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New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has upset the Maori Party with his charge the party brownmailed National into making policy concessions on the Resource Management Act.
In his state of the nation speech to the Orewa Rotary Club, he said the two parties are taking New Zealand down the track of separatism
Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says making councils engage with local iwi on the management of natural resources are a common-sense solution to ensuring Maori and the Crown honour their Treaty of Waitangi obligations.
Mr Peters says there are already provisions in the current Act for Maori participation, and Maori also have the chance to vote for their representatives in local government elections.
"And what it’s really saying to us, is that Maori, rather than being part of the community is separate from the community. Now that's a dangerous path to take because they don't want it in sport, they don't want it in culture, they don't want it in music, they don't want it in business. They want to be regarded as equals on the same footing and this law says they're not," says Winston Peters.
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