Minister, Prime Minister clash over return of heads

WELLINGTON - An argument is brewing within Maori officialdom over the 
return to New Zealand of tattooed heads and other remains. 
With the Government still to decide whether to fund research and repatriation of 
Maori remains, Maori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels has gone head-to-head with 
Moko Mokai Education Trust director Dalvanius Prime.
 Mr Samuels withdrew his support this month for Mr Prime's trip to Australia to 
repatriate five skulls saying it was inappropriate to "buy"  the remains back with other 
Maori artefacts, or for the remains to be returned on a "pemanwent loan" basis - with 
a proviso that they be available for scientific research, or to repatriate the remains 
without full information about their origins.
 The South Australian Museum agreed to go ahead with the repatriation only after 
receiving further scientific evidence identifying two skulls as probably Maori, and a 
reference letter from Prime Minister Helen Clark, saying: 'Any assistance you are able
to give to expedite the return of the four Maori skulls and one Moriori mandible held 
by your museum to New Zealand would be supported by the Government."
But Mr Samuels said Maori remains had a personal relationship with the related 
family and it was not appropriate for either a Government agency or a private Maori 
trust to oversee their return.
"I've always been supportive of moko mokai being returned to Aotearoa, if it is 
established that their origins are Maori, irrespective of whether they went over there 
as slaves or chiefs.
 "But I don't believe that they should be museum-banked. I believe that they should be 
returned to the whanau or hapu and given the appropriate burial."
Mr Samuels criticised the exchange of Maori artefacts for human remains.
Mr Prime said he would he going to the United States next month to finalise the return 
of four more Maori skulls, and to negotiate with the American Museum of Natural 
History about what Maori artefacts it would accept in return for its collection of 35 
more heads.
He accused Te Puni Kokiri, the Maori Development Ministry, of trying to sabotage 
his repatriation missions while holding hui to co-opt Maori elders' support so it could 
lobby - like his trust - for the millions of dollars of government funding that might 
become available for repatriating  Maori remains.
Aroha Mead, Te Puni Kokiri's manager of cultural heritage and indigenous issues 
Treaty compliance would not discuss the issue.
"The skulls are home as far as TPK's concerned, and that's the end of it."
 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa bicultural  policy manager Cath  Nesus said recent 
archaeological reports had confirmed that those skulls whose origin was unknown 
were almost certainly Maori.
"Our policy at Te Papa is that we don't accept repatriated human remains if it's not 
clear that they're provenanced from New Zealand." - PA.

Goff after international criminal tag for Speight

AUCKLAND - - Foreign Affairs minister Phil Goff wants Fiji coup leader 
George Speight declared an international
criminal.
Mr Goff has instructed his officials to look at ways of bringing Speight 
to justice after he took captive Fijian prime
minister Mahendra Chaudhry and 30 other hostages on May 19.
Mr Goff has been in Suva with other Commonwealth ministers to discuss 
the constitutional crisis with the military
leaders now running Fiji. He said at the weekend on his arrival back in 
New Zealand he would look at ways of bringing
Speight to justice in international courts.
"We will be investigating whether there is an
any action we can take should they set foot outside Fiji, to bring them 
before any international court of justice for
their act of terrorism.
He said an International Criminal Court
was being set up but that dealt with war crimes and acts of genocide.
"I have asked my officials to look whether  there is any prospect of 
bringing a case
against Speight in any other court such as the International Court of 
Justice in The Hague." He said i. that could not
be done the
sanctions against Speight would be indefinite, including a ban on entry to New 
Zealand for Speight and any of the gunmen he had with him in the  compound in 
Suva.
"He is a terrorist. That is the only description you can apply to a man 
that threatened to kill people he is holding
hostage."
Mr Goff said he rejected any suggestion he or Australian Foreign 
Minister Alexander Downer should talk to Speight in
Fiji because that would only "legitimise" his actions.
He discussed with the military head Commodore Frank Bainimarama the need 
for a tighter cordon around the compound so Speight could not get out and speak to 
the international media.
"They clearly have some difficulty in doing that ... and my guess is that 
if it came to a confrontation on tightening the cordon, they have some doubt as to 
whether there would be Fijian shooting Fijian to maintain it."
He said sending New Zealand troops was not an option because they were 
not invited and would therefore be an invading force.
Mr Goff said he was assured by Commodore Bainimarama that neither Speight 
nor any of his gunmen would hold any position of power in a Fijian Government.
He said an interim Government was expected to be announced soon to take 
over from the military rulers and the process would be restored within two years.
Further Fiji coverage P5

Budget bypasses middle New Zealand

By Peter Wilson
NZPA Political Editor

Opening the budget debate in Parliament, National's acting leader Wyatt 
Creech questioned who would benefit from
Finance Minister Michael Cullen's first budget.
"If you're not a special case, you're ignored," he said. Creech had a 
point, albeit in exaggerated one.
He was saying that there really wasn't much in the budget for most 
people, meaning middle New Zealand, the ordinary
folk who pay taxes, are lumbered with increasingly higher interest rates, 
pay more for their petrol and don't get any
rebates on anything.
He was right to the extent that it wasn't a budget designed to deliver 
anything for people who are doing okay right now
(although they might argue they aren't doing okay). It was designed to 
help those who aren't, and that is what Prime
Minister Helen Clark is all about.
Before the election, in an interview with NZPA, she said giving people a 
fair go was the driving force behind her
political motives. She has obviously had a heavy influence on the 
coalition's first budget.
Whether it will work is another matter. There are many sceptics around 
Parliament who think it won't. The closing-the-gaps package, for instance. It is aimed
mainly at Maori and Pacific Island people, designed to address the huge 
disparity in income and levels.
 The Government has a new phrase, capacity building.
That means giving money to disadvantaged communities so they can find their own 
way back into the world that the rest of New Zealand inhabits.
It also means considerable management of that money. Te Puni Kokiri, the 
Ministry of Maori Development, has been
given $12 million to monitor spending.
The Sunday Star-Times published a cartoon of a huge pig standing over a 
tiny Michael Cullen who has a bucket of
money in front of him. "Remember - don't touch", says Cullen. The pig, 
representing bureaucracy, says: "Of course,
being a simple farmyard creature and not understanding a word of what 
he's saying means you're bound to lose
something in the translation."
The pig could be right. A lot could be lost in the translation and the 
Government is going to have to watch its steps
very carefully. A few months down the track, National and Act are going 
to be acutely aware of their need to establish
just what is happening to a lot of taxpayers' money.
United Party leader Peter Dunne, representing Ohariu-Belmont deep in 
Wellington's barbecue belt, finds no fault with
closing the gap but raises the
question: "At whose cost?" He speaks for his constituents, and it's 
probably going to be at their cost.
National and Act have already had a lot to say about the budget, and 
the "buckets of money" that Cullen is handing
out in the interests of the disadvantaged. There doesn't seem to be a 
very clear plot as to where those millions are
going to go.
Getting back to Wyatt Creech's continent, it is necessary to recall what 
the Government has already done for the rest
of us who are not getting anything from the budget. Ministers make the 
point that superannuation was increased,
student loans are cheaper because interest is not charged while people 
are studying, tertiary education costs will be
frozen from next year and the minimum wage has been increased.
With the exception of freezing course costs, those actions were taken 
before the budget. Cullen didn't really leave
himself much good news to announce, the apparent tactic being the hope 
that the media would focus on closing the
gaps.
None of this went down too well with the business community, but no one 
had thought it would. It's difficult to
understand what some of them thought - did they expect a National Party 
Budget from a Labour/Alliance coalition?
The perception in government circles is that they've got so used to 
getting what they wanted that they now find it inconceivable that things have 
changed.
Alliance leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton has a brutal 
explanation: "For their own health, they need to
be weaned front the trough. It's time to start challenging the 
self-serving whingeing from the old elites."
 That won't win him any friends from the Business Roundtable, but he didn't 
have any to start with.
Anderton doesn't much care about that. He is one of few people in 
Parliament who built a profitable business from
nothing (engineering, in Christchurch) and knows where it's at.
He says he's met hundreds of businesspeople this year and they 
understand what he is saying about his plans  to
create more jobs by helping small outfits to get ahead.
That is an area in which the Government is going to have to prove itself. 
Plans for the "jobs machine" seem to be
sound but there is still a lot of work to do to get it off the ground.
It's the sort of thing that gets governments into trouble, rather like 
hospital waiting lists. Create more jobs, get more
people into hospitals and even more of them appear who can't get jobs or 
can't get into hospital.
Another point National quickly latched on to was that Cullen had put a 
spending cap of $5.9 billion on a three-year
term but has already allocated $4.2 billion of that. What's he going to 
do in election year, the Nats ponder.
He'll have hardly any cash left for spreading the goodies. Cullen says 
election year spend-ups haven't worked in the past and voters take a more serious 
view of the future. For the Government's sake, he'd better be right.

Tariana Turia
Labour List MP

Beehive Chat

Budget targets those most in need

The Prime Minister has said that this budget is about fairness, security 
and opportunity and that the budget gives
momentum to our programme of renewal.
People should look at the budget positively in terms of the opportunities 
for development to take place and the fact
that it is targeted at those most in need.
It is the first time in the history of Government that the focus has been 
on social needs and social development.
 Those who are critical of this budget,
and there will be those who
 criticise, need to turn their focus toward
 social development. There has never been
 a consideration before that all economic
development impacts on the social development of people. The budget achieves a 
rarely seen balance between the two and the intrinsic inter-relationship.
For Whanganui this budget means: greater access to elective surgery, more
 oral and mental health services, access to aprenticeships, opportunities for Maori
 women to get into business, support and access to stop smoking programmes, 
increased health provider development, opportunities for  hapu, iwi and
Maori organisations to progress social development, easier access to 
tertiary education (including sports
scholarships), growth in community and iwi based social service provision, 
pro-active and innovative programmes to
reduce youth offending, increases in police levels for youth aid staff and 
improved opportunities to develop appropriate
housing strategies for whanau.
Let us not be under the illusion that the years ahead are going to be easy. 
There is a whole raft of structures, processes and attitudes that need to change to 
improve the position of those most in need.
It is not possible to please everyone in one stroke of the pen and government has a 
responsibility to ensure these social imperatives are not minimised alongside other 
central priorities.
The key is to continue the approach taken so far and for all stakeholders in this 
country to air their concerns and work together on meaningful and enduring solutions. 
Crown agencies will be asked to demonstrate  an ability to work cooperatively and 
collaboratively, not only with themselves but with communities, hapu and iwi to 
ensure that they don't fragment the appropriations made to them.
We must move away from the piecemeal approach that has existed and actively 
support and resource communities
in their own development. For instance, if a group desires to research 
their own capability and future needs, or has
development plans for implementation, then lead agencies should get 
together, with the group, and determine the
most effective and efficient resourcing plan to make it happen.
Monitoring the agencies' approach and delivery will be one of the 
important responsibilities for this government and agencies such as Te Puni Kokiri.
The challenge is to see how much of baseline funding, that is the amounts 
already allocated to each vote, is spent on Maori and Pacific communities and 
families. It is going to be very interesting to be a part of the growth and new
challenges that are before us.
There is a saying in Maoridom which encapsulates the need for resourcing and 
support; "ma te huruhuru, ka rere te manu" - with feathers a bird can fly.

It's Horomia, or Labour will need new leader: Clark

By Astrid Smeele of NZPA

WELLINGTON - Prime Minister Helen Clark is staking her leadership on 
Labour MPs accepting her personal
nomination for the next Maori affairs minister - tipped to be first-
term 
Labour MP Parekura Horomia.
Miss Clark had already indicated her confidence in Mr Horomia by 
appointing him acting minister after she sacked
Dover Samuels amid a storm of controversy over a relationship he had 
with 
an allegedly underaged woman in the
1980s.
According to Hauraki MP John Tamihere, Mr Horomia's appointment to 
the 
position is a certainty.
Mr Tamihere, who tangled with Miss Clark over Mr Samuels' sacking, 
said 
he was no longer interested in the job
because he wanted to patch up the divisions within the party 
triggered by the Samuels controversy.
"There is only one person in the frame, and we are talking Parekura. 
There is no one else featuring. The boss has made her
indication  reasonably emphatic," Mr Tamihere told NZPA last night.
Miss Clark said yesterday she would make her nomination to
caucus next Tuesday and confirmed it would be a Maori MP. Asked what 
would happen if her MPs rejected it, Miss
Clark told a post-cabinet press conference: "They will be looking for 
a new leader."
She said she was consulting widely with colleagues about who would 
have "the most support and the most merit
and I will make a nomination based on that".
Under caucus rules where there was a "casual" vacancy, then it was up 
to 
the leader to nominate for the
replacement.
Normally when an entire cabinet is being appointed, Labour MPs get to 
make their own nominations for the ballot.
Miss Clark also said she had no plans at this stage to appoint 
another 
associate Maori affairs minister outside
cabinet, if one of the current associate ministers - Mr Horomia or 
Tariana Turia - took on the cabinet job.
Mr Tamihere under attack all year from Act over his management of the 
Waipareira Trust and recently over drunk-driving convictions, had 
previously voiced an interest in the position.
But as one of Mr Samuels' staunchest supporters, he fell out with 
Miss Clark over her decision to kick Mr Samuels out of cabinet when a 
police investigation into the allegations was not complete.
Miss Clark confirmed she had talked to Mr Tamihere but she had not 
asked him to pull out of the race
"I'm sure that Mr Tamihere has assessed his position," she said.
"It would be rather unusual ... for someone, given what he has been 
through this year, to go straight into a position like
the minister of Maori affairs and the cabinet in those 
circumstances."
But she signalled he had a ministerial future, saying he had an 
"enormous" amount to offer, and she was a long-time advocate of his.
"He has been seen  very much as a spokesman for urban Maori and I 
hope after a period of time he will have a
greater contribution to make in the work of the Government."
Mr Tamihere said he wanted the Government to get back on focus in 
delivering for Maori.
"When you are under the type of attack that has been directed at us, 
it is not the most savoury of experiences and you tend
to bunker down and you tend to lose the bigger picture. Now we've got 
that back, we're getting on the job."
He said he had not stood before for one of the associate Maori
minister's job and was concentrating on being chairman of the Maori
affairs select committee.
"(The associate minister's position) is an issue she can review at 
her leisure. That was never part of our discussion." - PA.

Sanctions against Fiji

WELLINGTON - The Government yesterday announced a limited range of 
sanctions against Fiji which will restrict
military links, reduce aid programmes and also target individuals who 
supported coup leader George Speight.
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said other measures were being 
held in 
reserve and could be put in place depending
on the formation and intentions of a new administration.
Measures announced yesterday, which Mr Goff said could be changed if 
the 
new administration set a clear timetable
for re-establishing democracy, were:
- navy ship visits and senior officer visits to Fiji have been 
suspended;
- defence force exercise planning and training team deployments have 
ended;
- no further candidates will he sought for the assistance programme 
which the military operates for Fijian personnel;
- development aid has been halved from $5 million to $2.5 million. No 
new projects will be established and existing programmes will be 
frozen;
- Fijian students in New Zealand will be allowed to complete their 
study but no new students will be selected under government-sponsored 
programmes.
Mr Goff also announced an extension of the so-called "smart" 
sanctions aimed at the people directly involved in the
coup which ousted the elected government of former prime minister 
Mahendra Chaudhry.
He said the list of 85 people now banned from entering New Zealand 
was being extended to more than 300, and it
would be made available to other countries committed to similar 
action.
Under consideration was including the immediate families of those 
people, 
which could include children who would
not in future be eligible for study grants in New Zealand.
Mr Goff described the measures as 'limited' and said the Government 
had decided against implementing a full
package of sanctions until it saw what the new administration looked 
like and whether it was committed to
democratic processes.
"If we were to fire off a series of sanctions today to find that the 
new line-up had effectively excluded Speight and all of
his supporters, that would actually work to the detriment of moderate 
forces in Fiji who may commit themselves to
the restoration of constitutional democracy and the rights of 
Indo-Fijians," he said.
Mr Goff said New Zealand still considered the Chaudhry administration 
to be the only legitimate government in Fiji but
saw no realistic prospect of it being reinstated.
"That being the case, the next best thing we can do is promote a 
clear timetable and a commitment to the restoration
of democratic processes and probably the election of a new government 
under what we would hope would be a
constitution that does not discriminate against Indo-Fijians," he 
said.
Other measures which could be taken against Fiji in the future 
included further reducing military co-operation and
extending the ban on sporting links which is in place until August 
31.
International legal measures could also be considered.
Mr Goff said the only two sanctions that had been ruled out were 
unilateral economic sanctions and closing New Zealand's diplomatic 
mission in Suva-PA.

Samuels report two weeks away

WELLINGTON - A final police report into sex allegations against 
Labour MP Dover Samuels could be up to two weeks away, Police 
Commissioner Rob Robinson said yesterday.
Mr Robinson was briefed on Sunday on the inquiry, being headed by 
Detective Superintendent Jim Millar.
Police interviewed Mr Samuels last week about the allegations he had 
sex with a minor. Mr Samuels has denied the allegations. The young 
woman had an abortion.
Mr Samuels was sacked as Maori Affairs Minister by Prime Minister 
Helen Clark who said he could no longer be an effective minister 
while fighting allegations.
A Police spokeswoman said last week that new details had emerged 
following the interview with Mr Samuels which police were following 
up.
Mr Robinson said his briefing on Sunday was to review progress and 
discuss matters that required further examination and inquiry.
There were still issues Mr Millar had to inquire into before his 
final report was ready and that reportcould be up to two weeks away. 
Mr Robinson and his advisers would consider the report and take legal 
advice from Crown Law. Parties to the investigation and their 
advisers would be informed of any decision police made.
He would not report the inquiry outcome to Miss Clark as that would 
be contrary to police processes and to do so would be "totally 
inappropriate". 
"The inquiry is a police operational process not a political 
process," Mr Robinson said.-PA.

Single benefit for all by 2002 Government aim

Steve Maharey … simple benefit system

WELLINGTON - The Government is working toward a single benefit for 
everyone on welfare except superannuitants.
Social Services and Employment Minister Steve Maharey told NZPA 
yesterday 
he hoped to have the universal benefit
finalised by 2002, the end of this Government's first term in office.
It would be among the final stages of the Government's welfare 
reforms - 
the timetable for the first stage of which was
announced yesterday.
The announcement
 confirmed the scrapping of the
work for the dole, or
 community wage scheme, from
July 1 next year.
The community wage, originally a coalition demand of New Zealand 
First, was 
introduced in October 1998.
It made work-testing for most beneficiaries, including solo parents 
and 
sick people, compulsory. People who failed to
do community work in return for their benefit faced sanctions.
Mr Maharey said a universal benefit was looked at by the last Labour 
government but it wasn't able to implement the
change before losing office to National in 1990.
"My predecessor (current Finance Minister Michael Cullen) was ... 
looking 
to simplify the benefit system with a
universal benefit plus add-ons. He was doing that because the benefit 
system was too complex and that still is true,"
Mr Maharey said.
"It's really the same benefit system we invented in the 1930s, just 
added on to over the years.
Under the new system, every beneficiary, excluding superannuitants, 
would receive the same benefit but with the
ability to earn a "top-up" by doing training, voluntary work or study
that improved their chances of getting a full-time job.
There would also be top-ups for personal circumstances, such as 
dependent children.
Mr Maharey said the aim was to develop a simple benefit system that 
rewarded people who made an effort to become
independent.
People wanting to get more money than provided by the core benefit 
would 
know they had to take on extra
responsibilities, such as training or education, to earn it.
"We want to make sure the system is always one that encourages them 
to do 
something, rather than encourage
them to stay on the dole."
Under yesterday's
changes, the community
 wage will be replaced with
 the unemployment benefit
 from July 1, and a separate
non-work-tested sickness
benefit will be reinstated.
The unemployed and solo parents will still be work-tested, however, 
as part 
of their "job-seeker agreement" with the
Department of Work and Income.
Under that agreement, unemployed people may have to do community work 
or 
training and face losing their benefit for
failing to comply.
Mr Maharey said there was a difference to the previous government's 
approach, in that community work wouldn't be
imposed arbitrarily on every job-seeker.
Subsidised voluntary and community work would continue and he 
anticipated 
the numbers involved would stay at about 13,000, the same as now.
Opposition parties were scathing yesterday of the Government's 
decision to 
scrap the community wage, saying it
showed Labour and the Alliance were "soft" on beneficiaries.-PA.

Clark stands by her whip

WELLINGTON. - Prime Minister Helen Clark backed Labour junior whip Chris 
Carter yesterday after he and an ex-
convict gave differing versions of a phone call about sacked Maori Affairs 
Minister Dover Samuels.
Mr Samuels' lawyer, Peter Williams QC, claims Mr Carter was among people 
assigned to dig up dirt on Mr Samuels
ahead of Miss Clark sacking him on June 28.
The Government has denied such claims but has said Labour officials 
responded to calls from people volunteering
information about Mr Samuels.
Mr Carter on Monday told reporters he spoke to an ex-convict, named today 
as John Yelash, after the man contacted
him promising information about Mr Samuels.
However Mr Yelash, an actor with convictions for manslaughter and 
dishonesty offences, told The Dominion Mr Carter
contacted him first and left a message on his phone.
According to a transcript of the call, published in the newspaper, Mr 
Carter said: "John, I'm just ringing up on a little
bit of detective work. I'm just wondering if among your many circles of 
friends and acquaintances you have ever come
across any information about my colleague Dover Samuels."
Mr Yelash claimed he called Mr
Carter back and was asked if he had spent time with Mr Samuels in 
Auckland's Mt Eden prison.
Mr Carter yesterday maintained he left the message after Mr Yelash 
contacted him. He said he had a witness, his
electorate agent, who could prove Mr Yelash called into his electorate 
office to express concerns about Mr Samuels.
Miss Clark supported Mr Carter's version, saying she believed him rather 
than a convicted criminal.-PA

I said Samuels couldn't do his job effectively while he was entangled in all those 
allegations!!

Politicians sort out differences over Singapore trade deal

Jenny Shipley … support for her stance 

'We are going to work through the wording in good faith, but I have no doubt we can 
achieve a wording which enables both the National party and the Alliance to express 
their views.'

WELLINGTON - National and Labour politicians have backed away from a 
potential political impasse over a free trade
deal with Singapore.
Following a meeting yesterday afternoon, both Prime Minister Helen Clark 
and Opposition Leader Jenny Shipley
expressed confidence they had been found a way to see the deal ratified.
The Singapore agreement has looked under threat over the past two days 
due to National's opposition to inclusion of
a Treaty of Waitangi clause allowing more favourable treatment to Maori.
Labour requires support from other parties as its coalition partner, the 
Alliance will vote against the trade deal in Parliament.
Labour has said it will not ratify the deal without it having the clear 
support of Parliament.
On Tuesday night, Miss Clark offered National a number of ways to move 
from its position and Mrs Shipley also said
she had offered Trade Minister Jim Sutton a "way forward" at a separate 
meeting.
Yesterday afternoon, Miss Clark and Mrs Shipley met to discuss the issue.
After the meeting, Miss Clark said a way had been found to allow Alliance 
and National to express their views on the
trade deal, while allowing cabinet to ratify the deal and Parliament to 
pass ancillary legislation associated with the agreement.
A parliamentary motion expressing support for the trade deal would be 
drafted to National's satisfaction.
"We are going to work through the wording in good faith, but I have no 
doubt we can achieve a wording which enables
both the National party and the Alliance to express their views," she 
said.
Some idea of the wording would be put before caucus meetings next week.
A select committee reviewing the trade agreement begins considering it 
today and has 15 sitting days to report back
to Parliament. This is when the motion will come before the House.
Miss Clark said the contentious clause would still be in the trade 
agreement and a way would be found for National to
express its dissatisfaction with it.
With the impasse broken, Miss Clark said the Government could go ahead and 
ratify the deal knowing it had the
support of the majority of MPs. 
Miss Clark did not believe the domestic argument over the treaty clause had 
damaged New Zealand's reputation
overseas or would hinder future trade talks. However any further trade 
agreements would include a treaty clause..
After the same meeting, Mrs Shipley said: "National has made it very clear 
we completely support securing a free
trade agreement between New Zealand and Singapore.
"I've made it clear that if an agreement is to be reached, and if 
National's vote is being relied on, there will have to be
an unequivocal statement that separates National and the treaty clause that 
is currently in the text.
"We have agreed to try and see if a mechanism can be arranged that 
satisfies our desire to disassociate ourselves
from the text and also accommodate our flagging that at some future date we 
would seek to renegotiate the clause
that currently says there will be more favourable treatment for Maori. We 
do not support that and will seek to have it
removed in due course."
Mrs Shipley said she had received support from the business community over 
her stance.
"My reading and indeed the feedback I've had from business in the last two 
days is that there's no more important
issue confronting them at the moment than the containment and understanding 
of the treaty and its implications in
New Zealand law."
She said there was considerable concern among National MPs about the extent 
to which treaty clauses were
appearing in legislation and this had significant legal implications in the 
future.
The meeting yesterday ended the possibility of a huge embarrassment to 
Labour and a major blow to New Zealand's
international credibility.
The deal has been viewed as a potential forerunner of a wider deal with 
other South-East Asian countries. New
Zealand has also been talking to South American countries and the United 
States about similar trade agreements. - PA.

Kiwi support for Greens

WELLINGTON - Green Party -MPs Sue Bradford and Nandor Tanczos say they have 
received support from New
Zealanders following their protest action against the World Economic Forum 
in Melbourne this week.
Ms Bradford and Mr Tanczos spent Monday and Tuesday with about 10,000 
people protesting the forum.
On Monday the protesters stopped about 200 of the nearly 900 delegates from 
entering the Crown Casino complex,
where the forum was held. But on Tuesday, Victorian police changed their 
tactics and charged at the protesters to
clear a path for delegates.
Ms Bradford and Mr Tanczos were among those charged at about 7am (8am NZT) 
while sitting outside a gate to the
casino. Both say they were slightly hurt but yesterday refused to show 
bruises to the media.
Ms Bradford said New Zealanders they saw in Melbourne and those who had 
contacted them since their arrival home
today had been "universally supportive".
"We were elected on Green Party policy and principles and that's what we 
went there to support," she said.
"I believe that we're representing another side of New Zealand and I feel honoured 
that Nandor and I were asked by our party to go there."
Ms Bradford conceded that at violence had detracted from the protest but 
said it was instigated by the police.
"All that we ever saw was people carrying out, from our point of view, 
non-violent, lawful demonstrations and police
whacking into them at different times," she said. "It depends on your point of view."
Victorian Police Deputy Commissioner of Operations Neil O'Loughlin said 
several police were injured during the
protests, urine poured over two officers from a bridge, and rocks and ball 
bearings thrown at police. Nails were also
thrown  under car tyres and police horses' hooves, he said.
However, Mr Tanczos maintained it was a peaceful protest.
"I can only speak about what I saw, but I felt that everywhere that I was that the 
demonstration was extremely non-violent and very disciplined but very resolute and 
determined." – PA

Party's over for New Labourites

WELLINGTON, The New Labour party is set to disappear from the 
political stage today as members vote to amalgamate with the 
Alliance.
About 100 delegates will meet in Wellington to wind up the decade-old 
political party. The Alliance then holds its annual conference - the 
first since it became part of the government - over the weekend.
Today's conference -will conclude a history that has seen new Labour 
and its leader Jim Anderton come full circle. The party was formed by 
left-leaning activists disenchanted with the 1980s Lange-Douglas 
Labour government.
They now find themselves in partnership with Labour as part of the 
Alliance.
New Labour vice-president Mark Ryan said the amalgamation vote would 
almost certainly be approved as it "confirmed the reality" that the 
Alliance was the political focus of party members.-PA


