Thousands protest against ‘anti-Maori policy’ – DW – 30/05/2024

Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets and disrupted traffic across New Zealand on Thursday to protest the release of the government’s latest budget.

The demonstration followed calls from activist groups and the opposition party Te Pati Maori for protests over dissatisfaction with the ruling government’s recent policies, which they say undermine the rights of indigenous people.

“We must oppose all of this government’s anti-Māori policies,” Te Pati Māori said in a statement. “We must also oppose any policy that will destroy the whenua (land) that our mokopuna (future generations) will inherit.”

Following the protest, the party issued a declaration of political independence and announced the establishment of a Maori parliament, or Māori Parliament Herald of New Zealand the newspaper reported.

The Māori Party is seeking to form its own parliament

Protesters gathered outside New Zealand’s Parliament, and several other rallies across the country were planned for later in the day.

Police officers said they were monitoring many gatherings.

“Although there were travel disruptions in some locations, overall participants behaved well and no incidents of note were reported,” Assistant Police Commissioner Mike Johnson said.

The Te Pati Maori Party has raised concerns about the adoption of a number of policies by the government elected last October.

The party criticized the policy and its impact on the Māori community, calling for their rights under the country’s founding document to be enforced and the wrongs of colonization to be righted. Maori make up approximately 20% of New Zealand’s population.

“Seeing Tangata Tiriti (non-Māori) and Tangata Whenua (Māori) as one, which is the true intention of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (Treaty of Waitangi), is exactly what terrifies this government,” they said in a statement, adding that the protest this begins the “process of creating its own parliament”.

New Zealand’s new budget

New Zealand’s centre-right government, led by Prime Minister Christoper Luxon, presented its first budget on Thursday, including tax cuts aimed at “ordinary people”.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis said Kiwis were “experiencing a protracted cost of living crisis” as the country faces a poor economic outlook.

The Luxon coalition government has said it will pay for this with tighter spending.

The New Zealand Herald reported that the government had doled out NZ$3.71 billion ($2.26 billion, 2.1 billion euros), asking ministerial agencies for cuts and scaling back programs introduced by the previous government.

The island nation has been plagued by natural disasters and global supply chain problems have hurt the geographically isolated nation.

Once called the “rock star economy” for its ability to weather financial crises, the agriculture-dependent economy plunged into recession in December 2023.

mk/ab (Reuters, DPA, AFP)