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Does the Maori Party really believe this?

by Whaleoil on December 24, 2011

Yesterday I posted a photo taken from security camera footage of an alleged Christmas present stealer in South Auckland. There were quite a few comments.

One was from a Helen Leahy:

I like people to own their own comments. Helen Leahy at least posts under her own name, so kudos there, but she also posted using her state funded email address…from parliament.

So I searched for her and it turns out that Helen Leahy is the Acting Chief of Staff and  the main communications person for Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia and a senior ministerial advisor. Apparently she is also well respected by members of the press gallery:

The Maori Party caused a small furore in the press gallery this week. A staffer sent round a form that journalists would be required to fill out if any of them wanted to interview their MPs on election matters. It took the intervention of the party’s long-time adviser Helen Leahy, who carries much weight with journalists in the press gallery, to calm raised hackles. She made a quick bolt downstairs to assure them that the Maori Party wasn’t suddenly blocking access to its MPs.

She may not block access to Maori party MPs, but she sure as hell is justifying the theft of Christmas presents as justified because “whites stole from” her. Kia Kaha Mean Maori Mean indeed!

I wonder if Pita Sharples or Tariana Turia condone comments like that from senior ministerial advisors?

UPDATE: Helen Leahy has called me and categorically denies posting this comment. I have advised her I will update the post to reflect this. I will also make a note on the comment that it is from an impostor.

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  • Winston Peters

    Could be fake, just like I am.

    • http://www.whaleoil.co.nz Whaleoil

      It isn’t, and yes you are fake. Like your wig.

  • kevin

    A red wine moment surely? If not, heaven help us.

  • Peter Wilson

    I don’t get that comment: “I’m only stealing…”

    Is she saying that is what the offender would say, or did say?

  • Paulus

    I hope this has been passed to the Police. Surely the Maori Parliamentary wing must take a stand, and suspend her, pending.

    • Paul Rain

      I’m glad someone else is willing to stand up against Leahy’s reign of terror. I’ve been buttonholing police officers for years now to warn them of her menace.

      But seriously, was it really necessary to put up a post on this? It’s got to be at least a  50-50 chance that this was a simple joke from someone inside the parliamentary IT system, using her parliamentary email (which one presumes is available from an internal directory) in the post details.

  • Kimbo

    I think Helen’s comment was ironic and sarcasm in respoonse to how the conversation on yesterday’s post was developing.

    Was not a very constructive discussion, from either end of the political spectrum. I hope they catch the the photographed person who is alleged to have stolen from others. For detection purposes her ethnicity/appearance were important. But it doesn’t excuse the crap that got thrown against fellow-New Zealanders by some.

    Yes, Maori are over-represented in prison stats. Maybe (and I said “MAYBE”), like similar figures with other colonised groups like Aborigines, and Native Americans, it is a result of the injustices of colonialism and botched of assimilation (no matter how well-intentioned). MAYBE (and notice I’m giving balance!) the disproportion is a result of lack of personal responsibility, which would be better enhanced if some aspects of emphases of Maori culture were transformed (as many already have been in the last 200 years).

    What I do know is that the vast majority of Maori don’t go round stealing, and I also doubt that some using yesterday’s post to give their views really have much interest or meaningful stake in working for the collective good of ALL Kiwis. Instead, it was just an opportunity to dump on others.

    I like this site, and commend you WO, for its commitment to freedom of speech, and a welcome intolerance for prissiness and intellectual dishonesty. Long may it continue. And on this one I can see what motivated Helen Leahy to say what she did.

    • Peter Wilson

      Good post Kimbo.

      I think the problem with comments like Leahy’s is the wording.

       ”what the whites stole from me….”

      Now, that’s implicating all whites, including me. Why should I take responsibility for the actions of previous generations?

      Sure colonisation was not a great idea, but so what? Nor is the reliance on oil. Find ways to move forward together and that’s why the National/ Maori party coalition is so inspiring.

      How is Leahy’s comment any different from rednecks saying Maori are more likely than whites to commit crimes?

      We know two wrongs don’t make a right, so we’re left with the conclusion radicals like Leahy are just using Maori greviances to increase their own political power, at the expense of those they profess to be representing.

      • Kimbo

        “How is Leahy’s comment any different from rednecks saying Maori are more likely than whites to commit crimes?”

        It’s not. Which I think was her point. Which is why I don’t have a problem with it. Is freedom of speech, whether misused, or as unappreciated irony. Just don’t think, in the context, and given her audience, it was very wise. She was always going to be misinterpreted by folks who lacked the willinngness or charity to appreciate her intent (not including you in that analysis, Peter Wilson).

        Not sure she is a Maori radical (and defining terms would help), or at least not in the Hone Harawira mold. Those who always complain that we don’t have honest politicians need to remind themselves that Hone is about the most honest around. Hone has many faults, but at least you always know what he thinks!

        Bear in mind that Leahy is a member of a party that is trying to position itself so that is no longer outside the tent pissing in. They took a hit jettisoning the Hone faction that could maybe (courtesy of Sykes and Minto) be characterised as the politics of “justified stealing”. They have a tough tightrope to balance on.

        Like others I was hugely impressed by the maiden speech of Alfred Ngaro (who is a Cookie, but is representing a broad enough constituency to share the concerns of many Maori like Leahy). Listen to his words carefully. He’s no appeaser, or passive apologist for the injustices of the past. Like the Maori party he wants his folks to have a place at the table, and he means to use the levers of power to assist them to assist themselves to do so. So that one day, there is less likelihood of the “dump on the brownies” rhetoric that got posted yesterday. When Israel Dagg scores a try for the All Blacks he is a primarily a Kiwi. When a suspect steals Xmas present she is (in the eyes of some) primarily a Maori.

      • Peter Wilson

        In reply to Kimbo.
         
        Yes, her comments are no better than those of rednecks, and surely that’s the point. If she wants to be taken seriously then she needs to exercise some self control in her language.

        The battle is to win the hearts and minds of mainstream NZers. Like the ones on this blog. Not the rednecks, who are lost souls.

  • Jaffa
    • token white man

      you’re right there – although can’t beleive she hasn’t got the faux tiki on the leather bootlace hanging round the neck…..

    • big mac

      wonder if she’d like a bit – i could probly help eh

    • kevin

      Bit of rainbow happening?

  • GPT

    If a white national party staffer said something to effect of “typical Maori, probably try and claim a Treaty right to justify theiving” I would suggest that it would be headline news and the end of that person’s career.

  • http://truebluenz.com/ Redbaiter

    This tells you who the Maori Party really are and what their agenda is-

    ..and John Key couldn’t wait to cuddle up to them..

    Disgusting.

  • Steve1

    Seems like we ,the white person of this great little country are to blame for all the problems that Maori are suffering,because we turned up in our boats ,and decided to stay.This has happened around the world,and on some occasions the results have been pretty shit for those who were indigenous(hope spelling correct) to that region.Now neither of us were first here,if going by history of both parties is correct,as we both used boats to get here.So neither was indigenous to this place.But the first born of those tourists are.Both Pakeha and Maori.So with that in mind should we not just get on with it,and live our lives,as one people,who happened to find this place,and decided to stay.Ok this is always going to be hard as two different points of view will clash.But most of us make do,and get on with it.A small minority seem to have a victim mentality,and will kick and scream and blame everyone else for whatever shortcomings have come there way.Being a scumbag does not,and is not a realm of just one culture in this country.Just lets get on with it,and sort your own shit out you guys.We have to,and who do we get to blame.Merry xmas.

  • Cameron Slater

    Looks like posting with someone else’s name is pretty easy.

  • Cameron Slater

    I’d also like to admit I made the original post myself, took a photo(!) of my screen and threw it in a blog post to stir up controversy and hopefully generate a few more hits.

  • Donald trump

    Yep one can post in any name,so hard to take anything to seriously here.

  • Anonymous

    The Maori party are as two faced as you can possibly be in public they will stay silent, in private the will condone it all the way and add a lot more.

  • Barrack Obama

    I agree with Helen – you whiteys need to get back in your box!

  • Rockyr

    Maybe the whites that stole from Helen were Irishmen possibly named Leahy.

  • An observer

    Wonder if the secretary for    Commie Norman, whose partner was caught vandalising 700 signs prior to the election is a friend of that Maori lady, whose parents are caucasion.Seems that that holier than thou lot seem to get away with everything.Even ******.

  • Patrick Murphy

    A true reflection of what the Maori party actually believe, while they have Sharples & Turia as the “acceptable” (to whiteys) face of their party their true intentions are separatism & a continuance of the treaty greviance gravy train that has dragged them down to where they are today. They would be much better served by questioning the suits that now control all the treaty settlement money & ask why the lives of the average maori have not improved? Why hasn’t some of the greviance wealth been spent upgrading homes or better still providing new houses for their people. I see houses owned by maori in my home town that look exactly like they did when I was a kid – 40 years ago, not a lick of paint or a new roof. These must be hell holes to live in.