This has been continuing and getting progressively worse ever since this government was formed. After campaigning on a platform that all issues of race that were causing angst would be strongly dealt with, we have witnessed the opposite. National was always the most likely of the three to flip-flop and so it has come to pass. It doesn’t seem to occur to the prime minister that his party and the government are presiding over a country that is even more divided now than when he took office.
Race might not appear high on the list of voters’ concerns, but you only have to look at comments on General Debate and Backchat on the Good Oil blog to see where most dissatisfaction is centred. We did not vote for a government which campaigned strongly on the issue to then turn lily-livered and make a half-hearted attempt at best. This is not good enough and it’s basically telling its supporters to suck it up.
I believe this is why the polls are currently showing a close run race in terms of next year’s election. National should be miles ahead of Labour at this point in the election cycle but they’re not. Voters are not giving them credit for good work being done in other areas because they are angered at being given the brush off on the race issue.
If National choose to ignore their voter base, then they do so at their peril. There are many now who would be happy to see National as a junior partner in a future coalition. This, I think, is not beyond the bounds of possibility if the party doesn’t change course. Erica Stanford, who as education minister is doing a good job overall, is risking putting all that at risk by inserting an overreach of Māori into the curriculum as a whole. This is not something the majority of voters agree with.
Things like that are of such importance they need to be campaigned on. It is not on for a party to get elected to office and then subvert the will of the people just because they have a bent to go in a certain direction. It’s shades of the lady who went before. We live in a democracy and the public are entitled to have a say on such matters. We do not expect to be told by the prime minister that, on race, there won’t be a referendum so move on. That is not democracy: it is autocracy and it is abhorrent.
Now we have ACT, of all parties, climbing aboard the bandwagon with some nonsense about lowering the statistics of Māori dying in fires by having the Fire Service realign its Māori department, something I was unaware even existed. Having discovered it, I question the need for it. I’d like to know how much it is costing us, as we fund the Fire Service through our insurance levies. This, amazingly, came from Brooke van Velden, who I thought was one politician who had her head screwed on.
For a start, this is introducing race into the Fire Service and I just don’t see how having a Māori department will alter things one iota. This is all supposedly because Māori, like everywhere else, are over-represented in the statistics when it comes to deaths due to fires. Surely any member of the organisation can educate Māori on the risks involved with fire if indeed that is what they need, and surely fire alarms can be installed on marae or in homes without the need for a Māori department.
It also would appear to be at odds with the ACT Party’s views on race-based policies. David Seymour has been particularly outspoken, especially when talking to the media about these issues. ACT need to wake up to the fact that the public might see an element of hypocrisy in their actions. They are also giving the impression that voting choices in the next election are continuing to narrow. This is not a good look.
The rationale of this government when it comes to race baffles me. They say one thing and then produce legislation that is bound to have a Māori slant buried somewhere in it. If they are serious about ‘one country’, then it’s high time they started practicing what they preach. It is dishonest to say one thing and do another. It is equally dishonest to do something that the voters were unaware of.
Here’s the reality for Christopher Luxon and the National party. They can bang on about the good work they are doing all they like but they will find their low poll numbers will continue. The only way they will improve is by giving their voter base what they want – which is a referendum on both the Treaty of Waitangi and the Māori seats. By not acceding to the wishes of those who support them, they risk being a one-term government, not through people voting for the other side but by those who stay home.
JC is a right-wing crusader. Reached an age that embodies the dictum only the good die young. This article was first published HERE
Race might not appear high on the list of voters’ concerns, but you only have to look at comments on General Debate and Backchat on the Good Oil blog to see where most dissatisfaction is centred. We did not vote for a government which campaigned strongly on the issue to then turn lily-livered and make a half-hearted attempt at best. This is not good enough and it’s basically telling its supporters to suck it up.
I believe this is why the polls are currently showing a close run race in terms of next year’s election. National should be miles ahead of Labour at this point in the election cycle but they’re not. Voters are not giving them credit for good work being done in other areas because they are angered at being given the brush off on the race issue.
If National choose to ignore their voter base, then they do so at their peril. There are many now who would be happy to see National as a junior partner in a future coalition. This, I think, is not beyond the bounds of possibility if the party doesn’t change course. Erica Stanford, who as education minister is doing a good job overall, is risking putting all that at risk by inserting an overreach of Māori into the curriculum as a whole. This is not something the majority of voters agree with.
Things like that are of such importance they need to be campaigned on. It is not on for a party to get elected to office and then subvert the will of the people just because they have a bent to go in a certain direction. It’s shades of the lady who went before. We live in a democracy and the public are entitled to have a say on such matters. We do not expect to be told by the prime minister that, on race, there won’t be a referendum so move on. That is not democracy: it is autocracy and it is abhorrent.
Now we have ACT, of all parties, climbing aboard the bandwagon with some nonsense about lowering the statistics of Māori dying in fires by having the Fire Service realign its Māori department, something I was unaware even existed. Having discovered it, I question the need for it. I’d like to know how much it is costing us, as we fund the Fire Service through our insurance levies. This, amazingly, came from Brooke van Velden, who I thought was one politician who had her head screwed on.
For a start, this is introducing race into the Fire Service and I just don’t see how having a Māori department will alter things one iota. This is all supposedly because Māori, like everywhere else, are over-represented in the statistics when it comes to deaths due to fires. Surely any member of the organisation can educate Māori on the risks involved with fire if indeed that is what they need, and surely fire alarms can be installed on marae or in homes without the need for a Māori department.
It also would appear to be at odds with the ACT Party’s views on race-based policies. David Seymour has been particularly outspoken, especially when talking to the media about these issues. ACT need to wake up to the fact that the public might see an element of hypocrisy in their actions. They are also giving the impression that voting choices in the next election are continuing to narrow. This is not a good look.
The rationale of this government when it comes to race baffles me. They say one thing and then produce legislation that is bound to have a Māori slant buried somewhere in it. If they are serious about ‘one country’, then it’s high time they started practicing what they preach. It is dishonest to say one thing and do another. It is equally dishonest to do something that the voters were unaware of.
Here’s the reality for Christopher Luxon and the National party. They can bang on about the good work they are doing all they like but they will find their low poll numbers will continue. The only way they will improve is by giving their voter base what they want – which is a referendum on both the Treaty of Waitangi and the Māori seats. By not acceding to the wishes of those who support them, they risk being a one-term government, not through people voting for the other side but by those who stay home.
JC is a right-wing crusader. Reached an age that embodies the dictum only the good die young. This article was first published HERE
15 comments:
The problem is that if people are unsatisfied with National because they are not rolling back Labour's policies, the answer isn't to vote Labour and get even more of those policies.
More to the point is that people are influenced by the relentless criticism of the government in the msm, who hide all of the government's achievements and make out that the last Labour government was some kind of golden age. One little brown nose in Stuff last week was comparing Jacinda with Winstone Churchill. The average kiwi voter doesn't understand economics, politics or the effects of Labour's racist policies.
Accurate - but will be ignored. Luxon is on a personal mission.... unless he is rolled.
This is a great piece, thank you. But I disagree about Stanford. She is a train wreck. Any damn fool can say "We going back to Maths, Reading, and Writing". Seriously. That's not clever. It's obviously the right thing to do. But what else is she up to? Watch this video:https://youtu.be/R803QGhEbJw
Hear, hear! Enough said. Things don’t bode well for National, as the polls are indicating.
I think it would be a good voting strategy to install National as a minor coalition partner. Although there are certainly a few stumbles being made by Brooke and David, overall their team seems to be more representative of mainstream New Zealand. Their list MPs could be even better. The same goes for NZF. Unfortunately, the National MPs who show promise are forced to tow the party line. Therefore, although National is needed in the coalition, relegating them to third party status might give the party a chance to re-think their values and direction.
Totally agree . These comments are right on the button.
Hugh Perrett
The City of London Corporation’s controlled coalition government now singing from the same playbook in regards their apartheid agenda. NZ1 behind Maori wardens and the Maori women’s welfare league receiving generous funding via the budget and now Act jumping on board.
Looks like its up to we the people to fight for our EQUAL rights under one flag and one law irrespective of race, colour or creed as set out in our 1840 Royal Charter/Letters Patent.
Maori component required in the Fire Service ?
Ludicrous, and everyone knows it.
Shout back at the people calling you racist, and push back !
On the mark. They can’t see it obviously. There is a ground swell of anger. The country won’t improve until there is an uplift in the mood. And agree with stop co governance
I only mention the following repeatedly because few others are and that is ; we have the longest tail of underachievement academically in the developed world and Maori are over represented in this tail. Maori certainly have self destructing behaviors that contribute to their underachieving and consequently featuring in all bad stats, socially and economically including 53% of prison population and fire deaths.
But the major contributing factor , for me is our iniquitous education system hellbent on producing an illiterate and innumerate underclass. through ineffective teaching methods.
Unfortunately it will take decades to correct this , by purging the education system of entrenched ideologies that produce these failing teaching methods and resultant underachievement .
The reading levels of year 9s in recent years are so low secondary teachers don't know what to do with them according to a RNZ report from Lifting Literacy Aotearoa .
Maori are not responsible for this but victims of it as are all other ethnic groups.
NZ is in recession and the best thing for Maori and all others is to be taught English and the best of Western Culture so they have the choice of going off to Australia or elsewhere to earn a living and improve themselves economically.
No , Erica not go backwards into animism and the stone age.
Maori are so ‘anti’ that National do not even bother fielding any candidate for the Maori seats, thus one struggles to find any sane explanation as to why they keep bending over backwards to appease such group which basically hates them, always has and always will. And can’t anyone in National see that the divisiveness Maori activists currently so eagerly promote is for the primary purpose of driving a wedge between National and it’s dwindling voter base – and that will continue for just as long as National remain complicit?
Obvious the guy is old - his level of racism takes years to develop. Fortunately his nasty views are totally irrelevant - young NZ lives in a multi cultural world. So with the passage of time the kind of nastiness that he believes in will fade and die.
Although it seems he's already a little bit stuck as there is no party mean enough for him.
Anon 9:24pm: Obvious the guy has lived a bit. He’s experienced life and the vagaries of politics and fellow human beings. Though you may be too inexperienced and ideologically compromised to realise it, what the guy has is wisdom. It’ll likely take you decades to figure that out.
Having wisdom is only half the story. One has to then use it!!
Perfect summation:
“Voters are not giving them credit for good work being done in other areas because they are angered at being given the brush off on the race issue.”
Excellent article, thank you
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