Te Kākano tries to force real estate agents to subscribe to an assortment of mystical Māori ideas that we’ll call “Māori Metaphysics”.
Māori Metaphysics holds that there are two radically different types of people in New Zealand. There are people who, by sheer accident of birth, just happen to have an ancestor who was descended from the original Polynesian inhabitants of New Zealand (who lived in perfect harmony with nature, and each other). These racially stereotyped humans must now collectively be labelled as a unity called “Māori”.
The other type of New Zealanders comprise all the other (non-Māori) inhabitants of these South Pacific islands, who form a diametrically different unity – “Tangata Tiriti” - and who are only here with the revocable permission of Māori.
And these two factions of humans are in an eternal race-based “partnership”. This Treaty Partnership has been invented in the last 30 years or so. It’s all completely crazy. And you’re being forced to believe in this religion of Māori Metaphysics even if you’re not Māori.
Māori Metaphysics is a religious belief system that’s a long way from Christianity, which is partly why Janet, a Christian, refused to take the course. Janet also maintains, quite correctly, that “Te Kākano” would not improve her performance as a real estate agent, not one iota. And, to be clear, Janet has absolutely nothing against Māori people or culture. She grew up in a distinctly Maori community and can speak some Māori.
The High Court’s decision has dispelled any notion that radical race activism and Critical Race Theory are confined to New Zealand’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
The judge who conspired with REA to cancel Dickson and end her career is Helen McQueen. Frightening McQueen is deeply steeped in Wokery. She was a partner at Chapman Tripp, the major New Zealand law firm currently locked in fierce competition with another law firm, Minter Ellison, for the title of Wokest Law Firm in Aotearoa. She then worked for six years at New Zealand’s laughably Woke Law Commission before scoring her Judgeship in 2022.
“Te Kākano” means “the seed” in the Maori language. It’s an apt name for the course, given the course aims to sow real estate agents’ minds with Maori Metaphysics (brain tubers).
But “Te Kākano” is just a tiny part of a much wider societal contagion where professional and industry bodies are trying to force workforces to believe certain State-sponsored orthodoxies about Māori things .
The untenable myths espoused in the Te Kākano course include the following:
- There is monolithic group of “Māori” humans in New Zealand, who all share an identical “Māori world view”.
- The Te Kākano course materials cast the usual spurious doubt on whether Māori ceded sovereignty to a unitary central government. The fact is that there’s absolutely no objective, historical doubt that Māori willingly and knowingly ceded sovereignty. The first Article of the English version of the Treaty of Waitangi states:
The Chiefs of the Confederation of the United Tribes of New Zealand and the separate and independent Chiefs who have not become members of the Confederation cede to Her Majesty the Queen of England absolutely and without reservation all the rights and powers of Sovereignty which the said Confederation or Individual Chiefs respectively exercise or possess, or may be supposed to exercise or to possess over their respective Territories as the sole sovereigns thereof.
The first article of the Māori language version of the Treaty, and it’s translation into English (Professor Kawharu’s authoritative translation in the Report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy, Wellington, 1988), states:
Ko nga Rangatira o te wakaminenga me nga Rangatira katoa hoki ki hai i uru ki taua wakaminenga ka tuku rawa atu ki te Kuini o Ingarani ake tonu atu - te Kawanatanga katoa o o ratou wenua. [“Kawangatanga” means “governance”]
The chiefs of the Confederation and all the chiefs who have not joined that Confederation give absolutely to the Queen of England for ever the complete government over their land.
- The Te Kākano course materials state “All the Treaty principles have originated from, and been developed by, non-Māori based institutions”. Really? The Waitangi Tribunal, which invented and continues to invent these ephemeral Treaty principles, is a “non-Māori based institution”? What about the Maori Ministries at all New Zealand’s universities, who all uniformly buy into the Treaty Principles construct? Get real.
- Do all people with Maori ancestry really believe that a Sky-Father separated from an Earthmother, or that trees and birds are their superiors?
“The traditional story of the separation of Ranginui (Sky-Father) and Papatūānuku (Earthmother) is an insight into a Māori worldview which convey values, relationships, origins, and the connection to the environment.
Māori can trace genealogy from Rangi and Papa (the primal parents) through their children, ngā kaitiaki tiketike the supreme guardians, right down to the present generations. This means if we trace the generations from Rangi and Papa through Tāne the supreme guardian of the forests, Māori are related to the children of Tāne – all the trees and birds. The trees and birds are therefore our tuakana (superiors), they are superior to humans because of their upper position in the lineage. Like all superiors and ancestors it is tika the right way, to treat them with respect.”
Do all Māori entertain an alleged taboo on sitting on pillows, or putting hats on tables? Of course not.
“Pillows: Avoid sitting directly on pillows or cushions. They can however be used to prop up your back.
Hats: Avoid putting hats on food tables. Why? This is linked to the idea that heads are tapu so anything that relates to heads, like pillows or hats, should also be treated carefully.”
You can read the 50 something page High Court decision here Dickson v Real Estate Agents Authority [2025] NZHC 50 — Courts of New Zealand. But for those with better things to do, here are some of the most flawed aspects of the decision.
As a Crown entity, REA is legally required to exercise its functions, powers and duties consistently with the Bill of Rights Act 1990. Under that Act, “Everyone [including Janet Dickson] has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief, including the right to adopt and to hold opinions without interference”.
Judge McQueen contrived to find that REA’s attempt to coerce Janet to convert to Māori Metaphysics – on pain of ending her career and with Māori Metaphysics directly clashing with Janet’s own sincerely-held thoughts, conscience, religion, and beliefs – somehow didn’t breach Janet’s Bill of Rights freedoms. McQueen’s essential - albeit covert - stance is that Critical Race Theory, as reflected in Te Kākano, is an indisputable, immutable truth – as opposed to a bat shit crazy, divisive, unscientific ideology.
McQueen couches her decision in the absurd notion that the REA must force Dickson to do Te Kākano in order to “protect” “consumers” of Janet’s real estate services:
“Ms Moffat [REA chief executive officer] says that the Authority sees its continuing education programme as an important part of the Authority’s consumer protection work.”
In her 2022 memo to REA’s Board in support of Te Kākano, Wombat Moffat asserts the myth of New Zealand biculturalism, the absurd suggestion that New Zealand has two human cultures, one for people with Maori ancestry, and another for…all the rest (“classic” Pakeha, ethnic Indians, Asians, South Africans, Dalmatians, Dutchies…):
“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a founding document for New Zealand's bi-cultural country”
McQueen reverentially defers to someone called Mr Gulliver. In Gulliver’s travels, he was apparently “manager of projects at the Wānanga” when Te Kākano was developed. The “Wānanga” is Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi, the outfit that REA engaged to produce and deliver Te Kākano. According to Gulliver’s written “evidence” to the High Court:
Getting offside in a relationship is not a good start for any real estate agent, and we wanted to provide some tikanga and knowledge that could keep real estate agents culturally safe in these spaces.
This is yet another example of the cancerous “cultural safety” nonsense that riddles Wokery.
The Wānanga states in the Te Kākano course materials “We are excited to gift some of our knowledge on te reo Māori (Māori language), tikanga (protocol), and Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi)”. But of course, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi didn’t gift anything, for two unimpeachable reasons. First, in order to gift something, one must first own it. And nothing in the Te Kākano materials was or is owned by the Wānanga; it’s all just the customary rag bag of bog standard “progressive” Maori mantras. Secondly, a gift must be given for free, and the Wānanga was paid for its role in Te Kākano, probably handsomely. Do you ever wonder how much money changes hands, very year, in New Zealand’s Great Race Grift?
REA’s lawyer was King’s Counsel Andrew Butler. Andrew is personally pleasant, and woefully Woke. In 2016 he co-authored – with Sir Geoffrey Palmer – a book proposing a written constitution for New Zealand, with the Treaty of Waitangi in some amorphous way claiming centre stage. The last chapter of the book is entitled “Constitution Aotearoa in English and te reo Māori”, which sums it all up perfectly.
According to New Zealand’s 2023 census, about a third of New Zealanders are Christians. That’s about twice the number of New Zealanders who identify as Māori. So ask yourself this…what if REA imposed a mandatory course on real estate agents schooling them all in Christian theology?...in order to safeguard the cultural safety of Christians who engage real estate agents. How would that go down? There’d be hell to pay. Janet Dickson intends to appeal the High Court’s dismal decision. You go girl.
John McLean is a citizen typist and enthusiastic amateur who blogs at John's Substack where this article was sourced.
22 comments:
I don't know whose views the Real Estate Authority represents, but it is apparent they don't represent real estate agents. I know a reasonable number of real estate agents and every single one of them are against the course and say it is a load of rubbish. They just do it because they are forced to.
It is truly frightening that our judiciary believes in this nonsense and is prepared to ruin a woman’s career.
If the few continue to impose their views and beliefs on the many where will we end up? It is being done incrementally so that the "plebs" are basically unaware of the end goal and we end up living under a dictatorship. Everyone born here is indigenous. Derived from the Latin word indigena: Sprung from the land, native to. There is no "them and us". Our education system must be to blame for much of this as the last couple of generations have not been taught our true history. As in other countries we had early settlers, Maori being among the first.
I suggest the REA allow Janet to keep her license on the proviso she has no Maori clients, just so she can’t offend them. How ludicrous has our wonderful country become.
I think that hits the nail on the head. They are FORCED to. Sadly unlike Janet, they caved to the indoctrination.
Will I have to do a similar course next time I renew my Electrcian's license ?
The woke could soon be suggesting that every time I enter a Maori owned house that I could be breaching Maori protocol by holding my meter in the wrong hand, or that electrons are leaking out of a socket and upsetting their mana ?
Or their WOF can only be done by a Maori mechanic ?
It has to stop, and the only person who can so that is Luxon and he refuses point blank to even let it be raised on his hearing .
He has to go.
unfortunately the Act says that agents have to submit themselves to mandatory training. must change the Act to change this and other similar outcomes.
is there a Give a Little donation page for Janet's costs? Our idiot Judiciary excelled itself in worhtles wokeness this time.
It is because of the gutless souls who lined up meekly to do the course instead of en-masse refusing that Janet and Hobsons Pledge have been forced to fight this alone. Show me one real estate company that has a backbone and the integrity to retrospectively get behind Janet - is that silence I hear?
I have a QUESTION? With Real Estate Agents across NZ being required to undertake a course in matter Maori, complete & be seen as proficient in matters Maori, that is supposed to assist them in selling a house. Does that mean when I sell, I will be
" presented with matters Maori, which may and/or may not require me to sing to the wood in the house, listen to a blessing placed upon the house and any whale song[s], pay Koha to REA as sign of goodwill and thanks for taking on the sale of said house along with the commission the sales agent expects?
Just asking!
Anon @ 9:18
Yep, probably will have to attend a similar course to renew your practising license. Don't laugh.
There is probably a move afoot to have compulsory Te Reo lessons when getting a drivers license, just so one can read road signs.
Banknotes will be renumbered in maori and only youngsters already brainwashed will know which notes to hand over for koha when going to the beach.
No point going to Oz yet, the same thing is happening there, but their politicians are brave over there and wont stand for the same crap we do here.
There was a suggestion that pharmacists would have to do something similar.
I also saw a (serious) suggestion that pharamcy medicine labels could be written in Maori.
Don't laugh just yet at that absurdity.....there are those out there that recently spoke out that Musk's Starlink satellites are interfering with thir ability to speak/interact with the star ancestors and it is tikanga un-friendly.......go figure. Sadder still they got media time and no doubt some taxpayer cash will go along to 'resolve' said problem.....
The High Court rejected Dicksen's request for a judicial review in a quite straightforward judgement that everything done by the Real Estate Agent's Authority was supported by the law. Read the Judgement. It's not a difficult read. Dicksen was legally required to attend the training session to keep her licence. But she was also at liberty to ignore the teachings and go about earning her living how she saw fit. Instead she chose to make a martyr of herself and paid the price. And that says a lot more about Dicksen than it does about Justice McQueen.
Really Jones Boy, ard you just going to roll over without protest at these ludicrous rules ?
I expect your local iwi have you marked found as "sucker".
Have you done a cultural safety course for dealing with Chinese people ?
And Eskimos ?
Where does this government sanctioned indoctrination stop ?
Sometimes one has to stand on principle lest the nasties win. This has shown the law to be an ass (or rather lacking) and needs some pretty obvious correction. Ignoring the dubious teachings and simply going about earning a living without comment or doing something to redress the situation is what 99% or so of the attendees clearly have done - the coward's way out or just disingenuous - let the reader decide? We have been in similar situations, one in particular where we fought for a principle which we believed was in the public good. A multi-year effort ended in a Court judgement which resulted in a regulatory change and vindicated the hard yards expended. However, it was a pyrrhic victory which left us wondering if the public deserved our win. Janet must feel a bit like that except we have yet to see the law corrected, if it ever will be!
Whoops. Her name is of course Dickson, not Dicksen. Mea culpa.
Well, I'm pleased you're not running the country or on a legal bench. The issue is, what does a stone age culture and its practices have to do with selling real estate in the 21st century? Maori knew nothing of land titles, nor anything of ownership rights, freehold vs leasehold interests, company ownership, Unit Titles, easements, covenants, mortgages, liens, contracts etc. etc. So why then the compulsory insertion of this cultural nonsense in the maintenance of a real estate ticket? And why not it's insertion for those wanting to sell cars, liquor, or even shares and the like. It's inappropriate, period!
The Jones Boy, technically correct.
But that thinking is exactly why absurdity rules in NZ.
It is an absurdity and it is people like you that when push comes to shove that will stand aside and let the absurd rule over you.
Does the mea culpa also include your useful idiocy?
Moffat is a micro managing control freak who is losing her grip. The pressure now on her is immense. Let's rejoice when she cracks as another terrible woke leftie departs.
Justice McQueen's judgement simply confirmed that the Real Estate Agents' Authority was complying with the law of the land and actually had no choice in the matter of penalties imposed on Dickson. There was no comment on the subject matter of the training because that was irrelevant to the legal issues in contention. Yet most of the comments on this platform seem fixated on the law somehow influencing the content of the training which is nonsense. The law lays down a process that the REA must follow. If estate agents don't like what they are being taught they should complain to the decision-makers in the REA. If they don't like the law, lobby to change the law. Not slag off a judge for simply doing her job.
Post a Comment