Mike's Minute: I don't blame Hipkins for having a crack, but tell him he's dreaming
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Mike Hosking Breakfast. Six to nine weekdays on Newstalks FB.
You know, there, you know what?
What prompted Mike to say 'I don't blame Hipkins for having a crack'?
I don't blame Hipkins for having a crack, but tell him, as they said in the castle, tell him he's dreaming.
How does Hipkins link RMA changes to renegotiation of Treaty settlements?
Having closed, or at least announced they are closing off the absurd deals between local councils and Māori once they get the new RMA laws up, Hipkins suggested that this would lead to a lot of renegotiation of treaty settlements. I can tell you it will do no such thing. You know why?
Why does Mike argue the government won’t actually trigger Treaty renegotiations?
Because it might just be that this government has had enough of court interference of Māori issues and the Mike Smith mess might just have been the final straw. I would like to think personally the intervention is nonsense from the Waitangi Tribunal was the final straw, but this government seems happy enough to continue to foot that bill while ignoring pretty much everything they say. The really important bit of the Hipkins intervention is that he has not explicitly said they will reinstate said council deals. Now, why would he have said that?
Who does Mike blame for the controversial local council–Māori deals?
Could it possibly be because he too realises that the whole marrification of this country has got wildly out of control and not even he can bring himself to buy the inevitable fight that would be required in an election campaign if it was him v Luxon and one had killed said deals and the other one was left to defend the indefensible. The headache Hipkins doesn't need, of course, is that they are not deals, it's the councillors, not his deals. They're the council deals, and the councils should be the ones being called out and held to account. It's the councils who are taking the proverbial. That is not to say his Maori caucus, I guess, won't get to Hipkins eventually, but for now at least, he takes what most middle-of-the-road New Zealanders would perceive as a moderate, sensible stance.
And it's exactly those sort of stances that win elections, of course, and I think he knows that deep down.
How does Mike say public opinion and elections shape Hipkins’ stance on Māorification?
Elections are won in the centre. And the maorification of New Zealand is nowhere near the centre, a place the Labour Party, by the way, once stood fairly solidly and fairly successfully. The original treaty deals he refers to, yes, they do have clauses for renegotiation, but they're more about income than local level dabbling by councils. And of any council or iwi want to dabble in a court, the court should be basically ignored. You get the sense that like a lot of ideas not well thought through, that any original goodwill here was well and truly shot to bits as councils and local Maori, to put it really bluntly, took the piss. Well, that game, thank goodness, is up.
The Mike Hosking Breakfast, six to nine weekdays on Newstalks FB.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:21
2
What prompted Mike to say 'I don't blame Hipkins for having a crack'?
0:21–0:27
3
How does Hipkins link RMA changes to renegotiation of Treaty settlements?
0:27–0:42
4
Why does Mike argue the government won’t actually trigger Treaty renegotiations?
0:42–1:09
5
Who does Mike blame for the controversial local council–Māori deals?
1:09–1:53
6
How does Mike say public opinion and elections shape Hipkins’ stance on Māorification?
1:53–2:34
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Mike Hosking Breakfast
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