Former National Party leader Don Brash is again fronting a campaign opposing Māori privilege but this time for lobby group Hobson's Pledge. But Manukau Urban Māori Authority (MUMA) CEO Willie Jackson says Brash is singing the same song and it's time he found a new tune.
Brash is back again fronting a campaign opposing what he says is Māori privilege but this time through lobby group Hobson's Pledge.
“We called this campaign Hobson's Pledge because Governor Hobson of course said as each chief signed the Treaty back in 1840 'we are now one people’.”
Manukau Urban Authority CEO Willie Jackson says, “This group is nuts. It's sad to see Brash still going on about this because he's been banging on with the same message for years.”
The campaign is advocating closing the Waitangi Tribunal and abolishing Māori electorates. Politicians say the campaign is outdated, backwards and racist.
Brash says, "No it's not outdated at all, it's in fact I hope it's the wave of the future.”
“The politicians are growing tired of him and his campaigns and it's a waste of time,” says Jackson.
Brash has long campaigned against his idea of Māori privilege as seen in his 2004 Orewa speech, the Kiwi not Iwi billboards and the water rights ads, which claimed iwi would demand royalties each time water flows from a tap.
Jackson says, “The best thing we can do is turn our backs on him. He keeps coming back and is basically an old still man spinning the same rubbish and will probably continue to do so until the day he dies.”
Who knows what support levels the campaign will rally.