John McLean: Pounamu Piracy!

Convictions for cultural crimes

On 5 June 2026, Xin Li and her son Boyuan Zhang were sentenced following their earlier convictions for trying to take expensively-purchased greenstone (pounamu) out of New Zealand. The pounamu they were trying to spirit off to China exceeded the legal export weight limit of 5 kilograms. The oriental offenders were fined $5,000 (a dollar for each gram of that weight limit).

This piece is not a defence of the discombobulated and dispirited duo. They broke a ludicrous law and, even if they weren’t aware they were committing a crime, ignorance of the law is no excuse. I’m simply reveling in the absurd over-reactions to their minor misdemeanor.

Matua Kahurangi: The pounamu laws reveal a racist system hiding in plain sight

I was casually browsing the Otago Daily Times when a headline stopped me in my tracks. A 26-year-old Dunedin man had allegedly been found with 820 kilograms of stolen pounamu [Greenstone]. Nearly a tonne. Whākn’ wild. However, the more I read, the more something else stood out. It was not the alleged theft itself, it was the rules surrounding pounamu that revealed just how racially stacked the whole system really is.

According to the article, pounamu is the legal property of Ngāi Tahu under the Pounamu Vesting Act 1997. Then comes the part that should make any New Zealander raise an eyebrow.