Some more thoughts on Ihumātao

The other day I responded to a couple of tweets on Ihumātao  and after some reflection decided to add a few more comments and expand on what I tweeted.

First we have what set the string of tweets off, as I had posted earlier on the Kim Hill Peeni Henare interview

Of course he is.Furthermore if Fletcher are strong armed into selling at anything less than full market price, businesses will totally give up on this lousy govt. If the land is purchased by the government then handed over to the iwi, with or without some…2

— adam smith (@adamsmith1922) July 27, 2019

In that earlier post I commented fairly robustly with these sentiments:

In my opinion Ardern has crossed the line, she has interfered in a contractual arrangement between two consenting parties. By so doing she has opened the door to future protests and expectations that all protesters have to do is foment trouble and they will get what they want.

The message this sends to business and investors and anyone concerned with the rule of law is in my view a very negative one. It suggests that NZ is ruled by a mob, to which a weak PM yields.

This decision by Ardern to involve herself in this dispute is ill-judged and wrong.

By what right does she overrule court decisions and legal agreements.

Do we now live in a country where the fiat of the PM trump’s the rule of law?

I am very cross about this issue and the stance the government seems to be preparing to take. My current suspicion is that Ardern will go for a policy of appeasing the protesters, dressed up with some nonsense about cultural sensitivity and will bribe, with taxpayer money, and strongarm Fletchers  into agreement. This will be presented as improving our national wellbeing (vomit) and being compassionate and kind (puke) delivered by Ardern in a Maori cloak, flanked by various Maori dignitaries .

The reality is that any such solution will be as as I noted in the tweet below

..1/ some facesaving mechanism,then others will want something similar. No doubt some nonsense will be cobbled together, but it will be dangerous and set an extremely bad precedent…3/

— adam smith (@adamsmith1922) July 27, 2019

It runs the danger of blowing a major hole in the concept of ‘full and final’ settlement. If she has not by her actions done this. Indeed, Ardern’s solution will be much like Neville Chamberlain’s claim after Munich of peace in our term, when what he did was embolden Hitler. In a similar way Ardern is emboldening the protesters who are now apparently complaining that Ardern has yet to visit the protest site. Furthermore it will embolden those who have grievances elsewhere to carry out similar actions.Indeed that is happening.

…2/ Plus it will a) signal the government caves when pushed 2) that essentially this government is prepared to override the law and has no respect for property rights and due process c) that the Auckland housing crisis is a myth,because they…4/

— adam smith (@adamsmith1922) July 27, 2019

Then there is the dreadful message this sends to business and investors both domestic and international. This is at a time when business confidence is at a low, occasioned not only by global trends, but by the economic incompetence of the Ardern regime and it’s perceived anti-business attitudes. Plus the latest survey shows consumer confidence dropping sharply. Economic signs for NZ are not that great.

4/ As I doubt that WP’s voters will be happy about this. The more Maori and the Greens play the race and colonisation card in this the worse it will get for the government. They should have stayed out of it. Hugs and dress up won’ cut it!

— adam smith (@adamsmith1922) July 27, 2019

This situation is now on the news every day. We see calls for the PM to visit the protest site. Some media have gone full bore at this issue, RNZ being one of those outlets.

At present I am still of the view that this is going to not end well for anybody.