ACT MP Simon Court exposed this shocking new front in the ongoing war against private property on The Platform last week, where he revealed that iwi are using so-called “heritage provisions” to muscle in on land they don’t own, under the flimsiest possible pretence of “spiritual connection.”
Court explained that iwi claim mana whenua status over large swathes of Auckland, then sit down with council bureaucrats to decide which bits of private land should be marked as “significant to Māori.” Once that label is slapped on, the actual property owner suddenly loses key decision-making powers over their own section. They can’t develop it, alter it, or even dig a fence post without getting permission from people who don’t own it.
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Councils, terrified of being called racist, are rolling over and allowing this nonsense to go unchecked. And the landowners, ordinary Kiwis who’ve saved for years to buy a piece of Auckland, aren’t even told what the claim is based on. They’re just handed a bureaucratic notice saying, “Congratulations, your land has been deemed significant to Māori.”
Because from that moment, part of their property rights are gone. Eroded. Handed over to another group purely because of their race. It’s apartheid in the planning department and it’s happening right now.
Court hit the nail on the head when he said ACT will fight to restore property rights and strip this racial favouritism out of the system. New Zealand’s laws should protect ownership, not undermine it based on who once walked across the land two hundred years ago.
And yet, here we are, councils colluding with iwi, homeowners left powerless, and an entire bureaucratic apparatus built around appeasing cultural grievance instead of protecting citizens.
The idea that a council can designate private property as being “of significance” to a particular group based solely on ethnicity is both morally wrong and fundamentally racist. It divides New Zealanders into two classes, those who own their property outright, and those whose ownership now comes with iwi oversight.
As Michael Laws bluntly put it during his interview, this is a standover tactic dressed up as heritage. It’s another form of cultural extortion, another way for a small elite to assert control while ordinary Māori and Pākehā alike get nothing.
We are fast approaching a point where land ownership in this country will mean little if you’re not connected to the right tribe. That, in a supposedly modern democracy, is shameful.
The government’s promised reforms to the Resource Management Act can’t come soon enough. It’s time to restore one simple principle, that private property belongs to those who own it, not those who claim ancestral feelings about it.
New Zealanders should be deeply alarmed. This isn’t about preserving culture, it’s about rewriting ownership along racial lines. If that doesn’t wake people up, nothing will.
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.
Click to view
Councils, terrified of being called racist, are rolling over and allowing this nonsense to go unchecked. And the landowners, ordinary Kiwis who’ve saved for years to buy a piece of Auckland, aren’t even told what the claim is based on. They’re just handed a bureaucratic notice saying, “Congratulations, your land has been deemed significant to Māori.”
Because from that moment, part of their property rights are gone. Eroded. Handed over to another group purely because of their race. It’s apartheid in the planning department and it’s happening right now.
Court hit the nail on the head when he said ACT will fight to restore property rights and strip this racial favouritism out of the system. New Zealand’s laws should protect ownership, not undermine it based on who once walked across the land two hundred years ago.
And yet, here we are, councils colluding with iwi, homeowners left powerless, and an entire bureaucratic apparatus built around appeasing cultural grievance instead of protecting citizens.
The idea that a council can designate private property as being “of significance” to a particular group based solely on ethnicity is both morally wrong and fundamentally racist. It divides New Zealanders into two classes, those who own their property outright, and those whose ownership now comes with iwi oversight.
As Michael Laws bluntly put it during his interview, this is a standover tactic dressed up as heritage. It’s another form of cultural extortion, another way for a small elite to assert control while ordinary Māori and Pākehā alike get nothing.
We are fast approaching a point where land ownership in this country will mean little if you’re not connected to the right tribe. That, in a supposedly modern democracy, is shameful.
The government’s promised reforms to the Resource Management Act can’t come soon enough. It’s time to restore one simple principle, that private property belongs to those who own it, not those who claim ancestral feelings about it.
New Zealanders should be deeply alarmed. This isn’t about preserving culture, it’s about rewriting ownership along racial lines. If that doesn’t wake people up, nothing will.
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.
10 comments:
No referendum has been held to permit a 2 tier system of privilege for one ethnic group. Private property owners unjustly attacked in this way should take action against the council and Iwi for abuse of -unlegislated - power. *Of course, they may not be able to afford the legal fees.
Another strategy by stealth: the first move is partial control with vague rights to approve changes to private property ; the next move will be actual and legal control. Really, how stupid are apathetic NZers to accept this without a major legal protest against the Council which has effectively charged higher rates on the false pretence of limitation of ownership?
I think anyone with a brain can see this “de-colonialism” coming a mile away.
Terrible precedent set by Ihumatao and still being defacto supported by the current government.
Partnership is an illusion and a lie and it will ruin this country.
If only the property owners were made aware by the media that their Councils were deliberately racially financially ruining them.
Maybe when their mortgage holder demands their money back as the property has dropped in value because of the iwi imposed "cultural significance " will they realized they have been shafted by woke Councils.
And I will bet that no "cultural significance " will be attached to privately owned Maori property !
No point in devaluing their own assets!
Early settler Polak observed that maori had no respect of sacred sites associated predecessor tribes. Thus most cultural sites at any momemt were in the main just those asociated the current occupying tribe. But now every tribe can find sacred sites to claim as theirs for extortion purposes. As many areas have been occupied by waves of conquerors the number of sacred sites is effectively far greater than ever before.
I want to see a claim made against Luxon's pad on Waiheke, that could make him sit up and take note!
"Congratulations, your land has been deemed significant to Māori". If the notice does indeed say that, further proof that Councils are taking the proverbial. Unbelievable!!
Nah, he'd roll over and give in ...
PS
The real enemy is KIWI APATHY. Let's call a spade a spade. WE are to blame.
Yes we are all to blame anon 11.01. Politicians like Seymour are treated like the bad guy when all he wants is for everyone to be treated equally. "Property rights for all" seymour says and yet only 9% of kiwis in the polls like his party.And the hate he gets in facebook over his posts, such as the berlin wall going down blows my mind. All the commie kiwis attacking him.
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