Dr Michael John Schmidt: Māori privilege and media paradox.

It’s ironic that TV1, RNZ, and similar media outlets so strongly support the current hīkoi process opposing David Seymour’s call for a discussion of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi – so much for the impartial and investigative press. These mainstream media organisations face severe economic challenges: TV1 lost $85 million in 2023, and RNZ lost $1.4 million.(1, 2) Meanwhile, the Māori groups they champion are thriving, despite these groups portraying themselves as marginalised, disadvantaged and at risk of ‘losing rights’.

Michael Bassett: The crisis in Maori society

In January when Chris Hipkins took over as Prime Minister he promised a policy reset. Everyone waited patiently, and when the announcement came, quite a few were prepared to think we really did have a new Labour government. Nanaia Mahuta’s obsession with Three Waters was scaled back, she was stripped of the Local Government portfolio, demoted almost to the bottom of the Cabinet, and encouraged to stay off-shore as long as possible, tending to her Foreign Affairs portfolio. The Prime Minister promised to be clearer about the detail and the reasoning behind co-governance. Again, many believed that Hipkins was back-peddling on the hectic rush since the 2020 election to Maorify everything in sight from departmental titles, to geographical names, to road speed limits, to tried and tested methods of governance. There was an air of expectation.