Come on Kuini, show some leadership!

It's great that there have been so many submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill and I for one, expect that there will be more 'for' then 'against'.The driving force is the increasing awareness that for all the demands for more benefits and assistance for Maori, there has been precious little in social dividend. An increasingly galling add-on is the way Pasifika have been quietly added to the Tangata Whenua as needy beneficiaries of the same help. Didn't Pacific Islanders come here as 'aspirational migrants' in the same way that Poles, Irish, Indian and Chinese have over the last 100 years? Why have Pasifika been added to the group targeted for extra efforts on vaccinations and don't get me started on the bowel screening TV ad!

But back to social dividends. Can anyone point to a decrease in Maori criminality and incarceration rates matching the ever-increasing demands for special entitlements? Doubt it! The 'right to silence' in the face of horrific violence and death for Maori children is particularly vexatious.  Think of Lillybing, Cris and Cru and poor little James Whakaruru whose bright happy picture belied the hell on earth he was really experiencing. Clearly all the hugger mugger portrayal of Maori home and social life is a farce and it is time for a different approach. Accordingly I call on the newly-crowned Maori Queen (Kuini), to spend some of her considerable political capital and issue a list of her expectations. Among the things she should call for are:

• A ten percent improvement per year for the next ten years in childhood and adult vaccination rates.
• A ten percent per year reduction in Maori incarceration rates.
• The removal of the 'right to silence' in all cases of harm to Maori children.
• A ten percent improvement per year in Maori scores in NCEA.
• A ten percent reduction per year in young Maori leaving school and not in further training or work.
• A ten percent improvement per year in Maori obesity with its undoubted flow on the reduced rates of diabetes.

Come on, Kuini show some leadership!