the beach, as if that is somehow more important than human rights.

I am relieved to see there is no deal to entrench the Maori seats. The status quo of race based representation is abhorrent enough.

Tags:   Elections · Maori Party · National Party · NZ GovernmentNo Comments