In a recent video shared by the ACT Party, a revealing exchange unfolded between ACT MP Karen Chhour and Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. During a recent discussion, Kapa-Kingi insisted the focus remain solely on Māori children, stating, “You’re assuming that they’re the same as everyone else, and we’re not.”
She’s not wrong. Māori children are different, and not in the way her party likes to celebrate. They are the ones disproportionately suffering. They are the ones more likely to be raised in homes plagued by addiction, violence and neglect. They are the ones being buried at shocking rates, victims of abuse and murder, often at the hands of their own whānau.
What’s troubling is not Kapa-Kingi’s desire to focus on Māori tamariki. It's the selective lens through which she chooses to do so. There’s an eagerness to blame colonisation, systemic racism or government policy. But where is the same energy when it comes to confronting the hard truth? Many of these children are being hurt and killed by her own people.
If Kapa-Kingi truly cared about Māori children, her outrage would not only flare up during political debates. It would show up in the communities where children are being failed every day. Yet we never hear her speak about the epidemic of abuse within Māori households.
Yes, Māori children are different. They are overrepresented in child homicide statistics. They are failed by their own families who would rather spend their benefits on meth and piss. The silence from politicians like Kapa-Kingi may be politically convenient, but it is a betrayal to the very Māori child she claims to advocate for.
Real leadership means facing uncomfortable truths, even when it means turning the mirror on your own.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
What’s troubling is not Kapa-Kingi’s desire to focus on Māori tamariki. It's the selective lens through which she chooses to do so. There’s an eagerness to blame colonisation, systemic racism or government policy. But where is the same energy when it comes to confronting the hard truth? Many of these children are being hurt and killed by her own people.
If Kapa-Kingi truly cared about Māori children, her outrage would not only flare up during political debates. It would show up in the communities where children are being failed every day. Yet we never hear her speak about the epidemic of abuse within Māori households.
Yes, Māori children are different. They are overrepresented in child homicide statistics. They are failed by their own families who would rather spend their benefits on meth and piss. The silence from politicians like Kapa-Kingi may be politically convenient, but it is a betrayal to the very Māori child she claims to advocate for.
Real leadership means facing uncomfortable truths, even when it means turning the mirror on your own.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced.
9 comments:
Another example of not taking responsibility, all too easy to blame someone else.
They do not feature for all the usual reasons.....they serve her (and the maori partys) purpose better by being right where they are than anywhere else.
Their victimhood, poverty, abuse, ill-education, crime and murders are all perfect functions for these people to politically hold onto their power.
That is these childrens purpose, nothing more and nothing less.
I watched the video and it is truly astounding how firstly, an MP can go to such great lengths to continually espouse how part-Maori children are "different" and how secondly, colonisation is to blame. Children are not "different" except to the extent that each human being has their own intrinsic personality. As the writer so rightly points out, home and upbringing are the all -important factors. It is truly concerning that New Zealand is taking this separatist route. Will we now have segregated playgrounds in schools? Truly astonishing! Even if part-Maori succeeded in tribal rule of New Zealand it wouldn't be long before "the rest of the people" became totally disgruntled. I wonder if they have thought this through?
It's embarrassing that nz hasn't solved the maori problem in a century of civilized living..
Wrap around services are shown to work, so why haven't they been employed?
We all pay for this failure and some of us are devastated that NZ lets children continue to suffer.
It would be nice to see a clever minister tackle the problem. Chris bishop and simeon brown spring to mind!
It's an aspect of Maori culture. You only need to dabble in the history, as I have done recently, to see where it comes from. We need to put the facts on the table if we are to address the problem. The present uncritical celebration of all things Maori is not the answer.
The Maori leaders have no interest in helping their people that are struggling. They need the poor, the violence, the death of their children. They need to be able to point at these failures to keep the money flowing. So expecting the Maori, like Kapa-Kingi, to want to actually improve the position of the needy is just wasted energy.
Expecting Maori leaders, like Kapa-Kingi, to live a life of wealth and new cars, while standing on the worn out bodies of the poor, is not a losing bet.
More important to go on state funded haka trips to China with Luxon than care about the kids. Sad commentary on all of them.
Our destroying of Western Traditional values in particularly education ones have not helped any of us in NZ.
It is been particularly disastrous for Maori . Values like work ethic , self responsibility , maintaining the traditional family structure have been removed from our education and society. Socialism and liberalism in Western culture have contributed to destroying these values.
Earlier in last century Maori were not plagued with all the bad social problems as much as they are now. Our education system was one of the best in the world and we didn't have the disgraceful long tail of underachievement. We also had a work ethic and not such dependence on welfare.
Absolutely Maori need to start facing up to their murderous self destructive tendencies but we as a whole need to build up traditional values .
Colonisation and racism aren't the cause but 20th century liberalism and socialism have contributed to poor educational standards and the breakdown of families for all of us. The prevalence of drugs , alcohol and junk food and screens are the curse of modern civilization.
Gaynor at 11.34..... I totally agree. I am old enough to remember a better Maori society of 1950-60s. Those who have opted so have now regressed to pre-European lifestyle.... together with the worst of drugs, booze, junk food, and altered reality. Soon we will discover infanticide for food/birth control, [delish!], because of course this did not happen before the arrival of civilisation. How silly do they think Eurpoeans [and Asians] are...?
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