Tim Dower: Te Pati Māori are shooting themselves in the foot

So, a Day of Action called by Te Pati Māori. Organisers promise they'll target busy roads and even try to jam the motorways. 

They're talking about gridlock on roads into central Auckland, and gleefully suggesting this will cause millions in lost productivity. 

Wow. What a useful and worthwhile objective that is. 

Now, this is supposedly about an assault by the new Government on tangata whenua and the Treaty. 

That assault as they see it comes in the form of dialling back the extensions to smokefree laws, scrapping the Māori Health Authority, and repealing Three Waters. 

It's probably worth mentioning that those changes —with the exception of smokefree— were well flagged up during the election campaign. 

And if there hadn't been broad support across the voting spectrum then we'd have ended up with another three years of a rotten Labour government, and its rotten policies. 

The people have spoken, and the people want the country back on track. 

The people, as I read it, wanted less divisive policy and a focus on reducing crime and tackling the cost of living. 

Unravelling some of the smokefree changes was a surprise, but how can you interpret that as an attack on anyone? 

Smoking is, after all, a personal choice. Nobody apart from those who sell tobacco is actually encouraging anyone to take it up, are they? 

Look, it's a Tuesday, less than three weeks out from Christmas. 

The Māori Party perhaps doesn't realise most people just want to get on with things, and can't afford a day off for a protest, especially when they don't really know what it's about. 

Stopping regular working people from getting in and earning a crust could be seen as an attack on them. You're shooting yourselves in the foot guys. 

Look, I don't expect big crowds out there protesting today, but as we've seen in Wellington, all it takes is half a dozen tossers with super glue to bring a major artery to a standstill. 

Work from home anyone? 

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