Māori issues and Chris Bishop's recent comments on Labour's smokefree plans w/ The National Party's Dr Shane Reti: December 5, 2023

This week for our weekly catchup with Dr Shane Reti the discussion centred on how policy aimed at Māori will be affected under National’s coalition agreements with Act and NZ First.

During our discussion we touched on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people and He Puapua, both of which have been scrapped under coalition agreements.

Nicholas also touched on the Act Party’s treaty principles bill, which the National Party has agreed to support to the select committee stage.

To finish our interview I asked Dr Reti to clarify claims made by the Primeminister and senior minister Chris Bishop. During an interview with Q and A Chris Bishop made the claim that under Labour's smokefree 2025 plan, there would only be one tobacco retailer in the entirety of Northland, potentially making that retailer a magnet for crime.

According to the plans laid out by the director general, there would be not one but 35 retailers able to sell tobacco across Northland. I followed this up with a question about potential new vaping regulations.

The interview began with a question about the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous people.