After a person tragically died while clearing floodwaters near Nelson, iwi leaders from Te Tauihu responded not with practical safety measures, but with a sweeping rāhui that now bans seafood gathering, swimming, and even stepping near water from the White Bluffs in the east to Kahurangi Point in the west. This covers every beach, river mouth and floodwater zone across the top of the South Island. All of it now spiritually off-limits.
A death, as sad as it is, does not justify holding the general public hostage under spiritual rules they did not ask for and may not believe in. This rāhui is a cultural imposition masquerading as community safety. It’s not based on science. It’s not enforced through law. It’s a belief system being forced upon every resident, tourist, fisherman, swimmer and beachgoer in the region. Why isn’t the iwi’s placing rāhui’s on the streets where Māori kids are being murdered or where people die from drink driving?
The Iwi Emergency Management Rōpū, working inside the official Nelson/Tasman Emergency Operations Centre, declared the rāhui would stay in place “as long as te Taiao dictates.” That’s not an end date. That’s a mystic shrug. It could be a week. It could be months. It could be forever. Who knows? It all depends on a spiritual interpretation nobody outside that group gets to define.
This is where things turn dark. Emergency response teams are supposed to rely on logic, evidence, and measurable risk. Instead, we now have cultural figureheads embedded within government crisis centres, able to shut down public access to land and sea on the basis of a death and a weather god. That is not disaster management. That is institutionalised cultural authoritarianism.
It is bad enough when a rāhui affects a small bay or a river. This is the entire northern coast of the South Island. This is next-level overreach. This is not about respect or partnership. This is about asserting power. And worst of all, the public are expected to shut up, nod, and swallow it.
No public consultation. No debate. No opt-out. Just accept it. Or be labelled racist, coloniser, or ignorant. This is not tikanga being observed. This is tikanga being weaponised.
If a church group tried to shut down a public beach because someone drowned and “the spirits needed time to settle,” the country would rightly laugh them off the sand. Yet when the same logic is cloaked in Māori language and spirituality, we are expected to stay silent. This double standard is not tolerance. It is cowardice.
It’s time to stop pretending this is harmless. It’s time to stop accepting that one worldview should be able to dictate the lives of everyone else. A person lost their life and that deserves sympathy. Sympathy does not equal surrender.
This rāhui is not about mourning. It’s about power. And it is being exercised with zero accountability and total impunity. Excuse my te reo, but Te Tauihu, whak ya’ Rāhui!
UPDATE: Over on X, a bunch of left-wing Māori extremists are claiming a rāhui isn’t a ban - and technically, they’re right, it’s not legally binding. However, if you actually read the press release, it clearly states: “It covers all coastlines, river mouths, and floodwaters, and prevents the gathering of seafood and kai in these areas as well as swimming and entering the water.” Sounds like a ban to me.
Most people reading that on the Nelson City Council website would assume the rāhui is a legal restriction. Here’s the link, have a read and tell me what you think.
https://www.nelson.govt.nz/news-and-media-releases/all-news-notices-and-media-releases?item=id:2unda553017q9szv6448
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.
A death, as sad as it is, does not justify holding the general public hostage under spiritual rules they did not ask for and may not believe in. This rāhui is a cultural imposition masquerading as community safety. It’s not based on science. It’s not enforced through law. It’s a belief system being forced upon every resident, tourist, fisherman, swimmer and beachgoer in the region. Why isn’t the iwi’s placing rāhui’s on the streets where Māori kids are being murdered or where people die from drink driving?
The Iwi Emergency Management Rōpū, working inside the official Nelson/Tasman Emergency Operations Centre, declared the rāhui would stay in place “as long as te Taiao dictates.” That’s not an end date. That’s a mystic shrug. It could be a week. It could be months. It could be forever. Who knows? It all depends on a spiritual interpretation nobody outside that group gets to define.
This is where things turn dark. Emergency response teams are supposed to rely on logic, evidence, and measurable risk. Instead, we now have cultural figureheads embedded within government crisis centres, able to shut down public access to land and sea on the basis of a death and a weather god. That is not disaster management. That is institutionalised cultural authoritarianism.
It is bad enough when a rāhui affects a small bay or a river. This is the entire northern coast of the South Island. This is next-level overreach. This is not about respect or partnership. This is about asserting power. And worst of all, the public are expected to shut up, nod, and swallow it.
No public consultation. No debate. No opt-out. Just accept it. Or be labelled racist, coloniser, or ignorant. This is not tikanga being observed. This is tikanga being weaponised.
If a church group tried to shut down a public beach because someone drowned and “the spirits needed time to settle,” the country would rightly laugh them off the sand. Yet when the same logic is cloaked in Māori language and spirituality, we are expected to stay silent. This double standard is not tolerance. It is cowardice.
It’s time to stop pretending this is harmless. It’s time to stop accepting that one worldview should be able to dictate the lives of everyone else. A person lost their life and that deserves sympathy. Sympathy does not equal surrender.
This rāhui is not about mourning. It’s about power. And it is being exercised with zero accountability and total impunity. Excuse my te reo, but Te Tauihu, whak ya’ Rāhui!
UPDATE: Over on X, a bunch of left-wing Māori extremists are claiming a rāhui isn’t a ban - and technically, they’re right, it’s not legally binding. However, if you actually read the press release, it clearly states: “It covers all coastlines, river mouths, and floodwaters, and prevents the gathering of seafood and kai in these areas as well as swimming and entering the water.” Sounds like a ban to me.
Most people reading that on the Nelson City Council website would assume the rāhui is a legal restriction. Here’s the link, have a read and tell me what you think.
https://www.nelson.govt.nz/news-and-media-releases/all-news-notices-and-media-releases?item=id:2unda553017q9szv6448
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.
16 comments:
Simple; just ignore that superstitious nonsense. It's a pity that the idiots who believe this has some relevance don't put a ban on the meth-dealing maori gang thugs and their premises; the source of much death and debility.
The ways in which cultural hegemony can be imposed are endless and extremely varied.
I don't need a rahui to keep me out of the water. The Sounds are full of clay and completely brown. There are hidden logs, danger and pollution. I am against a 'rahui' but for 'advice' to stay safe.
100% correct - f-f-f-f-f that rahui
They won't wake up Matua. That is the problem. Personally, I am waiting for John Campbell to do a live broadcast, handing over the keys to his house and land in a ceremony and apologising for his uncle who came to nz in 1855 and bought some land legally. The bs will only increase.
The Nelson/Tasman Emergency Operations personnel are one of the biggest parts of this particular problem - have they been indoctrinated, or intimated into acceding to the demands of Maori.
Check your Mission Statement (I bet you have one ), does it mention religion ?
If someone drowns on beach, then as a pakeha, I wouldn't swim on that beach for a day or so. Not because of anything spiritual but simply as a sign of respect. A bit like flying a flag at half mast.
But it's another thing to ban other people, and to do so over an entire coastline. That is simply a power grab.
AND.... I have just been informed by Granny Herald thus..
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/not-just-family-violence-new-report-highlights-nz-femicide-crisis-exposes-unaccounted-victims/JLP43X7XEFD7VFD7S4F24AJRVI/
As if Maori women have only been abused since the arrival of whitey !!! Forget the infanticide and cannibalism... Brainless ignorant journos.
As iI gleaned from speeches at a Tupuna Maunga Authority hui in Nov 2019, sticking it to the colonists is part of the objective of effective maori control. It is a publicity and mana gaining exercise. Rahui are the classic example of this. The reach of canceallaltion is now so universal very few dare question.
Coastal rahui ? I trust respect is also offered to a farmer who died while clearing his storm damage trees, on an inland farm near Wakefield .
Only one storm death has been reported in Nelson at this time.
Exactly, it’s for aboriginals only. Business as usual for non- aboriginals.
Then YOU may be prosecuted - never the other side.
Is there any avenue still unexplored for power grabbing?
The comments that NZer's are not interested - yes they - it is All Black Season.
No - indicates the extent of the cultural marxist take-over
( where even averagely bright people concur).
VERY serious situation.
Why Mātauranga Māori Isn’t Science.
Iona Italia speaks with Kendall Clements, a biology professor at the University of Auckland, about the ideological push to equate Mātauranga Māori—traditional Māori knowledge—with science in New Zealand classrooms and universities.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_KbaXh96Lg&list=TLPQMjkwNjIwMjVd_kJTj5MUJA&index=9
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