July 30, 2019
Yoga pants undermine Ihumātao protest
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones says those protesting at Ihumātao don't seem to understand the principles of the treaty settlement process.
Thousands of people have visited the site over the past week to support a group trying to block Fletcher Building developing 480 houses on former land that has been zoned as a special housing area.
Mr Jones says the treaty settlement process is informed by the spirit of compromise, which the company was respecting when it agreed to return some of its land to the iwi, and make affordable houses available to whānau with connections to the village.
But it now seems to have been caught in the middle of a conflict between traditional iwi leadership and the SOUL group.
"I think Fletchers are victims of (former housing minister) Nick Smith's attempt to solve the Auckland housing crisis. They jumped in and bought that land and presumably in good faith they did a deal with Te Kawerau a Maki, but I've got zero tolerance when I saw some of the personalities out there dressed up in yoga pants. They don't speak for mana whenua and they don't in my view represent the long term interests of Māori traditional leadership," Mr Jones says.
He says occupation spokesperson Pania Newton seems to be auditioning for a career in politics, but it won't be with New Zealand First.
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