NZ continuing to try to settle the native land claim issues

[bevin]

The area involved is approximately 5% of New Zealand.

The Treaty of Waitangi basically ended the New Zealand Wars, but was not treated as important by the governments that signed it or followed. Over the last 20+ years there have been very significant efforts made to resolve the issues made by the broken contract.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/4018165a10.html

Quote:

Millions of hectares of land in the upper South Island was "extorted" from Maori by a "ruthless" Crown, the Waitangi Tribunal has found, opening the door to multimillion-dollar land claims.

The findings may help advance compensation on 31 Waitangi claims involving valuable land and assets in the upper South Island.

The area of land covered by the report stretches from north of Kaikoura in the east across to Kahurangi Point, north of Karamea on the West Coast, and north to Cook Strait.

It includes the Marlborough Sounds and the Nelson-Tasman area.

[bevin]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/4019116a6510.html

Flip side - here is something that get's close to welfare abuse...

Quote:

Mr Harrison said his wife, Karin, could not work because she home-schools their three children, two of whom have dyslexia.

/Bevin

[Nan]

Reading the first report brought back memories of various Maori claims and issues from my 13 years in The Land of the Long White Cloud. "Mana" is an important if sometimes elusive concept, I really wonder if returning the lands to the original owners will have the wonderful flow on effects the last person quoted seems to expect. Talk about the sins of the fathers (white in this case) being visited on ensuing generations, in this case I expect it is more like 5 or 6.

The ACC concept in NZ has a lot of benefits, grossly limiting litigation for accident related problems. Even if I remember a bit of a brouhaha when a prisoner who fell while trying to climb to freedom received some compensation for injuries sustained in his fall - I think the law was changed after that! I wonder if they will be able to persuade the government to give the same kind of support to victims of chronic illness.