November 09, 2012
The real deal
Opinion: The other day a couple of news stories came through about the Treaty settlements.
As usual, there was reference to the number of dollars and, this time, there was also a reference to Tainui and Ngāi Tahu being due for an extra instalment, a kind of a top-up, even though they each got their "full and final" $170 million payment back in the 1990s.
That top-up is a result of their deal being done when the $1 billion fiscal cap was operating.
Back then the idea – a really dopey one, too – was that the $1 billion would cover all the Treaty settlements no matter what the claimants had lost.
Not surprisingly, the Crown officials have found that it's too tight a limit.
And now they're having to activate the clause which allows for a Tainui and Ngai Tahu top-up when the cap is exceeded.
Fair enough too. But, again as usual, the media stories had a tone of "Here we go again …"
And, maybe for the millionth time when this subject has come up in the media, there wasn't any mention of the cost to Maori of their losses. Not a hint.
So if you're still in the dark, let me explain.
Those settlements, at best, represent about a 1 per cent in the dollar square-off. That's right.
The Maori claimants are writing off 99 per cent of what the Crown owes them
The losses inflicted on Tainui by the Crown amounted to at least $17 billion – but they were forced to settle for $170 million. Same with Ngai Tahu.
And it's been the same pattern with every settlement since, even though they've been on a smaller scale.
I doubt if you can dismiss that as so trivial it doesn't even deserve a mention.
But can you recall any of our hot-shot mainstream broadcasters ever taking a look at that? Paul Holmes? Michael Laws? Mike Hosking? Leighton Smith? Mark Sainsbury? John Campbell?
Luckily there are now other voices and other shows where there is a more informed, more wholesome and more professional grasp of what's important and fair.
There was, in a way, a recognition of that last year when Native Affairs was judged as New Zealand's best current affairs programme.
That was quite a coup for the Maori Television Service because it doesn't have anything like the resources of the big players.
And last week there was another coup when two of its presenters, Julian Wilcox and Matai Smith, scored top awards – Julian as a current affairs presenter and Matai for his work in entertainment.
You could do a whole lot worse than tune in to see them in action.