I did not see this one coming.

[aleph_naught]

Labour's about turn on controversial act

Foreshore and seabed rights pushed

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The architect of the act, former finance and Treaty negotiations minister Michael Cullen, said yesterday he now believed Maori should be able to seek customary title to the foreshore and seabed

Comments

[aleph_naught]

It's saying "National's inflammatory rhetoric and refusal to cooperate created a political environment wherein it was impossible for us to do the right thing without losing the confidence of voters, so we did the wrong thing and have spent the last five years disingenuously defending it".

Which is, you know, totally not cool.

[aleph_naught]

Oh yeah, absolutely. But you can't really say "we're only doing this so that we can get reelected".

I don't think it excuses it at all, I'm actually quite disgusted by the dishonesty of it all, particularly as someone who otherwise has a lot of respect for the persons involved.

[micheinnz]

The horse has swum the Tasman and got a job in Australia. And now Cullen decides to close the door?

[aleph_naught]

Yeah. It's nice that he wants to set things right, though. I'm just amazed this isn't making more of a splash in the media; foreshore and seabed is certainly the biggest political ruckus in my memory.

[silvershamrock]

Well, it was. There's bigger news now. Like Susan Boyle's entry into Hollywood.

[micheinnz]

That's because you're too young for the Springbok tour or Bastion Point.

[silvershamrock]

Aw, come on man - dead silence for nearly ... what, a month? And then all of a sudden two political posts in the space of 24 hours?

This one's ... interesting. What I find curious is that it almost seems as if National and Labour are going to be collaborating on this. That was the intimation in Collin Espiner's blog over on Stuff, anyway.

Personally, I'm far more interested what the PSA's going to say at the union meeting about the 'voluntary redundancies' at IRD.

[aleph_naught]

Haha, yeah, I thought maybe I'd start actually using this thing a bit more often. I might start a proper pols blog, but until then..

And yeah, I think now that the smoke has cleared and people can see the issue for what it is, there's fairly broad consensus among the politically educated that allowing iwi to go to court is the best way to go.

[silvershamrock]

Haha, yeah, I thought maybe I'd start actually using this thing a bit more often. I might start a proper pols blog...

If you do, I'm totally there. Expect me to demand justifications for everything you say, though (hey, that's what strawmen are for!)