Geoff Parker: Rebuttal to Ella Henry and Andrew Judd - The Treaty Wasn’t a Favour - It Was a Lifeline

In the video What Does It Mean to Be Pākehā in 2025?, Ella Henry and Andrew Judd present the familiar modern narrative: that colonisation was an unprovoked assault on a flourishing Māori world, that Pākehā are “only here because of the Treaty,” and that Māori could have negotiated their own international relationships — even with the French. But this version of history collapses the moment you compare it to the actual record of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

The truth is sharper, less romantic, and far more inconvenient: British colonisation ended the deadliest period in Māori history, protected Māori from other imperial powers, and introduced the first stable national authority New Zealand had ever known.

Elliot Ikilei: When 87% say 'no' and the media calls them the problem

Every now and then, the media produces something so out-of-touch that I have to stop, take a breath, and ask: Do they actually hear themselves? Yesterday was one of those days.

The NZ Herald released polling showing that only 13% of NZ Europeans want to be called “Pākehā.” An overwhelming example of consensus. And how does the Herald frame this story up? That the 87% (the vast, ordinary majority) are scared, racist, or uncomfortable with their identity. Not “Maybe we should respect people’s preferences.” Nope. They choose to view the majority in the worst light. Apparently, the only acceptable answer was the one most people didn’t give.

Graeme Reeves: Ella Henry responds to Oxford University’s Richard Dawkins

Associate professor Ella Henry’s response to Oxford University’s Richard Dawkins, one the world’s leading public intellectuals, to the teaching of Maori mythology as science in New Zealand.

Dawkin’s view is that if Maori mythology is true science then it should be taught in every country on the grounds that science is global whereas mythologies are culturally specific and should be taught in mythology classes separately where those mythologies have agency but not in science classes.

Henry’s response published by Newshub was, “let’s remember that 3000 years before Dawkins’ ancestors dipped their toes in the North Atlantic, mine were traversing the biggest ocean on the planet using nothing more than Polynesian science.”

3000 years ago Henry’s other ancestors were experiencing the early stages of the Bronze Age. Bronze is made from an amalgamation of tin and copper. The process is scientific and represented a great advancement in western civilisation.

Maori by contrast remained in the Stone Age until they came into contact with Europeans with their metal implements and weapons.