On behalf of the New Zealand Centre for
Political Research I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry
Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!
I would also like to say a huge thank
you for backing us over the last twelve months. None of what we achieve would
be possible without the wonderful support of our readers. Through your kind
generosity the NZCPR informs public opinion and influences decision-makers -
together we are helping to shape the future direction of New Zealand.
In order to reach out to as many Kiwis as possible, the NZCPR has no paywalls or subscriptions. Instead, as a grassroots operation, we encourage free access to our newsletters, website, Facebook Group, and Breaking Views blog. But in return for the 12 months of information, insight, and engagement we provide, we hope you will consider a Christmas gift to help us keep running in 2024 – please click HERE for details.
As we reflect on 2023, the highlight was, of course, the change in Government.
It was the culmination of six years of
hard work.
From the time Jacinda Ardern first became Prime Minister and started making her
ideologically driven Captain’s Calls without official advice, public
consultation, or even Cabinet approval, we realised she was going to be a
disaster for New Zealand.
What we couldn’t have predicted was how bad it would get. That became clearer
once we uncovered He Puapua, which was hidden from the public prior to
the 2020 election. Essentially it was the road map for a tribal coup that had
the objective of replacing democracy with Maori rule by 2040.
Nor could we have imagined Labour would deliberately bribe the media into
endorsing their Treaty ‘partnership’ lie that underpins He Puapua,
turning the Fourth Estate into a propaganda arm of the government.
Labour’s destructive authoritarian rule only ended in October because of a
massive collaborative effort bypassing the mainstream media and reaching out to
voters.
So well done for the part you played in helping to remove Labour from
office.
But we mustn’t be complacent. The radical elements in Parliament are stronger
and growing more extreme and the indications are that the “mainstream” media is
becoming increasingly hostile to those who do not share their left-wing
ideology.
As a result, it is clear that our real work is only just beginning!
What the last six years has taught us, however, is just how fragile democracy
really is and how easily it is undermined. So, let’s examine its status as we
head into 2024.
It’s the four pillars of a representative democracy - the Legislature,
the Executive, the Judiciary, and the Media –
that preserve our freedoms and democratic rights.
The ‘Legislature’ is our House of Representatives, and it is primarily
responsible for law-making. Members of Parliament are elected under
the Mixed Member Proportional voting system. MMP was, of course,
recommended by the 1986 Royal Commission into the Electoral System –
which also advised abolishing the Maori seats to avoid an over-representation
of Maori in Parliament.
Accordingly, when the MMP legislation was first tabled in Parliament in the
early nineties, there was no provision for Maori seats. But as a result of
pressure from Maori leaders, weak politicians caved in and the Maori seats were
retained.
Now, as predicted by the Royal Commission, while Maori make up only 13.7
percent of the voting-age population, they now hold a disproportionate 27
percent of the seats in Parliament.
This massive over-representation of Maori in Parliament discriminates against
non-Maori and is in breach of the guarantee of freedom from discrimination in
our Bill of Rights and the Human Rights Act.
The Maori seats are no longer required: They should be abolished.
The second ‘pillar’ of democracy, the ‘Executive’, consists of the Prime
Minister’s Cabinet and the Departments and Ministries which run the country.
The government’s policy agenda is presented to voters in the lead up to an
election, and the public mandate they receive gives them the constitutional legitimacy
to govern.
During the last Parliament, however, Labour kept their key He Puapua
policy secret from voters. As a result, they had no mandate whatsoever to
transfer power to iwi leaders.
The 50:50 ‘co-governance’ mechanism they used, which gives representatives of
the 17 percent minority of the population who identify as Maori the same voting
power as representatives of the 83 percent majority, undermines democracy as we
know it.
By giving representatives of the tribal elite almost five times the
voting power in democratic decision-making, as the representatives of the
general public, co-governance is not only grossly
discriminatory, but it erodes the one-person, one-vote foundation stone of our
Westminster democratic system.
Furthermore, by giving Maori activists 50 percent of voting rights on
decision-making boards, they gain the power of veto – effectively replacing
democracy with tribal totalitarianism.
Co-governance is based on a fabricated reinterpretation of the Treaty of
Waitangi as a ‘partnership’, in spite of the fact that it is constitutionally
impossible for the Crown to enter into a partnership with subjects.
Not only were co-governance arrangements forced onto public sector
organisations as part of the He Puapua rollout, but private sector
groups that engage with the government through registration or funding -
including charities, real estate firms, architects, engineers, and lawyers –
were also targeted and required to promote co-governance and the fictional Treaty
partnership.
These racist and discriminatory arrangements should be removed.
To help counter Labour’s Treaty partnership fabrication, the NZCPR launched a
campaign to distribute a million copies of Sir Apirana Ngata’s explanation of
the original meaning of the Maori version of the Treaty of Waitangi into
New Zealand households.
The project was inspired by a government initiative in 1963, which held Sir
Apirana’s explanation in such high regard that it was delivered to all Maori
families.
Sir Apirana, who, of course, wrote his explanation in 1922, long before
activists began reinterpreting the Treaty for political ends, clearly points
out that Maori ceded sovereignty to the Crown, and that there was no Treaty
partnership.
The first tranche of Sir Apirana’s explanation was delivered before the
election as a quality insert in the nation’s newspaper network, and the
balance will go out ahead of Waitangi Day.
The third pillar of a democratic government, the ‘Judiciary’, is not
only responsible for the interpretation and application of the laws passed by
Parliament, but they are also the gatekeepers of the ‘Rule of Law’ – ensuring
the law is certain, foreseeable, easy to understand, and applies equally to
everyone.
Recent moves to include ‘tikanga’ or Maori custom in the law, is however,
undermining the Rule of Law and democracy itself.
The NZCPR’s long-running campaign to prevent a tribal takeover of New Zealand’s
coastline clearly shows the danger.
When National repealed Crown ownership of the foreshore and seabed and opened
the coast up for tribal claims in 2011, they promised no more than 10 percent
would end up controlled by Maori.
But they included ‘tikanga’ in their new law: the Marine and Coastal Area Act
(MACA) not only required claimants seeking a Customary Marine Title to have
held their claimed area exclusively and continuously since 1840, but they also
had to have held it according to tikanga.
When the first of almost 600 claims for the coast was heard in the High Court,
the Judge focussed on tikanga instead of the property rights test,
finding in favour of claimants and signalling that most claims were likely to
succeed.
We appealed the case to the Court of Appeal in the hope that the Judges would
reinforce Parliament’s intention. Instead, they expressly ignored it and
focussed on tikanga, giving it status the legislation never intended,
and further lowering the bar to ensure that virtually the entire coast will end
up in tribal hands.
The only positive from the decision is that it is now crystal clear to the
Coalition Government that MACA needs to be urgently fixed. If it isn’t almost
100 percent of the coastline and Territorial Sea will end up in tribal hands,
instead of the promised 10 percent - and hundreds of millions of taxpayer
dollars will be paid to the army of lawyers now feasting at this trough.
In a broader sense, what the case has also revealed is how tikanga
fatally undermines the Rule of Law - which is a crucial component of a properly
functioning democracy - by transforming the outcome from what Parliament
intended to what iwi want.
The fourth democratic pillar is the ‘Media’ or Fourth Estate, which is
meant to act as a watchdog for society, informing the public and holding the
government to account.
Sadly, Labour essentially corrupted the
media by establishing a $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund
that required recipients to not only promote their fabricated Treaty
partnership agenda, but to embed a commitment to the Treaty and a Maori world
view in their business operations.
Unless such mandated requirements are reversed, the media can never be neutral
but will have been transformed into a propaganda arm for iwi leaders.
Fortunately, alternative media platforms have now been established and they are
capturing the increasing numbers who are turning away from the blatant
mainstream bias. What we are lacking, however, is New Zealand’s equivalent of
Sky News Australia - or even Fox News USA.
Without a doubt, democracy in New Zealand has been seriously undermined and is
now in a very vulnerable state.
But the NZCPR is not going to stand by and watch our democracy disintegrate.
Next year we will be working hard to strengthen Democracy and the Rule
of Law. As part of that work programme, we will be calling for the
abolition of the Maori seats, the removal of Maori privilege and ‘tikanga’ from
legislation, and the winding up of the Waitangi Tribunal, which has been
captured by Maori supremacists and now represents a serious threat to
democracy.
Removing privilege in all of its forms is also a long-standing principle
advocated by the ACT Party founder and former Labour Finance Minister Sir Roger
Douglas.
He believes too many New Zealanders are far too dependent on the government for
their wellbeing and he would like to see a comprehensive policy package
developed that empowers New Zealanders to gain more control over their lives
and build a more prosperous future.
Accordingly, we will be working with Sir Roger on this exciting project that
has the potential to permanently transform New Zealand into a nation where
no-one is left behind, and where everyone can look forward to a better future.
Another important project in the pipeline is restoring common sense to climate
policy, with an initial focus on removing the extremist measures Labour
introduced that are responsible for higher than necessary costs being forced
onto New Zealanders, exacerbating the cost-of-living crisis.
We have many more plans in the pipeline - but first need to ensure we can keep
the NZCPR operating for another year.
Will you consider supporting this
crucial end of year Appeal with a Christmas gift to help keep us running in
2024 – please click HERE
for details.
And if you would like to help but don’t like website forms the direct
donation details are Internet Banking:
credit NZCPR ASB Bank 12-3099-0833814-00 and Credit Card: call 09 434 3836 to make a phone
donation.
I’d like to sign off with some extra special thanks. To our readers, for the
wonderful contribution that you have made over the last year not only by
supporting us but by speaking out and inspiring others. To our marvellous
authors and artists for sharing your wisdom and brilliance through our NZCPR
newsletters and Breaking Views blog. And last, but certainly not least, to our
fantastic volunteers, especially those who help maintain our busy NZCPR
Facebook Group and Breaking Views blog - we simply could not operate without
you.
Again, our very best wishes for Christmas and the New Year - and here’s hoping
we are back in 2024 stronger than ever and ready to face the significant
challenges that lie ahead.
Warmest regards,
Dr Muriel Newman
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