Government Cuts Off Public Voice On Controversial Bill
'This is not a process. It's a purge. The Government is pushing a dangerous law and silencing those who would challenge it' said Te Pāti Māori Co-leader Rawiri Waititi.
Despite repeated system failures and hundreds still waiting to be heard, Ministers have refused to extend the deadline. Māori voices, tangata tiriti, constitutional experts, legal academics, unions, and community advocates are being locked out.
'The Crown never intended to listen. They've built a submission process designed to collapse under pressure and it did. Now they're cutting the cord' said Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
'The Regulatory Standards Bill hands sweeping power to unelected officials and opens the door for corporate veto over worker protections, environmental safeguards, and Te Tiriti rights.'
'This is the machinery of suppression dressed as reform. Thirty hours isn't public consultation it's an alibi' said Waititi.
Te Pāti Māori is demanding an immediate extension to the submission timeframe and guarantees that every voice has the right to be heard.
'We will fight this Bill in Parliament, in the courts, and in our communities' said Waititi. 'A government that shuts its ears is not fit to govern.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
36 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: Labour Party declared 'legally dead' by coroner
Missing in action? Labour leader Chris Hipkins. Photo / Getty Images Greg Dixon is an award-winning news reporter, TV reviewer, feature writer and former magazine editor who has written for the NZ Listener since 2017. Online only Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics is a weekly satirical column on politics that appears on A memorial is to be held on the West Coast to mark the passing of New Zealand Labour after the 109-year-old party went missing without a trace some 20 months ago. Although no body has been located, the Wellington coroner this week declared the missing party deceased. 'Despite alleged encounters with members of the parliamentary media, the Labour Party has not been provably sighted by any member of the voting public since late 2023,' the coroner said in a statement. 'Extensive hunts by army search teams, police sniffer dogs and global spy satellites have failed to find signs of life, such as effective opposition to the government's increasingly anti-worker, anti-environment and anti-Māori policies. As such, I have no option but to declare the New Zealand Labour Party legally dead.' In further comments, the coroner said that it was her belief that following the loss of Labour matriarch Dame Jacinda Ardern at the beginning of 2023, the party went into a steep political decline. It was last seen looking dazed and confused in late 2023 under its stop-gap leader, the sausage roll aficionado Chris Hipkins. Labour had had no further contact with the voting public from around that time and had not issued a single new policy about anything since, the coroner said. It is believed the party had likely gone into a 'deep mental funk' after its catastrophic showing at the 2023 election. 'A coroner has the power to declare a person dead in cases where there has been a major disaster and a body can't be found,' the coroner said. 'Obviously, Labour's near-record 2023 election defeat by National was just such a disaster and no one has been able to find the body of the Labour Party since. I believe that after more than 20 months without a public sighting, it is safe to conclude the party has died somewhere in the political wilderness.' Former members and supporters of the party will mark the passing at a gathering on Monday afternoon at New Zealand Labour's birthplace at Blackball on the West Coast. In a tribute to the late party, a ceremonial vote will be held to decide whether a capital gains tax policy could have saved Labour from oblivion. 'It is a sad day for New Zealand,' one former party member said. 'A mighty tōtara has fallen. And it did it without making a sound.' Chris Bishop calls new Lorde album 'a load of crap' Another Kind of Politics' Music Reviewer of the Year Chris Bishop says he is 'not very bloody impressed' by the latest release from best-selling Kiwi pop singer Lorde. In his first major music review since the Aotearoa Music Awards in late May, Bishop has labelled Lorde's new album Virgin 'a load of crap', and says he wouldn't recommend it to anyone who liked 'good' music like Cold Chisel and Men at Work. 'Call me a dickhead, but I don't believe for a moment Lorde has got her V-plates intact, so it's false advertising for a start,' Bishop told Another Kind of Politics by phone. 'The first single What Was That was rubbish and made me think 'what the bloody hell was that?', which was kind of ironic, ha, ha, ha. As for the new single Hammer, I'd rather listen to Chisel. The rest of the album reminded me of being stuck in a disco while some woman moans on to me about her life.' Virgin, released last Friday, has received almost universal praise internationally, with Rolling Stone calling it 'nearly 40 minutes of undeniable pop bangers', while The Guardian called it 'powerful, moving, personal but universal – and packed with bangers'. Bishop said he had found 'no bangers' on the album only 'a bunch of fizzers', and would not be listening to Virgin again. 'But I'm really hanging out for 10CC's gig in Wellington next week. That'll be rockin'. Do you want a review of that?' The prestigious Golden Nitpicker Award for music review of the year was awarded to Bishop after his thoughtful critiques at the AMA ceremony where he labelled Stan Walker's performance 'a load of crap', and claimed the singer had received 'performative acclaim'. Renowned Kiwi musician and former Mutton Bird Don McGlashan confronted Bishop at the time, telling him to 'shut up, you dickhead'. Poll to ask what Judith Collins should lose next on her watch? Minister For Losing Our Stuff Judith Collins is seeking public input on which vital, multimillion dollar, taxpayer-funded equipment should be lost next from her portfolios. This week it was revealed that under Collins' tenure as the country's first Minister for Space, the MethaneSAT satellite, which the government put $29 million towards, was lost in space after going off course. This followed the sinking of the $103 million HMNZS Manawanui after it hit a reef in Samoa last October under her watch as Minister of Defence. Collins' office said the minister would now poll New Zealanders on what expensive piece of equipment should vanish or be misplaced next under her ministerships. A spokesperson said the minister was 'ultra-keen to complete a 'lost property hat trick' by the next election'. Political quiz of the week Photo / Facebook What is Deputy Prime Minister and birthday boy David Seymour about to wish for when he blows out his candles? A/ For equality, freedom and the tyranny of the minority. B/ That he can stir up enough fear and loathing to win Act two more seats in 2026. C/ For a time machine to go back to 1840 to rewrite the treaty with his 'principles'. D/ That the Prime Minister goes overseas again and never comes back.
RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
David Seymour criticises Rawiri Waititi for 'insane views' about African leader
Rawiri Waititi has praised an African leader who has become popular as a symbol of resistance to the West. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has labelled Te Pāti Māori a threat to democracy after its co-leader Rawiri Waititi declared a West African military ruler to be his "modern day hero". Burkina Faso's leader Ibrahim Traoré has grown in popularity across Africa and beyond, since seizing power in a 2022 coup, with many praising him as a symbol of resistance to the West. Earlier this year, Waititi shared a video of Traoré on Instagram, along with a comment labelling the president his "modern day hero!". "Tino Rangatira is not only a domestic commitment, it is an international determination. Our fight for political, economic, social and cultural independence and liberation is not a dream, it's a decision!" Waititi wrote. The post provoked the ire of the ACT Party's leader, who cited it as evidence of Te Pāti Māori's "insane views". "Rawiri Waititi once said he's not a fan of democracy. We need to take him seriously," a spokesperson for Seymour said in a statement. "His hero is a Marxist dictator who has delayed elections and banned homosexuality... [Te Pāti Māori is] not in Parliament to uphold democracy, but wreck it." Te Pāti Māori declined RNZ's request for a response: "We will not be commenting on this". ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has labelled Rawiri Waititi a threat to democracy. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii Ahead of the 2023 election, Waititi told Newshub he was "not a fan of democracy", describing it as "a tyranny of the majority". Traoré took power in Burkina Faso in September 2022, ousting a fellow military officer amid growing frustration at ongoing jihadist violence. Since then, he has styled himself as a pan-African revolutionary and pledged to restore security and national sovereignty. A BBC profile in May said Traoré had built the "persona of a pan-Africanist leader determined to free his nation from what he regards as the clutches of Western imperialism and neo-colonialism". While Traoré commands strong support among some youth and rural communities, rights groups have raised alarm over increasing authoritarianism, human rights violations and media suppression. Under his leadership, the country has shifted away from former colonial power France and drawn closer to Russia. A researcher at South Africa's Institute for Security Studies, Enoch Randy Aikins, told the BBC that Traoré's radical reforms had buoyed his popularity. "He is now arguably Africa's most popular, if not favourite, president," Aikins said. Traoré initially promised to hold elections in 2024 but subsequently delayed them until at least 2029. In July 2024, the military junta announced a ban on homosexual acts, but it does not yet appear to have been enacted into law. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
NZ Herald
2 hours ago
- NZ Herald
NZ Super needs to be cut now
Finance Minister Nicola Willis says future governments will take active decisions to allocate resources to those areas they want to protect. Photo / Mark Mitchell KEY FACTS The good news is that no one in New Zealand politics – not even the Greens or Te Pāti Māori – is quite as grossly fiscally irresponsible as the US Republican Party. Just three Republican senators had the integrity to vote against Donald Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill',
