For nearly 40 years the Waitangi Tribunal, the judiciary, academia, and successive Labour and National governments, typically for political convenience and expediency, have gradually skewed the meaning of the Treaty accepting and promoting flawed and self-interested interpretations.
The most damaging is the, widely and aggressively promoted by separatists, fallacy that the Treaty created a partnership between the Crown and Māori. Their expectation is that this “partnership” would apply at all levels of government, with Māori sharing power, revenue, and responsibility for resources and social policy.
That spurious claim of partnership is the genesis for the introduction of co-governance arrangements, introduced often surreptitiously, that we are grappling with today.
In November, 2008, and Prime Minister-Designate John Key announced the details of the confidence and supply arrangement reached between the National Party and Maori Party.
From that point the Maori Sovereignty activists belief in their agenda amplified and they began achieving serious traction towards their goal of –
Maori Sovereignty activists could really feel the rubber hitting the road!
In 2019, a group of Auckland University academics were commissioned by the NZ Labour Party to prepare the report called He Puapua.
Maori Sovereignty aspirations were now crystallised!
He Puapua, the activist driven blueprint, constructed on the myth that the treaty was a partnership. A blueprint to replace our democracy, a radical restructure that is comprised of a Maori Government and a Government for Non-Maori. A structure where maori have the power of veto!
So volatile were the proposals contained in He Puapua that Ardern’s government found it necessary to keep it hidden from the public until after the 2020 election.
Prof. Claire Charters, lead author of He Puapua, deems New Zealand sovereignty to be a “myth”…….. but she is working at great speed to establish Maori Sovereignty to be enshrined in law as soon as possible. Stating – “Aotearoa New Zealand needs to confront the injustices of our past and the ongoing impacts today. That starts with confronting the myth of sovereignty.”
Even the Human Rights Commission, where Charters worked, started to skew the facts by proclaiming –“The proven effectiveness of Māori leading their own solutions has been demonstrated numerous times in Aotearoa.”
A new element of the Maori Party and a new dimension in New Zealand’s political domain arrived, when in late 2020 the Māori Party’s Rawiri Waititi, ridiculously and pretentiously, adorned in a white cowboy hat, swaggered into Parliament.
The Maori Party set out to, became and continue to be, a distraction to the democratic process.
The Maori Party has long described itself as a movement against colonial structures and strictures, demanding increased Maori rights, and even challenging private ownership of land and resources.
The Maori Party takes pride in displays of symbolism as seen in the march against The Treaty Principles Bill. Engaging in racist rhetoric and threatening violent revolution are not uncommon.
Following the protest that morphed into a riot in parliament grounds in early March, 2022 Waititi made these comments in parliament –
“I have deep feelings of sadness and loss for the hurt caused by successive Governments in this country that have subjugated us to generations of reckless laws that have continuously oppressed us as a people…”
“…that colonial vision: the disconnection from our Māoritanga; the alienation from our whenua, our hapū, our maunga, our awa, and our language—our reo; the dysfunction with our communities; the intergenerational trauma; the years of never being heard.”
“Colonisation has turned our worlds upside down and has rendered parts of the culture unrecognisable. It continues to divide us today because it feasts on our trauma…”
I argue the bluster, bosh and histrionics from Waititi and co are but a distraction, a distraction that has Joe Average ranting and raving at TV1’s nightly, slanted coverage of the theatre that is the Maori Party!
I believe there is, in actual fact, a puppeteer pulling the strings, providing the grenades and stoking the fire in this Punch and Judy show? Who are the vague group that attract the label of the “Maori Elite?”
For me a top contender would be The National Iwi Chairs Forum (NICF). Sometimes referred to as the Iwi Chairs Group (ICG).
This is a group, formed in 2005, made up of the chairpersons of 71 tribal groups whose stated aim is Maori autonomy and self-governance.
It was the brainchild of Mark Solomon, until 2016, leader of New Zealand’s wealthiest tribe, Ngāi Tahu. “To look after their people’s best interests.”
Or just the wealthy elite aiming to get wealthier?
The NICF is structured into several groupings each with its own chairperson drawn from the tribal leaders. Some very well known for their Maori Sovereignty activism! Prof. Margaret Mutu and Tuku Morgan being two such group leaders and activists.
Not surprisingly, it is very difficult to find out who actually funds the Iwi Chairs Group?
You would expect it to be self-funded from the billions of dollars of tribal money wouldn’t you. Maybe not though.
In 2013 Winston Peters made the claim that the Iwi Chairs Group received $3 million in funding to prepare an application to become a “commissioning agency” responsible for allocating millions of dollars in Whanau Ora funding. Further saying “…taxpayers’ money was being used as “a slush fund to finance projects that help selected groups get their hands on even more money”.
A claim the Iwi Chairs Group strenuously denied!
I found an online response from the Ministry of Environment to an Official Information Request regarding Iwi Chairs Group funding where the Ministry responded with “….indirectly paid ICG around $3.8m in the 5 years 2012-17…” Note “indirectly”
You must wonder just how many other government departments “indirectly” and secretively fund the ICG?
Furthermore, to a group that is fully committed to Maori activists goal of Maori Sovereignty by 2040!
In the intertwined spheres of National and tribal politics, there are government politicians and high-level civil servants who recognise that the support of senior tribal leaders is essential in, not only their individual areas of influence, but in so many areas of our governance.
So, do the NICF actively seek political favour and authority or is it more a case of political parties courting the influence and power the NICF wield?
It is certainly no stretch of the imagination to see Labours Maori Caucus of 2017-2023 meeting with and seeking direction from the NCIF on numerous occasions!
The National Party in particular have enjoyed a close engagement with tribal leaders. National leaders have always shown a high level of respect and deference to tribal leaders. Their historic treaty settlements, over 60 settlements acts in 25 years are testament to that close relationship.
National governments under John Key and Bill English had a very chummy relationship with the NICF. In Nationals nine years in office from 2008 to 2017, they met with the tribal group 44 times!
Only 15 of the 44 meetings published a discussion topic. Topics at the other 29 meetings remain shrouded in mystery.
Dubious or what?
Hobsons Pledge, in 2017, wrote that Mark Solomon floated the idea of Crown Asset sales. Presumably at one of the “hidden agenda” meetings???
Could it be that tribal leaders in NICF found they were able to influence senior Government Ministers?
Or worse, were National on board with the aims and sovereignty agenda of the tribal group?
Are we actually funding the white anting of our democracy???
We are living in revolutionary times. It is a coup, engineered by a small number of well connected, tribal elite thanks to successive governments willingness to make politically convenient decisions that will ultimately sacrifice New Zealand democracy for totalitarian tribal rule.
Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE
That spurious claim of partnership is the genesis for the introduction of co-governance arrangements, introduced often surreptitiously, that we are grappling with today.
In November, 2008, and Prime Minister-Designate John Key announced the details of the confidence and supply arrangement reached between the National Party and Maori Party.
From that point the Maori Sovereignty activists belief in their agenda amplified and they began achieving serious traction towards their goal of –
- A New Constitution,
- Dual Sovereignty,
- Full Maori control by 2040.
Maori Sovereignty activists could really feel the rubber hitting the road!
In 2019, a group of Auckland University academics were commissioned by the NZ Labour Party to prepare the report called He Puapua.
Maori Sovereignty aspirations were now crystallised!
He Puapua, the activist driven blueprint, constructed on the myth that the treaty was a partnership. A blueprint to replace our democracy, a radical restructure that is comprised of a Maori Government and a Government for Non-Maori. A structure where maori have the power of veto!
So volatile were the proposals contained in He Puapua that Ardern’s government found it necessary to keep it hidden from the public until after the 2020 election.
Prof. Claire Charters, lead author of He Puapua, deems New Zealand sovereignty to be a “myth”…….. but she is working at great speed to establish Maori Sovereignty to be enshrined in law as soon as possible. Stating – “Aotearoa New Zealand needs to confront the injustices of our past and the ongoing impacts today. That starts with confronting the myth of sovereignty.”
Even the Human Rights Commission, where Charters worked, started to skew the facts by proclaiming –“The proven effectiveness of Māori leading their own solutions has been demonstrated numerous times in Aotearoa.”
A new element of the Maori Party and a new dimension in New Zealand’s political domain arrived, when in late 2020 the Māori Party’s Rawiri Waititi, ridiculously and pretentiously, adorned in a white cowboy hat, swaggered into Parliament.
The Maori Party set out to, became and continue to be, a distraction to the democratic process.
The Maori Party has long described itself as a movement against colonial structures and strictures, demanding increased Maori rights, and even challenging private ownership of land and resources.
The Maori Party takes pride in displays of symbolism as seen in the march against The Treaty Principles Bill. Engaging in racist rhetoric and threatening violent revolution are not uncommon.
Following the protest that morphed into a riot in parliament grounds in early March, 2022 Waititi made these comments in parliament –
“I have deep feelings of sadness and loss for the hurt caused by successive Governments in this country that have subjugated us to generations of reckless laws that have continuously oppressed us as a people…”
“…that colonial vision: the disconnection from our Māoritanga; the alienation from our whenua, our hapū, our maunga, our awa, and our language—our reo; the dysfunction with our communities; the intergenerational trauma; the years of never being heard.”
“Colonisation has turned our worlds upside down and has rendered parts of the culture unrecognisable. It continues to divide us today because it feasts on our trauma…”
I argue the bluster, bosh and histrionics from Waititi and co are but a distraction, a distraction that has Joe Average ranting and raving at TV1’s nightly, slanted coverage of the theatre that is the Maori Party!
I believe there is, in actual fact, a puppeteer pulling the strings, providing the grenades and stoking the fire in this Punch and Judy show? Who are the vague group that attract the label of the “Maori Elite?”
For me a top contender would be The National Iwi Chairs Forum (NICF). Sometimes referred to as the Iwi Chairs Group (ICG).
This is a group, formed in 2005, made up of the chairpersons of 71 tribal groups whose stated aim is Maori autonomy and self-governance.
It was the brainchild of Mark Solomon, until 2016, leader of New Zealand’s wealthiest tribe, Ngāi Tahu. “To look after their people’s best interests.”
Or just the wealthy elite aiming to get wealthier?
The NICF is structured into several groupings each with its own chairperson drawn from the tribal leaders. Some very well known for their Maori Sovereignty activism! Prof. Margaret Mutu and Tuku Morgan being two such group leaders and activists.
Not surprisingly, it is very difficult to find out who actually funds the Iwi Chairs Group?
You would expect it to be self-funded from the billions of dollars of tribal money wouldn’t you. Maybe not though.
In 2013 Winston Peters made the claim that the Iwi Chairs Group received $3 million in funding to prepare an application to become a “commissioning agency” responsible for allocating millions of dollars in Whanau Ora funding. Further saying “…taxpayers’ money was being used as “a slush fund to finance projects that help selected groups get their hands on even more money”.
A claim the Iwi Chairs Group strenuously denied!
I found an online response from the Ministry of Environment to an Official Information Request regarding Iwi Chairs Group funding where the Ministry responded with “….indirectly paid ICG around $3.8m in the 5 years 2012-17…” Note “indirectly”
You must wonder just how many other government departments “indirectly” and secretively fund the ICG?
Furthermore, to a group that is fully committed to Maori activists goal of Maori Sovereignty by 2040!
In the intertwined spheres of National and tribal politics, there are government politicians and high-level civil servants who recognise that the support of senior tribal leaders is essential in, not only their individual areas of influence, but in so many areas of our governance.
So, do the NICF actively seek political favour and authority or is it more a case of political parties courting the influence and power the NICF wield?
It is certainly no stretch of the imagination to see Labours Maori Caucus of 2017-2023 meeting with and seeking direction from the NCIF on numerous occasions!
The National Party in particular have enjoyed a close engagement with tribal leaders. National leaders have always shown a high level of respect and deference to tribal leaders. Their historic treaty settlements, over 60 settlements acts in 25 years are testament to that close relationship.
National governments under John Key and Bill English had a very chummy relationship with the NICF. In Nationals nine years in office from 2008 to 2017, they met with the tribal group 44 times!
Only 15 of the 44 meetings published a discussion topic. Topics at the other 29 meetings remain shrouded in mystery.
Dubious or what?
Hobsons Pledge, in 2017, wrote that Mark Solomon floated the idea of Crown Asset sales. Presumably at one of the “hidden agenda” meetings???
Could it be that tribal leaders in NICF found they were able to influence senior Government Ministers?
Or worse, were National on board with the aims and sovereignty agenda of the tribal group?
Are we actually funding the white anting of our democracy???
We are living in revolutionary times. It is a coup, engineered by a small number of well connected, tribal elite thanks to successive governments willingness to make politically convenient decisions that will ultimately sacrifice New Zealand democracy for totalitarian tribal rule.
Pee Kay writes he is from a generation where common sense, standards, integrity and honesty are fundamental attributes. This article was first published HERE
1 comment:
And in New Plymouth as it is still called for now
Hello to all our Ratepayer Alliance Supporters
The NPDC is planning to introduce a Council Bylaw which makes it possible to Co-Govern New Plymouth with IWI and pay them for that involvement – in all our suburbs.
The Waitara Spatial Pilot Plan is to be consulted on first, then Bell Block with Iwi there, then Inglewood with Iwi there and then the rest of New Plymouth.
If this goes through Iwi and Hapu will be involved with deciding all consents and permits and designing spatial plans for our whole city - they will be paid - but what they are paid will not be available to Ratepayers.
If you don't want this for our city you must respond by Friday 12th September - they don't have a close time.
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