Ele Ludemann: I asked the wrong question

Yesterday’s post on getting rid of the Maori seats explained I’d asked AI for some ideas.

The response from Google Gemini was it couldn’t help because it would incite discrimination and hate speech.

I wondered what would happen if I asked it to critique the points I’d made. The ressult showed I’d asked the wrong question yesterday and got a much better response : This was the critique (my points are in bold, followed by AI’s response):

Ele Ludemann: Māori seats passed their use-by date

When I was thinking about writing a post arguing that the Māori seats have passed their use-by date and asked Goggle Gemini to give me some ideas.

This is the reply I got:

Perce Harpham: Renewing New Zealand - Part 1

In this, Part 1, I will explore some of the issues which have determined our present situation. I will show some of the extent to which the power of the block of Maori seats in Parliament has threatened our democracy - bringing legal rights and tax exemptions for Maori at the cost of ratepayers and, heavily, taxpayers.The Treaty Principles Bill was a brave attempt to have the Waitangi Treaty simply mean what it says. Now that the Select Committee has slapped it down, do we simply accept all the fabrications that have been built around the Treaty or do we do something different?

John Porter: If Reversed it Would be Called Racism

American political economist Benjamin Friedman, author of Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, a basic reassessment of the underpinnings of today’s economics, once compared modern Western society to a bicycle whose forward momentum was kept going by continuing economic growth. He expounded that should that forward-propelling motion slow or cease, the pillars that define our society – our democracies, our individual liberties and social tolerance - would begin to falter.

Further warning, “…if society was unable to get the wheels back in motion, countries would eventually face total societal collapse”. 

Matua Kahurangi: Māori Seats

The racist roadblock to New Zealand’s unity

New Zealand prides itself on being a democratic nation committed to fairness, equality, and unity. Yet, within our parliamentary system exists a relic from another era - the Māori seats.

Originally introduced in 1867 as a temporary measure to ensure Māori representation at a time when most Māori were excluded from voting due to land ownership requirements, these race-based seats have remained in place for over 150 years. What may have once been a practical solution has today become an outdated and divisive institution that undermines the very principles of equality and unity it was meant to support.

Dr Don Brash: The Nail in the Coffin for Maori Seats

I don't know about you, but I have had a gutsful of the disrespect and disdain Te Pāti Māori show for our Parliament and for all of us.

With their hateful rhetoric and disruptive antics they have demonstrated that Māori seats have become the home of the most extreme race activists.

Te Pāti Māori have put the final nail in the coffin of Māori seats.

NZCPR Newsletter: Radicalising Parliament

Last week’s revelation by National’s Minister of Maori Development Tama Potaka – a former member of the Maori Party - that “a new committee led by Adrian Rurawhe is working on formally integrating tikanga Maori into Parliament” has heightened public concern that the Coalition is failing to uphold its key election pledge to “Stop all work on He Puapua”.

JC: The Time Is Now

If Christopher Luxon, Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop, the top three branches on National’s political tree, mused over whether there is ever a good time to ditch the Māori seats, their answer, due to their reticence on these types of matters, would probably be never. But there is a good time and it has arrived courtesy of the Māori Party themselves.

Their refusal to turn up at the Privileges Committee to get the dressing down they deserve is inviting just such an action. In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were hoping it will happen. (It won’t.) Just think of the Pandora’s Box that would open for them.

Brian Tamaki: Te Pāti Māori’s Gravy Train Exposed – And They’re Spitting Tacks

We are one people, one vote, one law and one flag.

Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says I’m playing “revolting politics”, but let’s be real – what’s truly revolting is how Te Pāti Māori has exploited Manurewa Marae to further their corrupt political agenda. If anyone should be apologising, it’s Te Pāti Māori, but they’re too arrogant to admit their wrongdoing.

Te Pāti Māori are spitting hate at me because I was one of the first to expose their corruption at Manurewa Marae. They know I’m not afraid to call them out, and the truth stings.

NZCPR Newsletter: Treaty Principles Debate

ACT’s Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill was tabled in Parliament on November 7, and the first reading debate was held on November 14. The Bill was referred to the Justice Select Committee, where a closing date for submissions of 7 January 2024 has been set – full details can be found HERE.

This is the third time Parliament has dealt with a Bill designed to address the Treaty principles conundrum.

The problem, of course, is that the Treaty of Waitangi doesn’t have any principles. As Sir Apirana Ngata outlined so eloquently in his 1922 explanation of the original Maori version of the Treaty, it only has three articles: they established the Queen as our Sovereign, protected private property rights, and gave Maori the same rights and privileges under British law as every other New Zealander. 

Peter Williams: Te Pati Maori End Game

Could they claim the balance of power?

The country’s youngest MP has revealed the answer to the question many have been asking for some time.

What is the end game for Te Pati Maori?

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke told us succinctly in her speech at Parliament after the hikoi.

Roger Childs: Te Pati Māori fears the Treaty Principles Bill

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. –Article 1, United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

Small but noisy

As the Hikoi grinds its way on to Parliament, the Maori Party claims that it has a key leadership role. But this is a group with a single focus: to speak with a strong, independent and united voice for Maori. They are just a small party with a loud voice having garnered only 3.08% of the popular vote in last year’s election. However, they have six seats in the House of Representatives courtesy of the undemocratic special Maori seats.

John Robinson: New Zealand nonsense (three). How Maori rebels broke the Treaty.

I had a chat recently where a friend said: “I have never heard anyone say that Maori broke the Treaty before.”  Of course they did, and people should be told so.

New Zealand nonsense (three).  How Maori rebels broke the Treaty.

There is much questionable, indeed nonsensical, in today’s New Zealand.  A country which once opposed racism has a belief in race written into law[1], with measures of that Maori race increased to justify two extra Maori seats[2], and many actions asserting the special position of supposedly-indigenous Maori.

John Robinson: New Zealand nonsense (two). Voting by race - Unequal Maori seats

I am a scientist, a mathematician. It always seemed obvious that the aim was to work with numbers to uncover the truth. That was impossibly naïve; now I know that mathematics is a way to confuse the layman and hide some very shady goings on, to ‘dazzle them with numbers’ – all in the service of some demanded dogma, all OK so long as the boss and paymaster is kept happy. Nowhere do we find integrity in New Zealand.

JC: Get Rid of the Māori Seats

Democracy is one thing. Using it for vile purposes is quite another.

The time has come. In fact it is well past. No longer should the majority in this country have to put up with the violent rhetoric emanating from the mouths of racist reprobates who represent about three per cent of the voting public. I object to having my money used to pay people to give them the opportunity to spout dangerous inflammatory language against me and other Kiwis. If there was some truth to their claims one might be a little conciliatory, but what we are getting is nothing more than racist dialogue with no basis in fact.

Clive Bibby: Equality of opportunity

Equality of opportunity is more important than a gerrymandered access to a seat at the Council table.  

Much of the public row being fought in local communities about indigenous rights to representation at the Council table is an irritant that will probably be a short term distraction that will end as quickly as it started even in provinces where those claiming Maori ancestry have a numerical advantage on both rolls.

Once the law governing local body elections is redrafted allowing things to return to the way they were before 2021, a full electoral vote will be required before a Council can introduce Maori Wards although those that are already in place will have a stay of execution until the 2028 local body elections.

So a little crystal ball gazing - what could happen next.

JC: Mister Speaker! Your Mission Should You Accept It

That well-known line is, as most will recall, from Mission Impossible. I fear that if something is not done soon to control the behaviour of the Maori Party then mission impossible will be the result.

The Maori Party are lost and drowning in their own negative and increasingly violent rhetoric. We can only hope they are never again in a position where a Government depends on their support; if that happens, I fear for the future of this country. It’s not too far fetched to say the country is on the cusp of a potential disaster if their current antics, especially in regard to decorum in the House, are allowed to continue. I call on Mr Speaker to intervene.

JC: Maori Seats Need to Go Pronto

The Maori Party need to be gone from Parliament. Most Kiwis are fed up to the back teeth with their despicable behaviour. Their latest childish, illegal prank – to have Maori strike nationwide on Budget Day – is frankly the last straw from a mob who don’t give a damn about anyone or anything except themselves. Most of their commentary is racist, divisive and full of lies. They are not at all representative of the majority of their race, bar the racist activists and those, like themselves, who have no interest in contributing to the prosperity of this country.

Ele Ludemann: Māori seats well past use-by date

The Royal Commission on Electoral Reform recommended that if a proportional system was adopted, the Māori seats should be abolished.

That they weren’t abolished when MMP was adopted was a mistake that should be rectified.

JC: Should MMP and Maori Seats Go?

A controversial headline, perhaps, but designed to spark debate. I will attempt to justify it with some facts, both positive and negative; however, the negatives outweigh the positives by some margin. The 2023 election is of course a true result of an election run under the MMP system, but I don’t believe it adequately reflects the current mood of the country. Had the election been run under a First Past The Post system (FPP) then the mood for change would have been better illustrated.