September 15, 2023
National-ACT agenda taking back country 50 years
Te Pāti Māori’s Rotorua candidate says the prospect of a National ACT Government poses a real threat to Māori and all low income earners if they deliver on their election policies.
Former Rotorua Lakes district councillor Merepeka Raukawa Tait says the rhetoric is all about provoking white fright, and their solutions are to take a punitive approach to social problems which have been developing over decades.
That’s one of the reasons she decided to stand, even though there is little prospect of taking the seat from National.
“This is the time to go hard, to advocate. You’ve got to be clear about what the issues are, you’ve got to be clear about what we could be facing – should ACT and National form a coalition government we could go back fifty years – take us back fifty years,” Ms Raukawa-Tait says.
She says National and ACT’s promise to ax the Maori Health Authority is part of an agenda to roll back gains Maori have made, and favour the wealthy over the poor.