NZCPR Newsletter: Cultural Injustice

Two separate shootings in Auckland over the last three days that have left two people dead and one critically injured are the second and third serious gun incidents in the city in just over two weeks. They follow the shooting rampage of Matu Reid, who killed two co-workers and injured ten others, before taking his own life.

These events are indicative of the rise in crime that has become such a major problem for our society.

Graeme Reeves: Freedom of speech under attack

Democracy cannot exist without FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

Freedom of Speech is enshrined in New Zealand law.

Section 14 of The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 is explicit, “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and opinions of any kind in any form.”

Nonetheless it seems that the right is restricted to expressions that are approved by any identity (woke) group that may be offended by the expression.

Henry Armstrong: The Tragic Decline of New Zealand Universities

As New Zealand approaches an election in October, the almost total disarray of the present government in virtually every respect, looms large like a dark cloud on the horizon. The economic, social welfare, education, health and justice systems are approaching chaos.  

The New Zealand  media is now increasingly politicised, with editorial censorship and an increasing  tendency towards ethnomania, particularly in relation to “co-governance” - the sharing of political power between the Maori minority (16%of the population) and the rest of New Zealand (84%). Our universities are increasingly, and compulsorily, including Matauranga Maori or knowledge, into all aspects of university life - in teaching, research, publications, and administration, with no discussion or debate.

NZCPR Newsletter: Tribal Takeover

Probably the most important court case of recent times was held in Wellington last month, yet it  attracted no mention in the media.

It was a Court of Appeal hearing seeking to overturn a High Court decision to grant multiple customary marine titles over a 40 km stretch of coastline near Opotiki. If the Edwards Marine and Coastal Area Act ruling stands, it will set a precedent for almost 600 yet to be determined claims, with the likely result that the ownership of virtually the entire New Zealand coastline – right out to the 12 nautical mile edge of the Territorial Sea – will pass to Maori.

Kerry Burke: The need to cut through the confusion over co-governance

There seems to be a great deal of confusion about what co-governance means, with our political leaders also seemingly uncertain.

Māori Party president John Tamihere seems to be clear, telling RNZ recently, that it was part of “the re-indigenisation” of our country, something that might play well with the 1% of voters that recent polls show support his party, but would be unacceptable to most of the other 99%.

Its literal meaning, however, is crystal clear, a sharing of government between two entities.

NZCPR Newsletter: Governing for All

At his first press conference after being elected unopposed as Labour’s new leader, Chris Hipkins was caught out by a journalist for being unable to explain the three articles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

In this, he was following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Jacinda Ardern, who was also unable to explain the Treaty, when she first became Labour leader and New Zealand’s Prime Minister.

These faux pas are surprising given the degree to which Labour has embedded the Treaty within our society, and concerning in that they appear to have accepted the mantra of radical Maori, who are using fabricated claims about the Treaty to demand power and public resources. 

Michael Bassett: Our Media in Election Year

When the media went cap in hand to Jacinda Ardern’s government with sad tales about their declining financial position, ministers responded with the Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF). Newspaper editors realized there was a risk that people would think that upwards of $50 million of taxpayers’ money would be used to buy pro-Labour stories, especially in election year. 

The editors at the New Zealand Herald gave solemn undertakings to their readers that such would never be the case. However, any objective scrutiny of the Herald’s conduct since then would conclude they long since decided to throw caution to the winds. A couple of their columnists often appear to be mouthpieces for current ministers, while the paper’s cartoonists might as well be on Labour’s payroll.

This has been even more evident since the recent change in Prime Ministers. Journalists fawned over Jacinda Ardern and never highlighted her well-documented capacity to say one thing (“He Puapua hasn’t been to Cabinet”) while her ministers were busy implementing its recommendations.