Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 25/11/23

“Revolution” is the threat as the Māori Party smarts at coalition government’s Treaty direction

Having found no fresh announcements on the government’s official website, Point of Order turned today to Scoop’s Latest Parliament Headlines for its buzz.

This provided us with evidence that the Māori Party has been soured by the the coalition agreement announced yesterday by the new PM.

“Soured” somewhat understates things.

Lets say “enraged”.

So much so that the Māori Party is threatening to lead its supporters into a revolution.

An armed revolution, presumably.

The source of its anger plainly is that voters have given too much power to two parties, both led by Māori politicians, enabling them to have a significant influence on the programme to be executed by the new government.

Those two parties – unlike the Māori Party – can claim to have diverse memberships.

Neither of them shares the Māori Party’s belief that the Treaty of Waitangi accords some citizens greater rights ad privileges than other citizens.

The press statement from the aggrieved Māori Party is headed Luxon’s Government Will Whitewash Aotearoa

The party led by Winston Peters is first to be blasted, after the terms of the coalition agreement were made public and we learned he will be Deputy Prime Minister for the next 18 months.

NZ First has gotten their wish to ‘take our country back’ to the 1800s with a policy program that will white-wash Aotearoa and erase tangata whenua rights.

By disestablishing the Māori Health Authority this Government has condemned Māori to die seven years earlier than Pākehā.

By removing Treaty obligations from Oranga Tamariki this Government will displace a generation of tamariki from their whakapapa and continue the cycle of trauma.

ACT is the next party blasted:

By supporting ACT’s attempt to rewrite Te Tiriti o Waitangi the Prime Minister has left the door open for a referendum.

And then the Māori Party lambastes the Prime Minister:

Christopher Luxon’s legacy will be leading the most anti-Māori, anti-Tiriti government Aotearoa has seen in generations.

But the headline-grabber is the threat of a call to arms:

Our message to this Government is clear: We will not allow Pākehā to determine our rights as tangata whenua. This new Government must prepare for a Māori revolution if a referendum ever does go ahead.

Te Pāti Māori will fight on all fronts to protect our people from policies that seek to erase our whakapapa and whitewash our history. Policies that privilege the wealthy and punish the poor.

We will fight against the short-sightedness of a government that would allow oil and gas exploration during climate crisis. We will do all we can to ensure their reign is also short.

Te Pāti Māori are calling on all Tangata Whenua and Tangata Tiriti to stand as one to protect what it is that makes us Aotearoa.

The Māori Party’s racist railing against “Pākehā” does not gel with the demographic facts set out in a report on Kiwiblog today:

Demographics of the new Ministry

There are 28 Ministers in the Ministry – 19 National, 5 ACT and 4 NZ First.

17 are electorate MPs and 11 are List MPs.

17 (61%) are men and 11 (39%) women.

8 of the 28 are Māori, or 29%. This is more than twice as much as the share of the adult population.

25% are in their 20s or 30s, 39% in their 40s, 25% in their 50s and 11% aged 60+.

46% are from Auckland, 25% from rural areas, 14% from provincial cities. 11% from Wellington and 4% from Christchurch. 89% are from the North Island.

Did you get that? Almost 30 per cent of the new ministers are Māori.

The counter may be that they are not Māori enough. But that’s a matter for ideological disputation, surely.

Or should Māoriness be determined by measuring the Māori component of each minister’s blood.

One of the new ministers – and one of the new MPs – is Casey Costello, a List MP based in Port Waikato.

The New Zealand First Party says of her:

Proudly acknowledging both her Ngāti Wai/Ngapuhi and Anglo-Irish ancestry, Casey brings an outstanding knowledge of the important issues facing New Zealand along with the dedication, courage and commitment to stand against formidable forces that seek to silence critics.

And guess what?

She has been a spokesperson for Hobson’s Pledge for the past seven years and

“has been instrumental in pushing back against an agenda of race-based division that is being used to distract New Zealanders from the real issues”.

Another statement on the Scoop website today is headed:

Hobson’s Pledge Are Delighted

“I’m sure I speak for all those who have supported Hobson’s Pledge since our formation in 2016 when I say how absolutely delighted we are that Casey Costello has not only been elected to Parliament but has stepped right into a ministerial role inside Cabinet,” Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Don Brash says.

“Casey was our co-spokesperson until she resigned her role upon stepping forward as a New Zealand First candidate a few short months ago.

“Casey is a deeply caring person who has for years argued that all New Zealanders should have equal political rights, irrespective of when they or their ancestors came to New Zealand.”

Brash expressed his organisation’s delight to learn that in many areas of government policy, the basic principle of treating all New Zealanders equally before the law has been strongly affirmed.

Furthermore, the right of ratepayers to demand a referendum before local authorities create Māori wards has been re-established.

Democracy is being given greater weight in the new government’s considerations than the Treaty, in other words.

Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton