NZCPR Newsletter: Feature Article - A New Era Begins

The Inauguration of Donald J Trump as the 47^th President of the United States marked the beginning of a new era for the country – and for the world.

If he gets his agenda right, America will return to being a global leader.

There’s no doubt Donald Trump learnt from his experience as the 45^th President. During that time he issued just over 200 Executive Orders - the mechanism used by Presidents to manage the Executive Branch of Government that bypasses Congress.

*All Presidential Orders can all be viewed on the White House website HERE.

This time around he has hit the ground running, signing more than 200 Executive Orders during his first three days in Office. A hundred were signed straight after being sworn in - many in front of his supporters. Hundreds more are expected to follow.

Before we examine a selection of Orders of relevance to New Zealand, let’s look at some of the highlights from the communications masterclass that was President Trump’s inauguration address: 

 

The Golden Age of America begins right now.

I will, very simply, put America first. Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced.

Our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free.

But first, we must be honest about the challenges we face. The pillars of our society lay broken. We have an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves, in many cases, to hate our country.

My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed, their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.

Today, I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.

The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices, and that is why today I will declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.

America will be a manufacturing nation once again. We have the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth. And we are going to use it. We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again, and export American energy all over the world. We will be a rich nation again.

We will end the Green New Deal and revoke the electric vehicle mandate.

After years of illegal and unconstitutional federal efforts to restrict free expression, I will sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.

This week, I will end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.

As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.

This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the Covid vaccine mandate with full back pay.

We are one people, one family and one glorious nation under God.

America will be respected again and admired again. We will be prosperous, we will be proud. We will be strong. We will not be conquered, we will not be intimidated, we will not be broken, and we will not fail.

President Trump acknowledged the Inauguration was held on Martin Luther King Day: “In his honour, we will strive together to make his dream a reality” and he pledged: “We will forge a society that is colour blind and merit based.”

That is essentially what our Coalition promised when they were elected. But while they have made good progress, they still have a long way to go to achieve that crucial goal. 

The reality is that when New Zealanders voted for a change in Government, they gave the Coalition the mandate to deliver us from the dangerous agenda put in place by the Ardern administration.

That rejection of Labour was not just because of their appalling mismanagement of the economy and public services, it was also in response to their attempt to overturn our social order by their unmandated forcing of identity politics and He Puapua onto our country.

Virtually without warning, they changed New Zealand from a nation that rewarded hard work, that encouraged free speech and open debate, and that treated everyone equally, to one obsessed with race and gender, that totally divided society, restricted free speech, and unleashed greed-driven tribal interests to undermine our democracy and take control of our country.

Restoring New Zealand to being colour blind and merit based would go a long towards healing our society and rebuilding our optimism for the future.

So, what are some of President Trump’s Executive Orders that have particular relevance for New Zealand?

While matters related to trade and security have been well-canvassed, let’s examine some that have received little media coverage.

A key one of relevance to New Zealand is the President’s Order to rescind Diversity, Equity, Inclusion programs from all federal agencies, and private sector groups that contract with the government. From now on it will be illegal to hire employees in the US to fill diversity quotas based on race, gender, sexuality, disability, or religion.

As a result, all State employees in DEI roles have been placed on leave, all institutions have been instructed to “take down all outward facing media (websites, social media) of DEI offices”, all upcoming DEI training has been cancelled, all contracts with DEI organisations have been revoked, and federal agencies are required to come up with “up to nine potential civil compliance investigations” of publicly traded companies, large nonprofits and other private institutions with DEI programs that now constitute “illegal discrimination or preferences”.

In other words, the President not only wants to terminate DEI in the federal government, but the private sector as well. His policy will force educational institutions to end discriminatory admissions policies and re-prioritise merit in hiring. He wants every man and woman in the US to be given back the opportunity to go as far as their hard work, individual initiative, and competence can take them.

Our Coalition should follow suit. It’s now clear that many of the 19,000 additional State workers employed by Labour during their 6 years in office were DEI hires, Maori in particular. The result is a radical influence has been embedded throughout the government service – and increasingly within the private sector as well. This grossly discriminatory policy should be axed. 

Another Executive Order with profound implications for New Zealand, is President Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement: “It is the policy of my Administration to put the interests of the United States and the American people first in the development and negotiation of any international agreements with the potential to damage or stifle the American economy.”

The objective of the UN’s Paris Agreement is de-industrialisation. That’s why China, Russia and India have delayed compliance until 2060 or 2070. With the USA now withdrawing and others expected to follow, the only countries now pursuing UN targets  are woke nations that care more about upholding the UN’s socialist agenda than defending the wellbeing of their people and their economies.

Unfortunately for New Zealand, successive governments have submitted to the radical climate demands of the UN. The new Coalition is no different. On the one hand they claim to be prioritising growth, while on the other, they are forcing the UN’s de-industrialisation strategy onto the country.

So, in spite of all the world’s major emitters thumbing their noses at UN objectives, New Zealand continues to submit to their socialist directives even though they are damaging our economy. 

In effect, Jacinda Ardern’s Zero Carbon law imposed ‘global governance’ onto the country by replacing economic policies designed to lift the living standards of New Zealanders, with policies satisfying the UN’s radical demands.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told New Zealanders in his State of the Nation address, that economic growth is his number one priority for 2025: “I am obsessed with doing everything it takes to unleash the growth, innovation, and investment we need to thrive because Kiwis deserve nothing less”. We applaud his ambition for our country, but if he is serious about his words, he needs to abandon climate change folly and follow the US out of the Paris Agreement. It is now nonsensical to remain in.

Removing climate levies off petrol, diesel and electricity, would, of course, lower prices across the board and kick start the economy. 

But if the PM is too woke to do that, he should at least correct the erroneous assumptions that Labour adopted in its climate change modelling - that even the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has rejected. They have artificially elevated New Zealand’s emissions problems to the point where, if corrected, the modelling would likely show we are already meeting our UN climate commitments!

In other words, de-industrialising our economy would be completely unnecessary!

President Trump also issued an Executive Order putting an end to the creation of massive wind farms, including those offshore, that degrade the natural landscapes and, through their intermittency, fail to serve consumers well.

And he declared a national energy emergency: “An affordable and reliable domestic supply of energy is a fundamental requirement for the national and economic security of any nation… High energy prices devastate Americans, particularly those living on low- and fixed-incomes.”

It’s the same situation here, which is why successive governments spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year subsiding winter energy costs for beneficiaries and pensioners.

By declaring a national energy emergency, President Trump will prioritise the opening up of public lands for energy projects, along with the building of critical energy infrastructure.

While the opening up of public land for mining is also being considered in New Zealand, this seems to be at odds with major changes being planned by the Conservation Minister and his Department.

With submissions on two Department of Conservation discussion documents – see HERE – due to close on 28 February, this week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator Fiona Mackenzie, a communications and marketing specialist, explains the problem:

“DOC’s discussion document, Modernising Conservation Land Management, outlines a framework heavily weighted toward racial prioritising of iwi and hapu interests. The document suggests that those identifying as Maori possess unique entitlements to conservation land, citing ancestral ties and kaitiakitanga (undefined) as justification. However, this approach raises critical questions about fairness and equality in public land management.

“DOC’s stated commitment to engage with iwi as ‘Treaty partners’ highlights the co-governance philosophy that has been so rapidly undermining our democracy and economic productivity under recent governments.

“The current coalition Government is failing to rein in race-based practices in our public services. Existing and proposed privileges in the allocation of conservation resources and decision-making processes include prioritising iwi consultation, easing concession requirements for Maori businesses, enabling land disposals or exchanges to benefit iwi, and devolving certain other powers to iwi.”

It is imperative that the Coalition honours its election promise to stop He Puapua and co-governance and halts all plans to give tribal groups special power over our Conservation Estate. Favouring Maori is discriminatory and against the law.

*If you would like to send in a submission on the Conservation discussion document – the details are HERE. A submission prepared by Fiona Mackenzie can be seen HERE. And if you would like to contact MPs or local Councillors their email addresses are HERE.

President Trump has instigated a multitude of other important changes including withdrawing from the World Health Organization, imposing a hiring freeze on government workers - and making it easier to remove those who are disloyal, as well as pressing ahead with plans to reduce American company tax down to 15 percent to turbo-charge the economy.

Without a doubt, the scene has been set for a major transformation of the US, including mechanisms to replace woke racism and identity politics with equality, unity and prosperity.

Let’s hope our Coalition follows suit.

 

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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:

*Should the Coalition follow the lead of the US and to rescind all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion programs from all State agencies - and private sector groups that contract with the government?

Dr Muriel Newman established the New Zealand Centre for Political Research as a public policy think tank in 2005 after nine years as a Member of Parliament. The NZCPR website is HERE. We also run this Breaking Views Blog and our NZCPR Facebook Group HERE.