Harawira speaks out after suspension
Dispute should have been handled "the Maori way".
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EARNINGS
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Maori MP Hone Harawira says divisions in his party could be mended if the dispute was being handled the Maori way.
Mr Harawira fronted at Parliament today after his caucus suspended him yesterday as tensions reached breaking point at Waitangi over the weekend.
Last month, party whip Te Ururoa Flavell laid a formal complaint after Mr Harawira wrote in a newspaper column that the party was too wrapped up in its coalition with National and was supporting anti-Maori policies.
A disciplinary committee was due to meet tomorrow to discuss the complaint.
Today Mr Harawira said the dispute should be taken to a marae and no one leave until it was resolved.
He admitting saying and doing some things wrongly, and said he struggled with authority.
At the same time he would not be silent while Maori were suffering under higher prices and the GST increase.
Mr Harawira stood by everything he had said previously and was unrepentant about the Sunday Star Times column.
He was also adamant that he would continue to criticise the nature of the Maori Party's coalition with National.
"We have been swallowed by the National Party juggernaut," he said.
Mr Harawira called for; any GST increase to be a coalition breaker; for the party to insist that Maori was compulsory in primary school, for a moratorium on the foreshore and seabed until agreement was reached and strong opposition to asset sales.
NZPA
Tue, 08 Feb 2011
Tue, 08 Feb 2011
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
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Harawira speaks out after suspension
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