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Thursday, November 14, 2024

Ele Ludemann: Maori Party recruitment march


If a former candidate from one of the government parties, now a staff member for that party in parliament, was leading a protest march, that would be the focus of media attention.

Why hasn’t this got the same attention?


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This make the hikoi that is supposed to be motivated by opposition to the Treaty Principles Bill looks much more like a Maori Party recruitment march.

Not only would the media focus on party links had they been to government parties, they’d be asking if the man was on leave or still officially working.

I have yet to find any reference to the party links and workplace at all in the mainstream media.

That doesn’t mean there is none, but if it’s there it’s not prominent.

Likewise, if schools were going to, or giving children permission to skip classes to join, a march in favour of government policy, it too would be attracting headlines. The only reference I’ve found is on Kiwiblog:

. . . So this is pretty clear. Teachers can do politics as citizens, but not when acting in their professional capacity. They explicitly say teachers should not:

using my authority as a teacher to undermine the personal beliefs of my learners or inappropriately influence them to take a course of action . .

In contravention of that Naenae School is joining the hikoi as a school activity.

This is appalling. If teachers want to take leave and attend a protest march that is fine, but here the principal is announcing the school is taking an institutional stance on the Treaty of Principles Bill and they are taking the whole school to join in a protest march against the Government’s bill.

Apart from the ethical stance of using 5 – 10 year olds as pawns in a protest, the teachers doing this are clearly breaching the Teaching Council guidelines. . .

South Wellington Intermediate is recording pupils who join the hikoi as having justified absences.

And here you have a principal saying that their taxpayer funded school supports the protest march, and they will mark any student missing school to attend as having a justified absence. This is both breaching the law, and the Teaching Council neutrality standards. . .

Again this is not about their personal views. This is against what is a form of abuse – pushing their partisan political views on children.

Principals and teachers have a right to their political views. They do not have the right to foist them on their pupils nor to involved them in political activities.

That they are should be reported widely, which like the Maori Party links to the march leader, at time of writing, it has not been.

Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm… so it looks very possible that the taxpayer is at least partly funding the hikoi via Maori Party/Waipereira Trust and taxpayers pay the school principals. It’s activism on the taxpayer dime. Come on National - you’re dragging the chains. We voted for this abuse to stop. The principals’ jobs should be on the line and a full and transparent investigation into Maori Party and Waipereira Trust finances completed pronto. We haven’t even heard back re the questionable election funding issues at the marae in Auckland over a year ago. Who are we paying for that report and how much? Why are they dragging it out? The gravy train just keeps rolling shamelessly along. Oh, and aren’t the Maori Party well overdue for submitting their annual financial report? Why has no action been taken? We all have the same rights and duties - or don’t we Mr Luxon?

Anonymous said...

It's been common over the years for schools to encourage students to take part in woke protests, like the 75 land march, anti-sptingbok tour, climate change and now this, but it's different when the cause is conservative.

I remember a teacher telling our class in 81 that we have to be sensitive to a student because they were hit on the head by a police baton the night before. The whole class erupted in laughter.

Ray S said...

The Maori extremists will love it. School kids getting further educated in the wonderful ways of Maori. Hopefully most of the kids will take it as merely a day off school. The brighter ones may see it for what it is, in fact, they may even stay at school and study.

It is probably too late for most, the Maori indocrination is well entrenched across the board in all teaching syllabus.

Anonymous said...

You're right Ele, this is simply appalling and an indictment of everything that is wrong in our education system.

Anonymous said...

A recruitment drive for Te Pati Maori? For some who might be caught up in the thrill and rhetoric of the moment, it probably is. However the look, sound, and behaviour of the protest marchers will also be creating a consequence.
A number of citizens will be observing and making their own judgements on the situation. I suggest that many will hold a dislike of radical viewpoints and actions, and will resent the noisy demands to not at least consider what the articles/principles of the TOW are. As long as we still have a democracy worth standing up for, those folk will make known their opinions, make submissions, and vote.