Devil's advocate

To David Seymour: while you're acting PM and I'm whining about being spied on... well, this is a clear-cut case of the state invading the personal freedom of a citizen.

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I don't hate you, though I think this Treaty debate is rather silly. If I'd been you and forming that policy, I'd have argued the English translation argument, given that you're throwing away the Waitangi Tribunal entirely.

I do think that you're more honest than all the Pākehā with mediocre Reo skills, but when it comes to the translation of the text I'm far more likely to side with a fluent speaker like Anne Salmond than you. -

And, though this isn't perhaps the best way to start a national debate, I do see your point that the country has changed a hell of a lot since the 1980's and that's why Māori tend to refer to the newcomers as tauiwi rather than Pākehā. So, there's really about 3 sets of people.

The question of 'special rights' is basically inherent to which translation you believe, and it's logically inconsistent to use Te Reo to argue your point, given that you're essentially establishing the English version as law. - Being a leftie, I'd also say that we're not talking about equality anymore: equity is the word du jour in leftist circles. It's obvious that Māori have far lower social, political and economic equity than Europeans. I mean, in my movie script I decided to give some land back, and it's pretty obvious that NZ is now a landlord economy. We're almost a banana republic where our main asset is property.