A Guest Post by Alfred Johns on Brash & Mitchell.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama was speaking to Americans—not New Zealanders—when he issued this warning in 2006. Yet his words seem uncannily relevant to New Zealand today.
“Ethnic-based tribal politics has to stop. It is rooted in the bankrupt idea that the goal of politics or business is to funnel as much of the pie as possible to one’s family, tribe, or circle with little regard for the public good.
It stifles innovation and fractures the fabric of society. Instead of opening businesses and engaging in commerce, people come to rely on patronage and payback as a means of advancing.
Instead of unifying the country to move forward on solving problems, it divides neighbour from neighbour.”
If New Zealand is to remain a strong, united democracy, we must restore one principle above all others: every citizen must be equal under the law, regardless of ancestry or ethnicity. Equality before the law is the foundation of every free and stable society. Once that principle is abandoned, division and racial politics inevitably follow.
Today, New Zealand is increasingly moving toward race-based governance through co-governance arrangements, separatist policies, and constitutional change driven by the Māori Party and its political allies. The danger is clear: a society where political influence, public rights, and national decision-making become determined not by citizenship, but by ethnicity.
Most concerning of all, is that New Zealand was warned this could happen.
In 1986, the Royal Commission on the Electoral System cautioned that retaining the Māori seats under MMP could distort democratic representation. The Commission concluded that Māori representation would naturally emerge through general electorates and party lists, making separate race-based seats unnecessary.
That warning now appears remarkably prophetic.
Following the 2020 election, the Māori seats gave Māori MPs influence within government significantly beyond their proportion of the voting population, while also enabling the Māori Party — supported by only a small percentage of voters nationwide — to exercise parliamentary leverage disproportionate to its electoral support.
Without the Māori seats, Māori representation in Parliament would still remain strong through general and list seats, but without permanently embedding racial preference into the electoral system itself.
Now, in 2026, New Zealanders must seriously ask whether it is healthy for democracy when a small race-based party can exert disproportionate influence over national policy and constitutional direction.
If we are serious about preserving democracy, equality, and national unity, reform is necessary.
First, New Zealand should implement the Royal Commission’s recommendation and abolish the Māori seats.
Second, after years of expanding co-governance and race-based legislation, New Zealand should move toward a system similar to countries such as Sweden, France, and Germany by removing racial distinctions from law wherever possible and ensuring equal treatment for all citizens.
A nation cannot remain united if governments continue dividing citizens into competing ethnic categories. True unity comes not from racial preference, but from shared citizenship, equal rights, equal responsibilities, and equal opportunity.
New Zealand’s future strength will not be built on racial preference or tribal division, but on one standard of citizenship, one system of law, and one united nation where every Kiwi stands equal before the law.
It stifles innovation and fractures the fabric of society. Instead of opening businesses and engaging in commerce, people come to rely on patronage and payback as a means of advancing.
Instead of unifying the country to move forward on solving problems, it divides neighbour from neighbour.”
If New Zealand is to remain a strong, united democracy, we must restore one principle above all others: every citizen must be equal under the law, regardless of ancestry or ethnicity. Equality before the law is the foundation of every free and stable society. Once that principle is abandoned, division and racial politics inevitably follow.
Today, New Zealand is increasingly moving toward race-based governance through co-governance arrangements, separatist policies, and constitutional change driven by the Māori Party and its political allies. The danger is clear: a society where political influence, public rights, and national decision-making become determined not by citizenship, but by ethnicity.
Most concerning of all, is that New Zealand was warned this could happen.
In 1986, the Royal Commission on the Electoral System cautioned that retaining the Māori seats under MMP could distort democratic representation. The Commission concluded that Māori representation would naturally emerge through general electorates and party lists, making separate race-based seats unnecessary.
That warning now appears remarkably prophetic.
Following the 2020 election, the Māori seats gave Māori MPs influence within government significantly beyond their proportion of the voting population, while also enabling the Māori Party — supported by only a small percentage of voters nationwide — to exercise parliamentary leverage disproportionate to its electoral support.
Without the Māori seats, Māori representation in Parliament would still remain strong through general and list seats, but without permanently embedding racial preference into the electoral system itself.
Now, in 2026, New Zealanders must seriously ask whether it is healthy for democracy when a small race-based party can exert disproportionate influence over national policy and constitutional direction.
If we are serious about preserving democracy, equality, and national unity, reform is necessary.
First, New Zealand should implement the Royal Commission’s recommendation and abolish the Māori seats.
Second, after years of expanding co-governance and race-based legislation, New Zealand should move toward a system similar to countries such as Sweden, France, and Germany by removing racial distinctions from law wherever possible and ensuring equal treatment for all citizens.
A nation cannot remain united if governments continue dividing citizens into competing ethnic categories. True unity comes not from racial preference, but from shared citizenship, equal rights, equal responsibilities, and equal opportunity.
New Zealand’s future strength will not be built on racial preference or tribal division, but on one standard of citizenship, one system of law, and one united nation where every Kiwi stands equal before the law.
12 comments:
David Seymour tried to enshrine equal rights for all New Zealanders through his Treaty of Waitangi Bill before Luxon led the charge to “spike it.”
I could not agree more, its TIME. Its time to get some political courage.
We need the referendum this year!!!
Wakey wakey Mr Luxon!
Wow a Democrat said something intelligent
Probably one of the few intelligent things Obama said while in office.
Until we march in the streets, and become loudly visible, Luxon is going to pretend we don't exist.
The International media will then being Luxon's policies into global public view, to which he must respond.
Start marching.
We already have raced-based policies, one example being that announced earlier this week regarding Maori farm land owners getting special assistance and, of course, depending on your ancestry the law is applied different - isn't that right Judge Noel Sainsbury, who dismissed the charges against Mr Ratana the Te Papa exhibit vandal?
NZ's unity is already in decline and anarchy won't be far off unless we gain a true leader prepared to turn it around and re-establish 'equality' in every aspect of the law and our democracy.
We need a big shake-up in the composition of the NZ Supreme Court bench before we will see true equality before the law.
The Uniparty knows all this. But they remain embraced in a joint policy of racial preferment for a lot of part-Maori, ahead of everyone else. Do they know exactly what they are doing? Of course they do. Are they aware that it will destroy the country we now enjoy, and turn it into a new version of the hell-hole of the Pacific? Certainly. History gives us no examples of successful, ‘co-governed’ nations. But there are many of nations destroyed by their own ‘elites’.
If New Zealand is to remain a strong, united democracy,
I think that ship's already sailed.
We already had a referendum and kiwis voted overwhelmingly against it by 92% to 8%. Welcome to representative democracy.
Although NACT is taking a backdoor approach to gut swathes of legislation without taking into account the effect on New Zealand.
Kiwis must demand more from our politicians. NACT are grossly incompetent.
To Anon 1026: A shake-up? Instead Judith Collins extended radical Justice Glazebrook for 2 years. ( Or was she instructed to do so as part of her appointment to chair the Law Commission?
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