The last time that occurred was in 1877 when the then Chief Justice James Prendergast proclaimed the Treaty was "worthless" because it had been signed "between a civilised nation and a group of savages" who were incapable of signing a treaty.

In one foul swoop iwi/Maori were last week transported back to the Jurassic period where the notion of colonial superiority moved from military to legislative treachery.

If the bombs raining down on Gaza sickens you then understand that is exactly what happened here in Aotearoa.

Last week we recognised 160 years since the illegal and unjust invasion of Rangiriri Pa.

As women and children tried to escape through the swamp, they were systematically shot one-by-one.

Children who could not swim without their mothers drowned in Lake Kopuera which turned red with the blood of their mothers.

Screams of terror and cries for mercy were quickly silenced.

Mothers who survived were raped next to - babies who were dispatched with bayonets and then shot - there was no time for prisoners because they would hold up the advance into Waikato.

That is the context that drives iwi like ours who continue to advance the notion of indigenous relevance in a contemporary world.

So, when this coalition Government proclaims the removal of mechanisms like co-governance from the delivery of public services, it is effectively saying prepare yourselves to die sooner in a public service that does not see you.

We have confirmation they will not recognise the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples as having any binding legal affect in Aotearoa.

It actually means nothing because neither did any of the other previous governments moved much on UNDRIP either.

But it sounds great to the Hobson's Pledge brigade and their ilk.

Both NZ First and the National parties have agreed to support a bill seeking to define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi to its first reading.

The day this is introduced to Parliament it will trigger an immediate response from Maori and many non-Maori from across the country.

I have spoken to a number of iwi over the weekend and the initial feedback has been overwhelming and they will mobilise in numbers

We must protect the Treaty of Waitangi rights and interests that we have negotiated in good faith at all costs.

Those rights and interests in practical effect are held in perpetuity and we will not allow that to be changed by stealth and at the whim of the other Treaty partner.

We have a clause embedded in our Treaty settlements that effectively commits the Crown to engaging with us. Continue reading

• Tukoroirangi Morgan is a former politician and broadcaster. He is the chairman of Tainui iwi and helped spearhead the Waikato River settlement claim with both the Labour and National governments alongside the late Lady Raiha Mahuta.

In a statement released last week, they said:

"Attempts to find a lasting peace in the Holy Land that would provide security for Palestinians and the ordinary people of Israel have remained elusive, seemingly utterly so," the bishops said. "While there may have at times been goodwill, there has been no lasting way forward."

A renewed effort is needed to achieve lasting peace for "ordinary Palestinian peoples" and others living in the troubled land, they stressed.

The Holy Land is a special place for all three Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam, they also point out.

For many decades now, attempts to find a lasting peace in the Holy Land that would provide security for the Palestinians and the ordinary people of Israel have remained stubbornly elusive, the bishops say.

While there may have at times been good will, there has been no lasting way forward.

US president Joe Biden is similarly concerned.

"Even if the ground is not ripe at this moment to restart negotiations, the US and my administration will not give up on trying to bring ... both sides closer together," he says.

"There must be two states for two peoples living side by side in safety and peace.

"Every people must live in dignity, but the goal of the two-state solution is out of reach because there are restrictions on movement and other restrictions imposed on the Palestinians."

However New Zealand's bishops note the long-standing proposal for a "two-state solution" under which an independent Palestine would exist alongside Israel "remains just … a concept".

Another concern is that "illegal settlements on Palestinian land in the West Bank" continue to be established.

The bishops say international law has required that the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, must be returned to the Palestinians "as the heartland of their own state".

The bishops also pointed to Pope Francis' concern that progress is lacking in rebuilding trust and overcoming hatred and resentment. Without this, peace between Israel and Palestine, allowing two states to exist side by side, cannot be realised.

We strongly "support Pope Francis in that call," they say.

"The conflict in the Holy Land cannot be allowed to continue with no serious moves toward finding a just and peaceful solution for the peoples of Israel and Palestine, but particularly for Palestinians, whose long years of turmoil, occupation, blockading (as in Gaza) and impoverishment are a blight on the region and indeed on humanity."

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops
• Crux
• CN
• Arab News

The private member's bill came from small business spokesman Chris Baillee. It sought to give retailers more choice over whether they operate during the religious holiday.

Baillie said his bill would also look after workers by keeping existing employee protections in respect of Easter Sunday, and extend these protections to Good Friday.

Initially, the Labour-majority government indicated its members would treat the bill as a personal vote.

"We will be opposing the bill," Robertson said.

"I think there can be a few days in our calendar that focus on spending time with families and not putting pressure on people going out to work."

Other parties treated the proposal as a "conscience" issue, allowing politicians to make personal votes.

National Party leader Christopher Luxon said he supported the bill. He said it has strong support from the retail sector.

Currently retailers have to close on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

A bill needs a majority of the 120 MPs to pass. As Labour has a majority, only bills it supports can pass.

Parliament has had many similar debates about whether strict Easter trading rules should be relaxed.

In 2016 Parliament responded to the Easter trading law reform debate by giving councils the power to create a policy to allow shops to trade on Easter Sunday.

Source

• NZ Herald

Trade unions, charities and poverty action groups were among those asking the government to address mass unemployment and poverty.

Working through umbrella group ActionStation Aotearoa [New Zealand], the groups published an open letter, saying the situation was "urgent."

Families were being "pushed into poverty" by the loss of jobs under COVID-19, coupled with a long period of stagnant wages and high housing costs, they said.

Low welfare benefit rates mean that "right now, hundreds of thousands of children are constrained by poverty, despite parents' best efforts."

Many of those behind the letter are allies who campaigned and fund-raised for the government's re-election.

They pleaded with Ardern to introduce measures to make Aotearoa "the best place to be a child."

"This is not going to be an issue that gets resolved within one week or one month or indeed one term," Ardern responded.

In 2017 she vowed to eliminate child poverty and the housing affordability crisis.

During her first term, a government Welfare Advisory Group worked on a raft of changes to reduce poverty.

Last year they recommended allocating an extra $5.2 billion a year for social welfare, immediately raising benefit rates for main benefits ranging from 17 to 47 percent. Indexing benefits to average wages was also suggested.

The government supported the indexation recommendation, but only increased benefit rates by $25 a week,. Further increases were "not fiscally sustainable," it said.

At grass-roots level, health professionals are seeing the human side of poverty.

An Auckland school nurse says kids are coming to school with ill-fitting shoes falling off their feet or held together with tape.

Even before COVID, many were coming to her with headaches from dehydration, stomach cramps, lethargy.

They weren't ill, she says: "I was finding they were just hungry kids." She now spends $80 a week of her own money on feeding them.

KidsCan, which provides food, shoes and raincoats to schools, has now stepped in to help. The change in the students was "just remarkable ...because now they're not hungry anymore," the school nurse says.

A Whangarei school principal says people don't understand what children's lives can look like when a family of six has $300 to cover rent, power and food.

Anxiety and stress have skyrocketed in the children at her school since the pandemic. Many families have been disturbed by job losses and housing changes.

Last week around 23,000 people at the end of the COVID-19 income relief payment were still unemployed.

Ministry of Social Development (MSD) figures to the end of October show only 5,000 had transferred onto the jobseeker benefit. Thousands of jobseekers don't qualify for the benefit.

The official unemployment rate is expected to worsen. Food bank demand has tripled since last year.

A new report says nearly 40 percent of eight-year old children's homes are cold, mouldy and damp.

It also reports that many families can't afford to eat properly.

Source

• Scoop
• Stuff
• Image: The Daily Blog

The Child Poverty Action Group is one of several advocating for the new government, led by Child Poverty Reduction Minister Jacinda Ardern, to immediately raise income support.

Campaigner Janet McAllister said benefit levels were so low they locked many children into severe poverty.

She told Morning Report that Labour's plan announced before the election included welfare reforms focusing on adequate incomes for families receiving benefits.

"We're saying you need to prioritise children and enact these plans immediately. They got the mandate, the need is urgent and they have the opportunity. So they should put children first and have faith that their voters - indeed all of us in New Zealand - care about children." Read more

The general secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG, Giorgio Licini, wrote to PNG's Prime Minister James Marape in January about this.

In the letter Licini reminded Marape of New Zealand's long standing offer to resettle 150 refugees each year from Australian offshore detention in PNG and Nauru.

New Zealand's offer was first extended to Australia in 2013 by former prime minister John Key. The offer has been restated by Jacinda Ardern's government.

The Australian government has refused to take up the offer.

It says it would encourage more people smuggling by boat and that it would create a back door for the refugees to enter Australia.

Giorgio suggested Marape should "not hesitate to discuss this option with the prime minister and the government of New Zealand".

It would give "psychological relief to individuals now almost totally exhausted after seven years of uncertainty and restricted freedom of movement", Giorgio said.

There are about 200 refugees left in PNG.

One hundred of the refugees are unlikely to be accepted for resettlement in the United States, Father Giorgio said.

A similar number remains on Nauru.

In July 2013, the Australian government ruled that no refugees being detained offshore would be resettled in Australia.

Since then, the Australian government has locked up 3127 people without trial in Nauru and on Manus Island.

The office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court last week described Australia's detention of refugees in PNG and Nauru as cruel, inhuman, degrading and illegal under international law.

Source

• RNZ
• Image: RNZ