Rueben Taipari Porter

Well I have been watching and listening to all the issues in front of us. The TPPA, the Ture whenua Maori Act review, Water allocation, Reo Maori Bill, Housing price increases, Dairy pricedrops, Flag reviews,Oil company presence, GE trees da di dah and it all gets a bit overwhelming.

But most of all, my greatest concern is that I don’t see any real leadership.There is no opposition strategy to stop this pro privatisation Govt from selling the peoples assets to their rich mates for a bargain and trapping our kids into a future of slavery to this corporate machine called Free Trade. And I am missing hearing Hone hammer the Government on our behalf.

Our voice through his presence in parliament was crucial in maintaining a balance of policy development. I enter into the realm of hindsight and think what knights for the people Hone and Lyla and Annette could have been during this overwhelming period of capitalist control? Don’t get me wrong, I love having access to Hone for his advice and knowledge, his drive to create better conditions for our people here in Te Hiku. Having private hui, sometimes twice a week with him to pick his brain about strategies to be successful in out projects is priceless.
But I watch the deal cutting and the settlement process, the trading of our taonga tuku iho for the bribery of money that nevers makes back to the whanau who need help. I watch the prestige heaped upon those who are puppets to the colonial oppressors, and responsibility given to those who cant even abide by lawful practice during their terms of leadership. A hui I attended recently the facilitator was so stoned he was slurring. Without people like Hone to expose this Govt for its secret dealings, I predict a future where the rich will control and ignore the rights of those less fortunate.

A future where we have no rights over our own maunga and whenua and water ways, our springs and our rivers which will be allocated to Govt bodies to control. At a recent iwi consultation hui (which I found out about scrolling thru Facebook otherwise would have missed it), the entire discussion was about allocation of control for who owned the water (a small note on the people and then back to allocation)….I abstained from the resolution on the grounds that the people need to understand what they are signing up to first, before we offer our mana, our rangatiratanga and back them officially.

We are staunch about holding the Govt leaders to account over suspicious deals that no one gets to see or discuss, so I expect the same account from our own leaders…Leaders lead from the front, not from on top. But it is the responsibility of the people to hold their leaders to account. Challenge your leaders to do whats best for the people and understand why before you agree to support their policies and principles. Always remind these leaders that the People are the power.

Without the people, they have no power….