NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

A meeting yesterday between ousted Te Pāti Māori MPs and their former colleagues was a chance to “sit down together, spend some time, have a cup of tea” and talk through recent events, says Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris.

The newly independent MPs, Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, had their first day back in Parliament on Thursday since being expelled from Te Pāti Māori on Monday, posting a video to social media with a song titled ‘Welcome back’.

In a sitdown interview with RNZ, Ferris described the expulsion process as a “joke” and underhanded.

He said Te Pāti Māori MPs Oriini Kaipara and Hana-Rawhiti Maipi Clarke were now “trapped” in the party which was behaving “way below the line”.

“Our mates, they weren’t told we were getting expelled. They were told by the press release. This is the degree of the conduct, right? It’s way below the line.”

He said that would lead people to “naturally come to the conclusion, well, you can’t exist in that”.

“We’re now expelled, so now Hana and Oriini are stuck, are trapped there. What are we going to do? Just leave that there like that? I don’t think the people will agree with that.”

Ferris, Kapa-Kingi, Kaipara and a representative for Maipi Clarke held a hui on Wednesday without their co-leader.

Ferris said the meeting was simply about “getting back together” and they did not discuss the possibility of forming a new party.

Last week, ahead of the expulsion, Ferris, Kapa-Kingi and Kaipara sent a letter to the National Council of Te Pāti Māori requesting an “immediate audience” to discuss some of their concerns about the party and the experiences of those three MPs.

Ferris said they had yet to receive a response.

“It’s just sitting there being ignored, but it’s got three signatures,” he said.

“Three current MPs have signed that letter. Fifty percent of your caucus have signed that letter – and they just ignored it and expelled two of them.”

Kaipara and Maipi-Clarke have yet to speak publicly following the expulsion, but both have posted on social media addressing their electorates.

Ferris said it was going to be “extremely awkward” and “extremely difficult” for Kaipara and Maipi-Clarke in the party’s offices at Parliament.

When asked about the meeting between the MPs, Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said on Wednesday they were entitled to meet with “whoever they want to meet with”.

She wasn’t concerned about what was being discussed or potential implications for the party.

Back at Parliament

Ferris told RNZ he was back at Parliament to “do a job” and was planning to get on with his work as the representative of Te Tai Tonga.

He said both he and Kapa-Kingi were still Te Pāti Māori MPs when it came to the kaupapa.

“We’re here for the kaupapa of Te Pāti Māori, not the personnel of Te Pāti Māori. We’re here for the vision that Whatarangi Winiata had and that Tariana Turia had, and that Pita Sharples had.”

Ferris confirmed he intended to challenge the expulsion process, questioning why so few people were part of the meeting where the decisions was made.

He said just 11 people attended that meeting when there should have been 36, and only two MPs when there should have been six.

“The amount of holes in it, it’s just so easy to debunk.”

Ferris said no one had explained to him yet how he had breached the constitution.

“No one’s come to explain to me exactly what the breaches are and explain how the breach occurred and whether there is or was an actual breach.”

RNZ understands one breach was Ferris doubling down on racially charged comments during the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election, comments party president John Tamihere later supported in essence.

Ferris flatly rejected Tamihere’s accusation that he had been plotting a leadership coup. Asked directly if he had leadership ambitions, he said he was “leading Te Tai Tonga”.

He said a lot of meetings were still to take place before the upcoming AGM in early December, and the people of Te Tai Tonga would be issuing a ‘please explain’ about his expulsion.

“They all want answers from the executive. They expect answers.”

Ultimately though, Ferris said the party “has suffered” and “continues to suffer reputational damage” and an assessment would need to be made at some point whether that could be repaired.

“Do we have the time or the energy or the resources available to repair that, whilst we’ve got to move all our people towards making sure that the government goes away next year?” He said.

“The people will speak up. The pressure will be so immense from outside that the only option will be to reorganise the party, and the National Council will step in and do the job they’re supposed to do.”

Ferris said Tamihere needed to step down, else the party would have no future.

“No future because the people won’t follow it,” he said. “And if there’s no people, there’s no nothing.”

Te Pāti Māori has been approached for comment.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Regulatory Standards Bill has passed with the backing of the coalition parties.

National and New Zealand First agreed to pass the bill into law as part of their coalition agreements with ACT.

The bill has faced fierce pushback from the public, with more than 98 percent of public submissions opposed.

The legislation sets down principles for lawmaking which would not be enforceable in court but – if a piece of law would breach them – politicians would need to explain.

It also sets up a Regulatory Standards Board which would assess current laws for their adherence to the principles, and

Its critics say the principles are ideological, could favour big corporations, and would add delays and cost to lawmaking.

Changes were made to the bill after the select committee – but constitutional experts have warned the changes do little to address the bill’s failings and the ideological way it’s written mean it’s unlikely to have lasting impact.

ACT leader David Seymour

The bill’s primary champion, David Seymour, argued in his speech in the final reading in Parliament the legislation was about avoiding putting the costs of law changes on regular people.

“If you want to pursue some cause, then you need to be open about whether it is going to impact people’s value that they get from their property and the value they get from their time,” he said.

“The costs of the restrictions are immense and they are felt throughout our society,” he said – giving the examples of teachers who he said complained they only ended up filling out forms and complying with bureaucracy, or builders who complained it took longer to get permission to build something than to actually build it.

“Where this bill leads us is a more respectful and more civilised society.”

He said the bill’s critics “have been many, but in my view poorly informed”, arguing principles missing from the bill could still be pursued “through collective action”.

“The point of the Regulatory Standards Act and its principles is to identify the costs of those laws and those collective projects on individuals.”

Repeal guaranteed – Labour

Labour’s Justice spokesperson Duncan Webb promised Labour would repeal it within 100 days if it won the next election.

He said the bill’s critics were “overwhelming” rather than “many”, and the bill was wasteful and unnecessarily duplicated existing processes.

“It seeks to put in place a set of far-right values that come out of a theory of economics which basically says the most important right is the right to private property – it throws aside every other right we hold dear.

“What it amounts to is baking in a libertarian set of values into our lawmaking process …. yes, we can do it better – we can do better regulatory impact statements, we can do better departmental disclosure statements – but what we don’t need is another piece of paper … that public servants have to go and undertake.”

He argued the bill would mean hand-picked public servants second-guessing the work of Parliament.

“This is the place for deliberation, this is the place for scrutiny, this is the place for examination – and to say that there is another group of people who you have no control over, unelected people, it’s fundamentally undemocratic.”

The final irony of the bill, he said, was that it did not follow the proper rules for lawmaking, with “deeply flawed and skewed” public consultation, a failure to consult Māori, and had a regulatory impact statement that fell short of Treasury’s requirements.

“The idea that he stands up and says ‘I’ve got this great piece of legislation about regulatory quality’ when he doesn’t follow his own rules about regulatory quality is outrageous.”

The party’s Deborah Russell said it was “odious” and again promised to repeal it within 100 days of the next Labour government.

Cockroaches and rats – Greens

Green MP Tamatha Paul said the bill was like a cockroach – “we keep stamping it out but it just won’t die”.

“They tried this three times before … and every single time it failed. They tried it again with the Treaty Principles Bill and what happened with that … it got chucked in the bin.

“The danger in this bill is not actually in how damaging it will be … the danger of this bill is how eyewateringly boring and technical it is so that most of the general public aren’t necessarily paying attention to the consequences.

“That’s how a cockroach lives, isn’t it – in the dark, in the night, not in broad daylight being clear about the intentions of what they hope to achieve.

“Or maybe it’s like a rat … you see one, you think that’s it, there’s 20 more where that came from.”

She said the bill’s intention was erasing the Treaty of Waitangi, ransacking the environment, and putting corporate greed over the public good.

Paul harked back to a time in New Zealand when everyone could get good healthcare, a public education was available to all, university-level training was free, and parents could stay home and raise their children.

Māori Development Minister ‘didn’t know it was happening today’

Heading into the debating chamber, Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka said he was unaware the bill’s third reading was set down for later in the day.

“Didn’t know it was happening today but it was foreshadowed through a coalition agreement, it’s happening today and I’m sure Minister Seymour will carry it through.”

He acknowledged it was a big deal to Māori, but it was among “a lot of confronting challenges in front of us right now, and the most important of which is the cost of living and the economic challenges”.

He said he hoped the passing of the bill would lead to improved regulatory oversight without being overbearing – but asked if he expected that would be the case said he did and that’s what it had been set up to do.

“And if it isn’t, well, we’re going to have to look at it again.”

Asked if he welcomed the bill, he said “oh, no, I support the coalition agreement and this has come out of the coalition agreement and I stand by Minister Seymour and others as a result of that”.

Pushed on whether that meant he supported it, he only said “I’m willing to say that this is a bill the coalition agrees to, I’m part of the coalition, I’m part of the National Party, and we support this agreement.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand