New Zealand Conservative

Protected from the pretty colours and bold fonts March 2014 - In a stunning blow to the Tobacco lobby, the government has banned the use of Helvetica font (and many others) on plain cigarette packaging. Once the new legislation is in force, advertisers will be forced to choose between only Courier and Times New Roman when adding printed messages on their products. Whilst the bill was known as "Helvetica 12" the legislation included a long list of fonts that were now deemed illegal for the purposes of advertising.  The full list wasn't fully known as the list was delivered in 6 point font, and no-one had a magnifying glass handy. Helvetica font was singled out based on solid, peer reviewed overseas research.  The study indicated consumers were more likely to buy a packet of cigarettes when noticing key words such as "Camel" in Helvetica 12, 14 and 16.  Young people aged 12, 14 and 16 were most susceptible according to the data. "This is a fantastic...

Lindsay Mitchell has a post up on the World Socialist Website putting the boot into the Mana Party. Actually quite interesting to see what socialists don't like about a Maori nationalist party pretending to be on the left. But this little nugget caught my attention: Recent research by Berl economist Ganesh Nana puts the combined asset base of Maori tribes at $NZ36.9 billion... That's some serious money. Probably why Maori spirituality is now the defacto state religion of New Zealand and why the National Party has had the Maori Party with them in Government ... at a guess. Money talks and attracts important friends.

[Just to provide a different take on today's events] Well, in a stunning blow to the importance of whānau and demonstrating that blood is not thicker than water, Hone Harawira has been labelled the bad child and not just sent to the naughty box, but ostracised from the family. Turfed out. Rejected. Or in political terms, suspended from the Caucus . A joint statement issued today by Maori Party leaders Tariana Turia and Dr Pita Sharples said the party caucus no longer had any faith in Mr Harawira. This time, Turia and Sharples are not blaming Paheka, they've picked up Pakeha's messages of "personal responsibility" and laid it all at Hone's feet. The Māori Party leadership declare Hone is exactly where he is today because of HIS actions and not the environment he is required to work in, nor the Pakeha rules he is required to play. There is no whānau ora support program for Hone, he is gone. They are sounding more like National every day. Should...

Prime Minister John Key and Whanau Ora Minister Tariana Turia Thursday announced $134m in spending on the programme over the next four years , drawn from the Government’s $1.2b Pathway To Partnership fund. The programme seeks to appoint whanau ‘navigators’ to monitor up to twenty families each and liaise with health and welfare providers for them...The $134m would be a starting point and would not include funding for existing contracts. Turia added that figure would rise over time to a value of $1b as Housing, Justice and police agencies are integrated. $134 million for 20 families? I wonder how the 20 families were selected? Was it last week's Lotto draw, a scratchie or every-one who had $100 to win on "Whar Lap" on the 4th race last Tuesday at Trentham? Turia says it's not about the money. That's because it's not hers, and tax is a bottomless bucket. I hope that $134 million includes some very detailed reporting on where the money went, and w...

Imagine this - a new name for New Zealand,to go along with a new flag and a new national anthem, composed by Peter Sharples. We wouldn't recognize ourselves.

This is too funny - Today Hone Harawira put forward a private members bill seeking to entrench the Maori seats . Unfortunately the under the deal the Maori Party has with National no such initiative will be undertaken during the current Parliamentary term. And it appears the leadership of the Maori Party were oblivious to the fact that he was doing so until informed by the media. But once the leadership became aware the bill was withdrawn - entering it into the ballot was a mistake apparently.

Did you notice how the general take on Waitangi day was how peaceful and "harmonious" it was? The tino rangatiratanga flag flew alongside the New Zealand flag on government buildings and all was well with the world. And Hone Harawira's latest take on the foreshore and seabed act was given the thumbs up by a "treaty expert" and S urfing New Zealand chief executive Greg Townsend . And now John Key is negotiating with Maori groups over this very issue behind closed doors and no detail of these discussions will enter the public domain until its a done deal. Why do I get the sick feeling we are all about to be shafted?

If the Maori Party cared about their mana, they would dump the banana . Monkey With Typewriter explains why : Single-handedly he has turned the public perception of the Maori Party away from being a nascent political party with enough credibility to sit with the Government at cabinet, and returned it to the position of glorified single-issue pressure group.

Pita Sharples last month said : "Why are we fighting whakapapa against whakapapa? There's so much enemy that is not brown." Now Hone Capone's racist outburst . There have been other occasions. A disturbing indictment on the Maori Party. Maybe a race based party feeds off this stuff? PM of NZ: Nice One Hone Adolf at No Minister predicts the end of a promising career Crusader Rabbit doesn't tolerate racism . Lindsay Mitchell is being told to Grin and Bear It

Well the blogs are abuzz with Hone's Race Relations Statement. Perhaps to Hone, it's all about working the system. An important rule to understand moving into continuing discussions on the foreshore, seabed, land and sky ownership dispute. Maybe the Government can "return" to the Maori people the Carbon in the atmosphere. "Here, it's all yours. And here's a Carbon bill some-one expects you to pay." With ownership comes maintenance. If the Treaty was all about partnership, when do we share the bills? It's Friday. Have I been provocative enough to invite comments? Who am I kidding, the honour goes entirely to Hone.

"Why are we fighting whakapapa against whakapapa? There's so much enemy that is not brown." -- Pita Sharples, to Gang Members . Where does one go with a statement like that? It's possibly worse when one understands the context. Perhaps I'll change the subject then. In the brown camp, you have beer, kahlua and a dark malt whiskey. I guess white enemies might be P, cocaine and crack. The greens (Grass and tobacco) are reasonably dangerous, but in a mild and long term way. Only thing is, can Pita Sharples sort these colored types out? I guess it depends on who he meant the "enemy" were. Hat tip: Dim Post And related but not related: Your worst nightmare about to be released

The Maori Affairs Select Committee today approved a request from Maori Party MP Hone Harawira to hold an inquiry into “the impact of tobacco use on Maori”. “Tobacco kills 5,000 Kiwis every single year, more than 100,000 New Zealanders in the last 25 years alone. It’s time we held those people responsible for these tobacco deaths, accountable for their actions. How can we if they are dead? “This inquiry is New Zealand’s opportunity to have Tobacco companies explain their actions of promoting and maintaining tobacco addictions which lead to these painful deaths. Oh, I see. “We will also be taking this inquiry on the road to make it easier for whänau to attend, and I have no doubt that by the time we finally get the tobacco company execs in front of the committee, we will have gathered enough testimony to really take them to task. Because it wouldn't be peer pressure that created a pressure to smoke? It wouldn't be the strong role modelling from their own whanau that could be con...

The Maori Party's new policy on enforced history lessons for migrants (and possibly later for all citizens) disturbs me. Co-leader Tariana Turia said yesterday it was important all New Zealand citizens shared an understanding of both New Zealand and Pacific culture before taking up residency in the country. She made the comments while unveiling her party's Treaty policy in Christchurch. A great deal of NZ culture is based on Western culture in general, a culture that is rooted in Catholicism, Greek thought and Roman law. Yet, I somehow doubt that Mrs Turia is thinking to that migrants need to understand this cultural link when referring to NZ and Pacific culture. But even if the history course was everything I particularly wanted it to be, I would strongly resist the idea of the Government being in charge of teaching it to migrants. The Government always has a vested interest in keeping itself in power, therefore anything it is in charge of teaching will reflect this aim. I...

Third Reading of the Electoral Finance Bill – Tuesday 18 December 2007; 4.30pm Hone Harawira, Member of Parliament for Te Tai Tokerau Over these last few months of intense and passionate debate about this Electoral Finance Bill, one email stood out for me, because it said a lot about who we are as a Maori Party. I paraphrase part of that email here: - We are not members of the Exclusive Brethren. - We are not members of the ACT party. - We are not members of the National party. - We are not members of John Boscawen’s team as Helen Clark scathingly, and incorrectly, called those who marched in Auckland against this Bill. Madam Speaker, we are the Maori Party, and I welcome this opportunity to set the record straight on our party’s position on this Bill. We are the Maori Party, and contrary to government’s claims, this Bill is not being attacked only “by those New Zealanders who are able to pour thousands of dollars into electioneering campaigns to buy influence in government”. We are th...

Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia has been branded an apologist for White Supremacist Groups after she claimed the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and The World Church of the Creator (WCOTC) were not necessarily criminal groups. The row started after Mrs Turia, whose Te Tai Hauauru electorate includes Wanganui, rejected the idea that all members were criminals. "There are a lot of groups involved in a lot of bad behaviour," she told Radio New Zealand. "I'm not excusing any of the behaviour. It is totally unacceptable. But just like I'm not prepared to say the police are all rapists, I am also not prepared to say that all these gangs are criminals. I know a lot of White Supremacists that only want to kill Maori, Jews, non-Protestants, Catholics, gays and blacks in a figurative sense. Some of these people are good people, and there's nothing really wrong with them associating closely with their colleagues who form gangs and travel around inciting violence and engaging in...

I am not impressed with the Maori Party. For a party that made such a big deal of having to get back to their constituency on just about every little thing that they needed to make a decision on, it seems very odd that in this case what the people think that voted for them doesn't matter. As I said in my Farewell post at Sir Humphreys: I’ve realized over the past two years that I’ve been blogging politically, that the fight for Western Civilisation is not an economic one. Socialism vs Capitalism hides the real battle - the social battle. Utopians have been working to change society over generations for a long time now. As each new generation of children is indoctrinated into the new social order through their teachers and the media, society shifts. The latest shift is the removal of parental authority via the Repeal of S59 . Once parents no longer have authority, then more intensive indoctrination can pick up steam. But then again, for the Maori Party to be participating in this...