John McLean: New Zealand is racist!

Really? How so? How could it be so?

A former friend and I used to debate Matters Māori . He steadfastly maintained that New Zealand is racist against people with Māori ancestry. His main argument was that film director Taika Waititi has publicly claimed that New Zealand is racist.

Mr Waititi has indeed made that claim, and he’s entitled to his view. Waititi’s claim came in a 2018 interview for Dazed magazine with musician Ruban Nielson. After Nielson mooted an “idealised vision of New Zealand as like Australia without the racism,” Waititi responded, “Nah, it’s racist as f**k. I mean…it’s a racist place. People just flat-out refuse to pronounce Māori names properly…”

Bob Edlin: Musk’s mischief in the skies....

Musk’s mischief in the skies – his Starlink is impeding the journey of Maori loved ones’ spirits to the stars at Matariki

The day before we celebrated Waitangi Day, The Post published an article which took readers much further back than February 6 1840 while projecting forwards to what might happen over the next five years or so.

Written by Joel Maxwell and promoting the case for protecting Maori knowledge, it was headed They were sending loved ones’ spirits to the stars at Matariki when Elon Musk’s Starlink cut in.

It began with three “fast facts”.

Sean Plunket hits back at Stuff claims pākehā treat history like garbage

On The Platform, Sean responds to a Stuff article authored by Joel Maxwell

Click to view/listen

Bob Edlin: Classism and the pox weren’t the only exports sent here by the Poms

ACT​ leader David Seymour (who is doing nicely in opinion polls) irked many people when he sent out priority vaccination access codes intended for Māori.

The critics (no surprises here) included

• Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, who said the move was “despicable” and she would be writing to Speaker Trevor Mallard about it.
• Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, who said it was a “low-life move” aimed at intentionally sabotaging the Māori vaccine campaign.