The Breaking Views blog is administered by the New Zealand Centre for Political Research at NZCPR.com. The views expressed are those of the author alone.
After six years in charge, Labour had stuffed up the country. Their
incompetence was universal.
When they were kicked out of office in October 2023, inflation was raging out
of control, the economy was tanking, crime was rampant, health and education
were failing, and racial division was on the rise.
The Labour Party today is no better than it was back then. The failed ministers
are still there, with their destructive ideas on full display.
In light of all that, it is astounding that Labour rates at all in the opinion
polls. Yet they do – they are polling on a par with National.
Surely, that must send a message to National’s hierarchy that their first 18
months in office is not delivering what voters had expected.
Now Ngapuhi have come up with an outrageous claim for “an
$8.43 billion redress for generations of losses” – almost double the total of around
$4.3 billion for all settlements to all other tribes.
Why is any payment due?
I claim that scenario is wrong and quite the opposite of what we would best be doing. I will give my reasons for that belief and propose how we could flip to its opposite, namely “Government of the people, by the people, for the people.”
Latent as it may have been, since German Chancellor Angela Merkle and other paragons of virtue (Sweden another standout), adopted a “woke” approach to not just thousands but millions of Muslims and non-Muslims, fleeing the various “Spring Revolutions” in the Middle East, the cauldron of racial and religious conflict in UK, has simmered.
The first shock was pleasant. In the 1970s, after finishing secondary school in a small country town, I moved to Palmerston North to start a science degree. Massey University's huge science blocks were monumental. I was awe-struck by the number and size of the lecture halls and laboratories. The dozens of white-coated science lecturers, so knowledgeable in their specialised fields, were inspiring. It seemed a cutting edge where sceptical enquiry, evidence and objectivity were providing new scientific understanding. I wanted to join in.
Or as Machiavelli said: “Fortune rules only half a man’s life; The other half being their will.”
As a disciple of the erudition enunciated by these eminent advocates of the pathway for individuals to succeed, and whereas I acknowledge the distinction between individuals and ethnic communities, I nevertheless have difficulty endorsing policy of politicians which seeks to artificially elevate cultures by ethnicity.(1)
We are to have the opportunity to make submissions regarding the Treaty Principles Bill. But that seems pointless if it does not subsequently proceed, although it would make clear the disrespect that our Parliament has for us. I figure that if I do not make a submission, the government will use that as an excuse to say that we were not really interested. So I’m going to take the opportunity to tell them what I think, then and now.
I suspect NZ political history will eventually point to the event as a significant and poignant marker of the demise of social justice progressivism based on identity politics. Failed, over-reaching ideology succumbing to conservative reality, just like the 2023 election. So, while Golriz has done the right thing and resigned the issues raised still require ongoing scrutiny, something you will not find in mainstream media (MSM).
