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Saturday, December 6, 2025

Breaking Views Update: Week of 30.11.25







Saturday December 6, 2025 

News:
High Court reinstates Kapa-Kingi to Te Pāti Māori ahead of AGM

The High Court has ordered Te Pāti Māori to reinstate expelled Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi as a party member, finding there are serious questions about the legality and fairness of the process used to remove her.

Justice Radich issued interim orders today, concluding that Kapa-Kingi’s position needed to be preserved until a full judicial review is heard in February.

The Court found there were arguable errors of fact and significant procedural flaws in the party’s handling of her suspension and expulsion, including a failure to follow its own dispute-resolution rules....
See full article HERE

95 percent of fast-track amendment bill submitters opposed to changes
About 95 percent of feedback on the fast-track amendment bill is opposed, with the coalition-majority select committee reporting back after less than a month.

The government intends to pass the legislation, which it says aims to address supermarket competition, by the end of the year.
 
They raised concerns about:
* Potential removal of environmental safeguards

* Limits on the ability for iwi, hapū, Treaty settlement entities and other Māori groups to meaningfully engage in the fast-track process, with potential Tiriti o Waitangi implications.....
See full article HERE

Whanganui Treaty settlement: Historic deed initialled, vote next year
Years of Treaty settlement negotiations came to a close at Parliament yesterday as Whanganui hapū representatives initialled He Rau Tukutuku, their deed of settlement with the Crown.

Lead negotiator Ken Mair said the ceremony marked a major milestone in a “long and tiring” journey.

“It closes a chapter of the negotiations but not the journey,” he told those gathered at Parliament.

“For generations now, ngā hapū o Whanganui [the sub-tribes of Whanganui] have carried the weight of history on our shoulders. The journey has not been easy. At times it has been deeply painful.”....
See full article HERE

Māori research to drive economic growth
The Government is investing in 19 ambitious projects that turn Māori knowledge and science into economic opportunities for New Zealand.

This is the first of the 2 funding mechanisms in the He Ara Whakahihiko Capability Fund announced earlier this year. This fund aims to support economic growth by investing in and growing Māori science, innovation and technology (SI&T) and Māori economy participation by strengthening the capability, capacity, skills and networks between Māori and the science system.

"Ara Whaihua funds research programmes with clear pathways to commercialisation and economic growth, while creating better connections and networks between Māori and the science, innovation and technology system," Dr Willy-John Martin, Director of Māori Science, Innovation and Technology, says.

“these projects show the potential of Māori economy to create jobs, grow businesses, and deliver science with impact," he says.

A total of $1.9 million will be invested in the projects over 12 months. Funded projects span wearable tech, creating health products from invasive species, and a safe, low-cost smoking cessation tool. Among them:....
See full article HERE

Host and theme for Matariki unveiled in Auckland - Paul Goldsmith.
The Government has unveiled the host iwi and theme for next year’s national broadcast of Matariki, Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith says.

“I’m delighted Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei in Auckland has agreed to host next year’s official ceremony.

“They’ve been welcoming the wider Auckland region to their public Matariki events for years. It’s estimated about 5,000 people attended this year, becoming the largest celebration in the country.

“This will help showcase the wider region and what makes the Māori New Year unique for the area.....
See full article HERE

Kindergartens Support Te Tiriti
The government plans to remove a requirement for school boards of trustees to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, however most schools and kura plan to continue to uphold Te Tiriti despite the proposed changes.

Kindergartens Aotearoa, an organisation representing 260 kindergartens around the country from Auckland’s North Shore to South Otago, supports schools and kura that continue to recognise and honour Te Tiriti despite a government move to change the law.....
See full article HERE

Te Tiriti o Waitangi - Darfield High School
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is embedded in our policies and vision and, more importantly, in how we lead our school. We don’t get everything right and we recognise that a lot more work needs to be done, but we genuinely value the Treaty as the foundation for a healthy nation.

We are comfortably multicultural in a bicultural system: Māori and all other cultures. We recognise that European culture has become dominant and that work needs to be done to restore the place of Māori culture.

Examples of actions we take include:
 
> Not making any key schoolwide decisions without engaging Māori (mana whenua, tauira and staff)

> Partnering with, and consciously welcoming guidance from, Māori / mana whenua wherever possible

> Ensuring te reo Māori, te ao haka, and raranga learning is available to any student who wants to learn it

> Ensuring learning in all areas reflects and values mātauranga Māori and committing to growing tikanga Māori in all aspects of how we do things....
See full article HERE

Articles:
Geoff Parker: The symbolic coup of New Zealand

Matua Kahurangi: Serious allegations against Willie Jackson and MUMA raise alarming questions

Debate on Pākehā identity exposes racial hierarchies disguised as equity

Propaganda:
Government unable to effectively manage the books – Kaupapa Māori lose

Incoming 25% ‘funding cut’ for Māori media will be ‘catastrophic’ - even this National MP agrees

Te Puea Memorial Marae Reopens Tomorrow After Significant Renewal

Waerenga-a-Hika siege of 1865 remembered in new Tairāwhiti Museum exhibition in Gisborne

This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. New material is added regularly. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE

Friday December 5, 2025 

News:
Māori Party expulsion: Judge reserves decision as Mariameno Kapa-Kingi
challenges ouster in court
Justice Paul Radich will tomorrow [5/12/25] reveal his judgment regarding former Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s challenge of her expulsion from the party.

Kapa-Kingi, the MP for Te Tai Tokerau, appeared in the High Court at Wellington today seeking an interim reinstatement as a member of Te Pāti Māori after the party’s national council voted to expel her and fellow MP Tākuta Ferris last month in a process she claims breached the party’s constitution.

Kapa-Kingi was also looking to, through being reinstated, attend Te Pāti Māori’s annual general meeting in Rotorua this weekend, where she had intended to call for party president John Tamihere to be ousted......
See full article HERE


Thursday December 4, 2025

News:
Kaupapa Māori study exposes gaps in prison data and support for Māori
A major three-year study has found Māori are being undercounted in prisons by around six percent, masking the true scale of incarceration and its impact on whānau.

The kaupapa Māori research project, TIAKI, examined the experiences of whānau entering and leaving prisons, combining national administrative data with interviews led by researchers with lived experience of incarceration.

Researchers at University of Otago, Wellington - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka, Pōneke have completed two studies within the project.

The first found primary care services were not meeting the high health needs of Māori recently released from prison, with cost a major barrier.....
See full article HERE

Iwi file urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry over education Treaty changes
Northland iwi Ngāti Hine and hapū Te Kapotai are calling for an urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry after the government removed school boards' legal obligations to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

The claimants say the amendments to the Education and Training Act 2020, and the reset of the New Zealand Curriculum - Te Mātaiaho, undermine Māori rangatiratanga, partnership, and equity in education.

A statement of claim was filed on 19 November 2025 on behalf of Te Kapotai (Wai 1464/1546) and Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hine (Wai 682/49), alongside a joint application for urgency....
See full article HERE

A Government agency (LINZ) giving Maori language lessons?
Ngā kupu Māori mō ngā whenua pukepuke me te ngahere
Māori terms for rolling terrain and forest
See full article HERE
More on the above here > Māori terms for a town and tunnel
And more here > Māori terms on the seafloor

Bernadette Roka Arapere sworn in as a judge for the Hastings District Court
Bernadette Roka Arapere (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Maniapoto) has been sworn in as a Hastings District Court judge, a significant moment for Māori representation in Aotearoa’s legal system.

With more than 20 years’ experience, the Te Reu Reu descendant brings deep cultural grounding and a long-standing commitment to Māori legal perspectives.

Admitted to the bar in 2005, she has worked extensively across public law, civil litigation, Māori legal issues, Treaty matters and land cases, appearing at all court levels including the Supreme Court.....
See full article HERE

Expelled MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi takes Te Pāti Māori president to the High Court
Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has filed an application for an interim injunction against Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere, with the case set to be heard in the High Court tomorrow.

While court documents have not yet been released, the requested injunction is understood to relate to Te Pāti Māori’s recent disciplinary processes and Kapa-Kingi’s expulsion....
See full article HERE

2026 Māori Education Trust Bachelor's Degree of Dental Surgery Scholarship
Available to Māori undergraduate students who have completed their first year of a Bachelor of Dental Surgery.

Applicants must:
* be of New Zealand Māori descent;
* Whakapapa verification. This can be a letter from your iwi confirming your registration.....
See full article HERE

Articles:
Bob Edlin: Minister is admonished for not mentioning the muting of Maori media.....

Propaganda:
Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Properties starts first 51 of 350 homes on ex-Unitec land - (a 5minute video of propaganda)

Dave Samuels Scrutiny Exposes Whānau Ora Smear Campaign - Ngarewa-Packer

Healthy Futures Amendment Bill Is “An Attack On Māori Development”

Whitiaua Ropitini | Marae on the Frontline: How Climate Change Is Threatening the Heart of Māori Communities

Methamphetamine Use Among Māori: A Growing Crisis and How New Zealand’s Drug Courts Are Offering Hope

Wednesday December 3, 2025 

News:
'Please walk on me' NZ flag exhibition shocks Hastings councillor
The Te Whare Toi o Heretaunga Hastings Art Gallery is backing a controversial exhibition that encourages people to walk over a New Zealand flag, despite a councillor saying it "feels so wrong".

Māori artist Diane Prince's installation Flagging the Future was hastily removed from the Suter Art Gallery Te Aratoi o Whakatū in Nelson earlier this year for what the gallery described as staff safety reasons following abuse and complaints.

The controversial installation includes a New Zealand flag laid on the floor, inviting people to "please walk on me".....
See full article HERE

Changing dynamics in our prisons - as Corrections works with more older Maori offenders
The agency was before Parliament's Justice Select Committee yesterday, reflecting on the last year.

While there's been little movement in the Maori prison population, Corrections deputy chief executive Herewini Te Koha says the background of Maori offenders is changing.

He says young Maori aren't as common as they were 20 years ago, and with fewer gang affiliations, it's leaving Corrections with a much older gang-affiliated Maori population....
See full article HERE

Te Pāti Māori off to the High Court in fight for Māori seats
A significant constitutional challenge has reached the High Court, with Te Pāti Māori President John Tamihere seeking judicial review of the Electoral Commission’s decision to retain seven Māori electorates for the 2026 General Election. Tamihere argues that the Commission has relied on outdated census-based data and failed to account for a substantial rise in Māori roll enrolments; an error he says breaches both the Electoral Act 1993 and fundamental constitutional principles.

“fact is our seven seats have thousands of more voters on them now and Pakeha seats have under 5% ….. this is not a democracy this is Jim Crowe rorting of the next Election” John Tamihere told Waatea

The case raises major questions about Māori political representation, the role of the census in determining electorate numbers, and how New Zealand’s democratic institutions reflect Te Tiriti o Waitangi in the modern era.

A Dispute Over the Numbers: The core of the challenge rests on the way the “Māori electoral population”-the figure used to calculate the number of Māori seats-is determined.....
See full article HERE

Roger Pikia - Māori Rights in Geothermal: Calls Grow for Stronger Recognition and Partnership
As Aotearoa New Zealand advances its renewable-energy transition, geothermal resources are becoming increasingly central to the country’s energy future. But for many iwi and hapū, geothermal sites are far more than sources of heat and power – they are taonga, deeply embedded in whakapapa, identity, and customary practice. Today, calls are intensifying for stronger recognition of Māori rights, interests and authority over geothermal resources, particularly in regions where iwi have maintained long and active relationships with these energy-rich lands and waters.

With this cultural foundation, iwi assert that geothermal is not simply an economic asset, but a Treaty-protected taonga requiring partnership and protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.....
See full article HERE

Rotokākahi Board of Control takes Council to High Court over sewerage pipeline threat to sacred lake
The Rotokākahi Board of Control and descendants of the lake have gathered in Rotorua this week as their High Court challenge against the Rotorua Lakes Council gets underway. They are opposing the Council’s Tarawera sewer pipeline project, which they say breaches tapu, damages wāhi tapu, and threatens the long-term safety of the sacred lake.

The Board has filed both a judicial review and an appeal of an Environment Court decision, arguing the Council failed to properly consult mana whenua and pushed ahead with drilling through areas known to contain koiwi tangata, burial sites, and historic village remnants. They say the earlier ruling did not give proper weight to the cultural, spiritual and historical significance of the whenua and moana.....
See full article HERE

Articles:
Judy Gill: What “Giving Effect To Te Tiriti” Means in Schools

Tamihere once blasted Māori Party “separatists.” Now he leads them

Tuesday December 2, 2025 

News:
Hipkins signals distance from Te Pāti Māori as new poll shows voters want him to rule out deal
Labour leader Chris Hipkins is signalling a hardening line against Te Pāti Māori, as new polling shows nearly half of New Zealanders want him to rule out working with the party after the 2026 election.

A Taxpayers’ Union/Curia poll of 1000 voters found 48% believe Hipkins should rule out any deal with Te Pāti Māori, while 30% want him to keep the option open and 23% remain unsure.

Opposition voters were strongly against the idea – but the more politically fraught numbers sit inside Labour’s own base, where supporters are split: 38% say he should reject Te Pāti Māori, 41% say he shouldn’t, and 21% are undecided......(paywalled)
See full article HERE

Adrian Orr makes appearance at Māori Queen’s Ōhanga ki te Ao investment summit
Not a single politician was invited to the Ōhanga ki te Ao Indigenous Economic Investment Summit 2025 in Hamilton Kirikiriroa on Saturday, but Adrian Orr made his first public appearance since his resignation as Reserve Bank governor in June.....(paywalled)
See full article HERE

Māori economy reaches $126b as growth plans aim to drive further expansion
The Māori economy has reached $126 billion, driven by iwi, land trusts, and Māori-owned businesses across Aotearoa.

The milestone was marked this weekend with the launch of the $100 million Kotahitanga Fund at Ōhanga ki te Ao indigenous economic summit held in Kirikiriroa.

The invitation-only summit brought together more than 200 delegates, including iwi leaders and investment fund managers from around the world. It also featured a Māori business expo, Kohinga Koha, showcasing 158 marae and businesses from the Tainui Waka.....
See full article HERE

Articles:
Pee Kay: We are Funding the White Anting of Democracy!

Propaganda:
Māori economy steps up: “When Māori thrive, Aotearoa thrives”

Te Pāti Māori wants electorate seats recalculated

Monday December 1, 2025

News:
Researchers link Māori housing inequities to 180 years of restrictive building laws
For centuries, Māori built homes that were warm, dry, sustainable and centred on whānau.

Homelessness, damp houses and overcrowding were not part of te ao Māori.

Two researchers say the systems that displaced Māori from their kāinga still shape housing inequities today and the solutions lie in restoring Māori autonomy over how communities build......
See full article HERE

Articles:
Geoff Parker: The Politicisation of Indigeneity and the Mythologising of New Zealand’s Past

David Farrar: Could Te Pāti Māori lose two more MPs?

Propaganda:
Regional Council Reforms Raise Concerns for Māori Across Aotearoa

What’s happening with the Waitangi Tribunal review? - Carwyn Jones.

On the ground in Geneva

Hēnare Taratoa: A scholar in a garrison world

Sunday November 30, 2025 

News:
Leaving Treaty out of geothermal strategy a breach - Waitangi Tribunal
The Waitangi Tribunal has found the Crown's decision to exclude the Treaty from a draft geothermal development strategy would be a Treaty breach.

The Tribunal found that protection was not integrated in the action plan.

"On the specific issue of kaitiakitanga, the report notes that the Treaty principle of active protection requires the Crown to actively protect taonga, and that this is a particularly serious issue in a strategy designed to double geothermal energy in 15 years.

"The Tribunal further found that the strategy concerns the development of geothermal taonga of immense significance to Māori, the exercise by Māori of tino rangatiratanga and kaitiakitanga in respect of those taonga, and Crown-Māori cooperation on a major economic development platform.

"The Tribunal therefore found that the Crown's decision to exclude the Treaty from the strategy would be a Treaty breach......
See full article HERE

Māori Queen launches multi-million-dollar investment platform
Māori Queen Te Arikinui Kuini Nga wai hono i te po has launched the 'Kotahitanga Fund', a new multi-million-dollar Māori investment platform.

Te Arikinui made the announcement at the inaugural Ōhanga ki te Ao Māori Economic Summit in Hamilton on Saturday.

In her closing address, Te Arikinui said she was proud to launch the initiative as a "declaration" that Māori were ready to invest in "ourselves, in our brilliance and in the future we choose".....
See full article HERE

Propaganda:
Māori voice at risk under mayoral panel plan, says Horizons councillor

‘Mana motuhake Māori – Māori sovereignty’: Labour sets out ambitious pitch to win back Māori seats

This Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis. New material is added regularly. If you would like to send Letters to the Editor in response to any of these articles, most media addresses can be found HERE

20 comments:

Robert Arthur said...

1st The article on maori housing a typical rose tinted pro maori competely unbalancd RNZ production. it is sickening that RNZ staff devote to this propoganda. The problem with maori housing is large families, poor application to education, consequent low skills, low paid jobs, a proclivity to eat and drink up and live for the moment, non productive passtimes (kapa haka, rugby, hikoi, tangi) saving not part of the tikanga etc. I recall the maori houses of my early schooldays; certainly not models of perfection.In the country, sacks over window openings etc. In the 1930s it was difficult to convince East Coast maori to dig long drops..

Anonymous said...

I guess those whare had flushing toilets , electricity ,heating, windows , I could go on , what world do these people live , fantasy I’d say

MT_Tinman said...

"Researchers link Māori housing inequities to 180 years of restrictive building laws
For centuries, Māori built homes that were warm, dry, sustainable and centred on whānau. "


Caves are "warm, dry, sustainable"?

Anonymous said...

The children's book ' Washday at the Pa', by that famous photographer, in about 1960 was banned because it made Maori appear as living in very poor, rundown, insanitary conditions on marae which was then considered degrading to them as people and shameful to NZ's egalitarian image. The washing was done in the stream since there was no running water.

YOU CANNOT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS, MSM .

However the answer to this was to build in about 1950s state houses in city ghettos . Unfortunately the damage done to family life was that children were isolated from old folks back at the marae and from what I understand grandparents were considered in Maori society , important in bringing up children and the parents less mature..
Gaynor

Anonymous said...

I wrote about the professor browns on Maori architecture as told to rnz and posted it in John macleans piece on gaslighting.
What I did miss out on saying was nowhere were the professors asked this simple question: how many Maori today want to live in a roopu house? Dirt floors, no plumbing, no insulation, a fire hazard etc, etc. Perhaps the professors are applying to the health research council and the marsden fund to conduct such a survey. But we’ll never know.
—PB

Anonymous said...

Maori huts certainly were not warm and dry. I don't understand why academics simply make stuff up. Next we will read how Maori buildings withstood earthquakes and cyclones. Always ask, 'what is your evidence'? Academics get upset when pressed about their evidence.

Anonymous said...

Here’s more propaganda RNZ dutifully, unquestioningly, copied and pasted.

If you ever wanted another garish example of how to turn a narrow administrative dataset into a sweeping moral sermon, The Conversation — via its RNZ megaphone — delivers again. This time, the homily comes courtesy of AUT senior researcher Alexander Plum, whose “study” claims Māori receive harsher sentences for first-time drink-driving than New Zealand Europeans with similar alcohol levels.
The framing lands before the facts do.
The opening paragraph lays out the catechism: Māori are over-represented in prosecutions, convictions and prison numbers. These are presented as mystical statistics without origin or context, as if the universe simply arranged itself to spite one group.
This is the ideological scaffolding The Conversation bolts onto every justice story. Before you know anything, you’re told exactly what to think.
It’s a small mercy that Plum at least narrows his analysis to something concrete: drink-driving cases between 2008 and 2013. This offers a rare moment of clarity — alcohol readings are objective, charges are standardised, and outcomes are relatively consistent. In the right hands, this could be the beginning of a careful inquiry.
But this is The Conversation, so of course it ends as a morality play.
Plum’s dataset shows that Māori were more likely to receive a community-based sentence rather than a fine. That is the entire empirical substance.
The rest is inference, mood music and ideological choreography.
Community sentences — which can include supervision, programmes or community work — are categorised as “more severe,” despite the fact that a large fine can be financially devastating to someone on a low income. No thought is given to the idea that judges might consider a fine meaningless to a young, unemployed offender but a supervised programme constructive. The assumption is simple: difference equals discrimination.
This is where the method gives way to the message.
Sentencing, as any practising lawyer will tell you, involves variables Plum cannot access. These include demeanour, cooperation, remorse, non-criminal driving history, personal circumstances, the competence of counsel and the culture of the local court. Judges don’t sentence a dataset; they sentence a person standing three metres in front of them. Plum cannot control for any of that, so he simply declares the residual gap to be structural bias. It’s not proof. It’s the story he arrived to tell.
The geographical variation he discovers is treated as confirmation. Courts that favour community sentences generally also produce larger gaps between Māori and Europeans. This is framed as “amplifying inequity.”
A more honest reading would be: “Courts that hand out more community sentences hand out more community sentences.” But honesty is inconvenient. Inequity is the destination, and the train must arrive on schedule.
What we are witnessing is not research but the laundering of ideology through data. A neutral analyst would say: “Unobserved variables may explain the difference. More evidence is needed.”
Plum instead delivers a sermon on fairness, employment prospects and criminal records — topics he did not study but feels compelled to pontificate on. The final paragraphs become what The Conversation was designed to produce: policy activism dressed as science.
This is the academic arm of a worldview in which disparities are never examined, only interpreted. A worldview where the justice system is presumed guilty until proven woke.
And it is the worldview — the one that insists myth is equivalent to evidence, that cultural nostalgia outranks empirical reality — that now passes for public debate in New Zealand. A kind of secular theology in which every statistic is a grievance, every outcome political, and every piece of research an opportunity to preach the gospel of the Treaty-principles narrative.

— PB

Anonymous said...

Someone needs to put a secret camera on their child so that we see what goes on at school. The level of indoctrination is probably more alarming than we realise.Parents seem to be in the dark also, as they are not there with their kids.

Robert arthur said...

3rd After the Nelson fuss Hastings art gallery exhibits the arrogance so typical of maori. If Counil owned surely someone can direct. If I visited I would walk on the little wooden structure and rub my bottom on every maori exhibit (on the sides of those with erect penis). Need a group to attend and all do.How about the black white and red insurgency flag with an invitation to do the same?
Far from being extended the maori seats should be abolished. By voters using their party vote elewhere an absurd ovehang is created effectively giving two votes. Like many others Jim Bolger was asleep on his feet when the seats comtinued.
Presumably the Rotokakahi Board was insufficiently bribed (including consultation payment) and maori wish to ensure no repeats..

Robert Arthur said...

Convictions and sentence are not he whol;e story. I sat through a morning of Court years ago. Non maori drunk drivers were often defended; they may have got off but, whatever, their total expense would have been very onsiderable. it was obvious that maori, based on experience, appeared alone, pleaded guilty, got a token fine and that was their only cost.

Anonymous said...

When hallowed tikanga mysteriously fails, who do you call?

Here’s the real irony laid bare:
A party that insists tikanga, kaupapa and “our own processes” form a higher constitutional universe now finds itself doing the most colonial thing imaginable: begging the High Court to fix a mess it couldn’t resolve through tikanga, couldn’t settle at a hui, and wouldn’t even discuss with iwi leaders who tried to mediate.
If Te Pāti Māori refuses to accept Parliament’s rules, rejects standing orders as colonial relics, treats codes of conduct as optional, and won’t honour the invitations of its own iwi leadership — then why on earth should it accept the authority of a court system it also claims was “imposed” on Māori?
If Parliament lacks mana, the judiciary has even less.
If standing orders have no legitimacy, judicial orders certainly don’t.
If tikanga is the supreme law, why is an interim injunction required at all?
That’s the contradiction the media dances around:
tikanga is not a binding discipline for those invoking it — it’s a veto when dealing with others, and a slogan when dealing with themselves.
When internal conflict gets serious — real power, real money, real seats on the line — tikanga suddenly isn’t enough.
The kaupapa constitution dissolves, the rūnanga solution evaporates, and the movement that chants “decolonise everything” bolts straight to Molesworth Street for adult supervision.
And the moment they do that, the whole mythology collapses.
Either the High Court overturns the expulsion (proving tikanga couldn’t run a small political party), or it upholds it (making the “colonial” court the final arbiter of Māori Party legitimacy).
Whichever way it goes, one truth stands:
a whare that rejects the system cannot claim sanctuary in it. The contradiction is now on full display — and no amount of pūrākau can paper over the fact that when the kaupapa hits the fan, tikanga bows to the Crown every time.
—PB

Anonymous said...

"Dental Surgery Scholarship Available to Māori undergraduate students" = racism

Robert arthur said...

Anon 11.43. Does that mean that maori were putting polluting soap into sacred waterways they purport to own. Who did they pay for permission?

Anonymous said...

RNZ’s story on undercounting of Māori prisoners is nothing but more cultural sermonising by one more academic at the high table.
Associate Professor Paula King, a Wellington academic specialising in Māori incarceration, health outcomes, and kaupapa Māori research, is quoted at length, lamenting that Māori are “invisibilised” in Corrections data and that the Ministry of Health is failing its Treaty obligations to ensure post-release care. (As if that’s enshrined in law).
The reporter never questions the assumptions, the costs, or the practicalities.
Of course the study finds Māori overrepresented at every stage of the justice system, with a probable 6 percent undercount due to administrative missteps.
King frames this as systemic failure and calls for more taxpayer funding for kaupapa Māori rehabilitation and reintegration programmes. What goes unexamined is the first elephant in the room: there is no legal definition of Māori. Ethnicity is self-reported and fluid. So when RNZ and King claim Māori are undercounted, the number is inherently contestable. By framing it as Crown negligence, the story implies certainty where none exists.
The second gap is obvious: King and RNZ focus on structural blame while ignoring cultural and behavioural realities. Lifestyle choices, gang culture, dysfunctional families, and community norms are absent from the narrative. Māori are portrayed purely as victims of systemic failure, absolving personal responsibility and the social factors that drive overrepresentation in the first place.
Then there is the money. RNZ does not ask King how much these post-prison programmes would cost taxpayers. Let’s be blunt: the estimated annual cost per prisoner in New Zealand — housing, food, security, and basic health care — is roughly NZ $160,000. With Māori making up around half the prison population, the probable annual taxpayer burden for Māori prisoners alone is NZ $800 million to $1 billion. RNZ buries that figure, allowing King to demand “more funding” without scrutiny. And never a word on the billions flowing through the Māori economy, iwi trusts, or treaty settlements — resources that could support rehabilitation but are conveniently ignored.
Finally, RNZ and King treat Treaty obligations as an unquestioned cudgel. There is no debate over what “obligations” mean in practice, no acknowledgment that targeting funding solely on ethnicity raises practical and legal ambiguities.
In sum, RNZ amplifies a structuralist, kaupapa Māori narrative while leaving readers unaware of legal fuzziness, the fiscal reality, or the social and cultural factors driving the statistics. King’s call for more taxpayer-funded programmes is a demand without scrutiny. Probable costs run high, consequences are real, and the taxpayer foots the bill — yet RNZ never asks the obvious questions. RNZ’s report, like much of its Te Ao Māori coverage, never departs from repeating what King says.
It only proffers supportive acknowledgement for King’s assertions from prisons and the health ministry — the result is ideological amplification, not journalism.
—PB

Robert Arthur said...

Dec 4 10.20. RNZ has interviewers fully capable of framing and asking key questions but, as with so much of NZ society today, are afraid of cancelletion, especially in an employment with an obvious pro maori policy.. Instead we are treated to pandering interviews by Forbes, Willcox and co.

Anonymous said...

Hi Robert. Don’t doubt what you point to. But …
RNZ also has a bunch of reporters writing for its website version. My focus is on the writing/ reporting side only. The te ao Maori section is, as many have noted, very pro-unbalanced reporting where framing and narratives are the priority.
As for rnz’s opinion/comment section, it’s overflowing with unchallenged pieces from the conversation, mostly a playground for ‘progressive’ academics.
—PB

Robert Arthur said...

The maori community of Darfield and their insurgency advisers must be very satisfied with the declared capture of the philosophy of Darfield school. There is no mention of the maximum proportion of time to be devoted to pro maori distraction. Anyone slightly sceptical of the pro maori obsession would find life on the Board very uncomfortable. They shun the Board leaving the field to conniving maori. The power of cancellation must be all conquering. A price of maori and other non achievement in real world subjects will be paid for the pro maori obsession .I trust all the maori consultation will be unpaid. If maori consultation is to be obligatory, so should consultation with representatives of othe established and invented cultures.

Anonymous said...

Robert I don't know about any 'soap' you could use in cold water like a stream. If I still had Ans Westra's book "Wash Day at the Pa' , I could consult the book about use of soap, but a Maori academic stole it from our library !

Anonymous said...

The mainstream media has gone dark on Te Pāti Māori’s AGM.
No previews. No analysis. No attempt to explain what’s actually at stake. No navel gazing.
Instead, we get carefully worded statements, tip-toeing around the party’s factional strife — as if reporting that TPM is in chaos might be somehow culturally insensitive. Contrast that with Stuff or RNZ’s coverage if National or ACT were in the same position: every angle, every potential leadership coup, every procedural manoeuvre would be dissected relentlessly.
Waatea News’ “report” is little more than a press release masquerading as journalism. No byline. No investigation. Just a pre-prepared statement from the party, dressed up with generic lines about tikanga and unity. It’s token coverage at best — a simulation of a news report that adds nothing meaningful for New Zealanders trying to understand the political drama unfolding.
Meanwhile, the real story — the legal reinstatement of Kapa-Kingi, the ongoing expulsions, the structural dysfunction, even years of missing financial accounts — goes virtually unexamined. The MSM’s near silence is deafening.
Takeaway: When the ruling party of the day or their coalition friends are in trouble, reporters swarm. When TPM does it? Crickets .. as ngarewa-packer says. The public is left guessing while the party spins unchallenged.
—PB

Robert Arthur said...

By applying the reliable test "'What will be most lucrative for the legal industry?'' the Kapa-Kingi decison predictable. It is surprisng how mature Rawhiti can sound when he is not playing to his extensive simple minded under educated stone age fans.
Ther must be very many parents at Darfield school livid at the baltantly pro maori proclomation with numerous untranslated references and refernces to topics not clearly defined anywhere. But what action can they take? Anyone who could find a venue and call a public meeting would be surrounded by many who recognise utu as vey legitimate tikanga, and would place themselves at great physical, social, and economic risk with their children's life at school similarly jeopardised. Mrs Jackson could probably give the school management lessons in how to handle dissenters.

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