Ngāi Tahu

Maori troughing is spreading at an alarming rate:

Troughers in the Waikato

A Waikato University researcher has received almost $500,000 to lead a two year international study on indigenous well-being.

Dean of the School of Maori and Pacific Development Linda Tuhiwai Smith has been awarded $424,000 from New Zealand’s Indigenous Centre of Research Excellence, Nga Pae o Te Maramatanga.

Education, health, language revitalisation and economic development are known factors of Maori development but Ms Smith said she wants to kick it into the next gear.

Trougher in Canterbury

Environment Canterbury will spend nearly $700,000 this financial year on a Ngai Tahu “engagement” programme, which has included staff helping write a waiata.

The figures were provided to the Timaru Herald after news that 21 staff from the council’s Timaru and Christchurch offices last week completed a two-day excursion to the Arowhenua marae in Temuka.

A second marae visit for other staff, to Port Levy, is planned for February.

Nice if you can get the work. The bro-raracy really knows how to get their trotters deep in the trough.

Mark Solomon has broken ranks with the greedy, grasping Maori Council who are intent on gang style standover to extract cash form the government:

An influential iwi leader may have given the Government’s legal team a boost as it prepares to mount a defence to a Maori Council bid to stop its flagship asset sales programme.

Ngai Tahu iwi leader Mark Solomon told TVNZ’s Q and A yesterday that he does not believe that any sell-down of the southern state power company Meridian would have any impact on Ngai Tahu’s rights and interests in water.

That is exactly the argument the Crown will be mounting in the High Court at Wellington tomorrow against the part sale of the first SOE off the block, Mighty River Power.

He also disagreed with the finding of the Waitangi Tribunal that it would be a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi if the Government proceeded to sell shares without first providing Maori with a remedy to recognise their rights.

He pointed out that that tribunal had also said that a sell-down of 49 per cent did not prevent the Government from addressing the rights and the interests of Maori – a contradiction the Government has similarly pointed to on several occasions.

“Personally I do not believe that the sell-down of parts of Meridian will affect Ngai Tahu’s rights and interest to water,” Mr Solomon said.

The political left are harping on about Peter Dunne’s call of “legitimate tax avoidance” so I have found an example for them.

Most of Ngai Tahu’s operations are through a charitable trust structure.  Charities are legitimate tax avoidance tools.  If you are a rich prick you are of course accused of “evading tax” but if you are a rich Maori tribe you are considered well within your rights to set up as charitable even though you do not distribute much of your fortune at all to any beneficiaries other than the brotocracy.

Note the 17.5% rate so the company acts as a look through for income in the hands of its low earning recipients.  A bit like income handed to beneficiaries of any normal trust.

Ngai Tahu kaiwhakahaere (chair) Mark Solomon says: “Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu adhere strictly, at all times, to the law governing charitable entities.

“The Ngai Tahu Charitable Trust has an annual process where all our expenditure and operations are assessed to ensure they are ‘charitable’. Tax is paid on any expenditure or operations that are not charitable.”

Didn’t hear Guyon Espiner call this legitimate tax avoidance immoral?

I see that Maori are in line for even more loot, after it appears the fiscal envelope has been cracked:

Waikato-Tainui and Ngai Tahu iwi are poised to claim top-ups on their 1990s Treaty settlements because of a relativity clause that gets triggered when the so-called fiscal envelope is exceeded.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson progress with claims means there is some $1.79 billion completed or in the pipeline, including the $170 million settlement with the 35,000-strong Ngai Tuhoe tribe announced this week.

The central North Island-based Tainui and South Island Ngai Tahu settled for $170 million apiece but were granted top-up clauses that would ensure Tainui received 17% of all settlements and Ngai Tahu got 16.1%.

That clause would come into play if the Crown paid out more than $1 billion in 1994 dollar terms under the fiscal envelope.

That works out at roughly $1.54 billion today, using the Reserve Bank’s inflation calculator, though it does not account for the timing of various settlements.

And so more cash will flow into Maori coffers…with no discernible reduction in Maori crime, Maori child abuse or Maori children even eating breakfast.

Let’s face it Labour’s plan to feed the poorest children in our schools is just pouring more money into Maori who as we can see have actually had billions more than everyone else poured into their coffers for no discernible return, either to them or to the nation.

Treaty settlements are nothing less than unbridled looting like gang members coming back again again for “protection” money.

Only a fool would believe that this will ever end. Then again plenty of people thought that when politicians promises a safe and secure retirement paid for by your taxes they meant it.

Just what grievances are we settling? Or are we creating new ones?

The $1b treaty cap was a lie and non-Maori should now be able to sue the Crown for that lie.

Cactus Kate has a cracker of a post (no not the one about anal sex) about Maori selling land. You know, land, the taonga protected by the treaty. It seems that only Maori are allowed to sell land to ‘foreigners’ and only ’foreigners’ who aren’t Chinese.

Ngai Tgahu know all about asset sales so should be supporting National’s privatisation programme. Here are just two recent examples of Maori more than happy to flog off their assets to foreigners who need OIO approvals.

In 2010 they sold 1348 hectares in Kaikoura to an American couple for 7.5 million dollars. They paid 8 million dollars so made a $500,000 loss.

In 2011 they sold 18,000 hectares of forest to a Swiss owned family company for 22.9 million dollars. And continue to manage it. Alf Grumble reported it at the time on his blog noting the hypocrisy and lies of Tuku Morgan in relation to asset sales. Ngai Tahu sold this land under the euphemism of a “change in investment strategy”. National are having that same change in investment strategy selling stakes in SOE’s.

Maori and the left wing and assorted other whingers are now carping that the Mixed Ownership Model can be spiked via the Treaty of Waitangi. Cactus Kate pours them back in the bottle.

Now Maori wish to construct an argument that National’s privatisation programme cannot go ahead because of the SOE Act due to a conflict with Treaty Principles. More taking of the piss.

Selling assets to locals and foreigners seems to be completely in line with Maori principles of making profit or a loss when inept, for themselves. Ngai Tahu have proven that Maori principles are to sell when it suits them.

Another example of Maori completely taking the piss for their own commercial ends.

No one need think Maori are not immune from selling their precious taonga when required. And there is nothing wrong with this, just don’t hide behind the skirt of our Queen Elizabeth and some loosely interpreted Treaty principles when the Crown wishes to do likewise to pay for things like schools, health and a legacy of years of over-spending on welfare on a feral heaving pathetic underclass.

Looks like Maori and Labour shared the dux of the class in Hypocrisy School.

Iwi are looking at the opportunity afforded by the mixed ownership model:

An alliance of Maori tribes plan to buy up to 20 per cent of any state-owned power companies put up for partial sale by the new National Government.

Prime Minister John Key is sticking by his party’s plan to sell up to 49 per cent of Meridian Energy, Mighty River Power, Genesis Energy and Solid Energy in the wake of National’s election win on Saturday.

He has rejected suggestions his party lacks a mandate to partially sell off the state-owned assets.

Ngai Tahu chair Mark Solomon this morning told Radio New Zealand a consortium of tribes were interested in a large stake in the companies.

The partnership would work because iwi would not on-sell the shares overseas and would reinvest dividends in New Zealand, he said.

I think this is an outstanding idea – have an alliance of Maori tribes join the mixed ownership model the Government won re-election on.

Next step –  imagine IwiSaver – a Kiwisaver provider that invests in the future retirement savings of Maori New Zealanders. The bulk of their investing would probably be subcontracted out to one or more funds managers, but think of the ongoing wealth that could be created by Maoridom – in NZ assets. Have a special “IwiSaver” contribution rate of 1% for Maoris on salaries to contribute and get matching contributions for their own accounts.

Promoting Maori financial literacy, self-sufficiency and an ongoing partnership between Iwi and the Crown in infrastructure – can surely only be a good thing?