Shane Jones: NZ First MP on the Ngāpuhi settlement

New Zealand First says the country can no-longer afford a drawn-out Treaty settlement with the largest iwi.  

The party's drafting legislation to require a single settlement with Ngāpuhi, rather than multiple agreements.  

However, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith has signalled he's open to settlements with smaller groups within iwi. 

NZ First MP Shane Jones told Mike Hosking the $20 million process is holding up Whangarei Hospital redevelopments.  

He says one group is hijacking the claim by introducing notions of sovereignty at the cost of the taxpayer. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
One of the last cabs off the ranking. The seemingly
never ending treaty settlements process is that of NAPOOI. The
group is split, has been for years, and New Zealand
First currently drafting a bill that requires only one settlement
with them. Shane Jones is with us on this shade
morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Yeah, morning, folks, could be.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
A deadline imposed. Do you remember Bolder, they had this
idea that we imposed the deadline you file your paperwork.
We sought this out once and for all, andfo we've
done that, we wouldn't be here now. Is that fair?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Yeah? Look, we've reached a point where we can no
longer afford this hamster wheel politics set gnarpool he has
descended into Our bill will ensure that HAPU sovereignty never
gets to mention undivided sovereignty, undivided citizenship is what I
believe in. And more importantly, we cannot pay any longer

(00:46):
after a squandered well beyond twenty million dollars on the scarpool,
he claim, we've tolerated cliche claptrap about sovereignty and it's
about time a line was laid down, and our bill
will do that.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Is the twenty million we've spent. Has it got us
anything at all?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Absolutely? Zero people have perished. What we've ended up doing
with that money is rewarding consistently bad behavior where a
small group have actually distorted the prospects of the entire
North and they seem to believe they can continually rehearse
these arguments and there's no financial implications. Well, I'm sorry,

(01:28):
we're struggling to build the one Gerra Hospital in a
time frame that suits the faring and a citizens. Meanwhile,
we've got a tiny group up there lecturing the rest
of the nation and now introducing notions of sovereignty to
hijack the claim. Well we're not. The tax payer should
not be paying for such madness. And quite frankly, the
Ken of New Zealand politics Chippy waiting and saying that

(01:50):
he would sign a settlement that acknowledging up his sovereignty
on that point alone, the man should be ruled out
of public life forever.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
If the bill comes up and passes, does that, potentially,
from the pui's point of view, mean no ideal They
won't sign it.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Well, we've got precedence. No one wanted to sign the
Fisheries settlement that Bulger in nineteen ninety two, and indeed
labor didn't even vote for that, So there are precedents.
I mean, how long do the taxpayers want to keep
paying money into an area that's already bleak in terms
of economic prospects and rewarding perverse behavior that gets actually

(02:27):
more in my view, in my view, dismissive of the
rest of society. At each White Hongey celebration in February.
Now we're bringing it to a head. There'll be no
Hapu sovereignty. There will be no more indulgence of this
sovereignty clap trap, and people will come into the real
world because the settled claims we have to use taxpayers money.

(02:47):
And unless you notice, that's in short supply. Mate, We've
had the Afghan War, We've had bricks that, we've had
the Iraq War, and still these muppets are arguing about
irrelevancies up home.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Just quickly, your speech last week on regional councils. I
thought you were being you, but Luxem was on the
programme yesterday. This seems real. You will scrap regional councils.
You may well cap rates as it is real.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh yeah, no, I've said all along that as the
Regional Development Minister, I've learned to my costs that we
do need a rationalization of local government, in particular regional government.
Obviously we have to take that issue to the next election,
but we've got our party conference coming up, but we're
going to have robust treatments that change the trajectory of
our nation. We're going to sit around indulging all of this,

(03:33):
all of this wocus and which is driving us broke.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Appreciate your time, Shane Jones, New Zealand First MP, Regional
Affairs Minister, Minister for Mining, et cetera. It does give you.
And this goes back to my comment yesterday just briefly
that in all the polls that have been out in
the last couple of weeks, there's been a consistent performer
and it's those guys. And perhaps from what you just
heard you can see why. For more from the Mic
Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd be from

(03:58):
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