What a shame that one the same day Maori Party leader Pita Sharples was disgracing himself, his colleague Te Ururoa Flavell was presenting a bill before parliament that does him enormous credit.
His bill aims to return Maori or general land confiscated from property-owners under the Public Works Act and never used – or at least to give them first right of refusal – to compensate owners for that theft, and to ensure that no more Maori land is confiscated under the Public Works Act.
For that, I give Mr Flavell and his party a nine out of ten, and great kudos for being the only party in Parliament who wants to protect property rights.
But can you see why I’ve taken one point off? It’s obvious, isn’t it: there’s no reason at all, is there, that the protection of the last of those three points shouldn’t be extended to all property-owners, regardless of race. As we’ve said here several times, there’s no need to confiscate property for projects when it can all be done voluntarily.
But if it can start here, with Mr Flavell’s bill, then we’re at least going somewhere better.
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