Peter Williams: A Media Coup

It is one of the most significant moves in the history of the New Zealand media. In time it may be seen as one of the most important manoeuvres in our recent social history.

Ex-pat Canadian businessman Jim Grenon has bought just under ten percent of New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) and now says he has the support of enough other shareholders to force a complete replacement of the company’s board.

Peter Williams: UPDATE: A Book of Waitangi

My copy of Understanding Te Tiriti: a handbook of basic facts about Te Tiriti o Waitangi arrived by post today. This is the booklet, written by lawyer Roimata Smail, which has been distributed to every secondary school in the country.

My initial response was that if this is the level of textbook and reference source that high school students are provided with these days then heaven help our future. It is barely 30 pages, is comprised of simplistic language and unsupported claims and is the kind of pamphlet that might be appropriate for children at the oldest in years 7 and 8, the intermediate school level.

Geoff Parker: The Maori circus comes to Whangarei District Council

As a Whangarei District Council (WDC) ratepayer and a staunch supporter of democracy, one law for all and racial equality I tuned into the Youtube coverage of the WDC public meeting on the 29th August 2024 which was primarily about the retention of separatist Maori Wards. (a)

The Mayor to his credit did a reasonable job of containing a potential volatile situation with a roomful of Maori ward supporters and a few New Zealanders. The Mayor stated that he had previously heard all the arguments before and this time around was hoping to hear something different - perhaps he was hoping to hear the truth?

True to form the meeting was peppered with misinformation and half truths from Maori wardist speakers, they cleverly played the race, victim, emotion and white guilt cards.

John Porter: Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man

“Cometh the hour, cometh the man.” Generally meaning that leadership, even of one’s self, is absent and desperately needed in a time of greatest necessity, so someone is forced to step up whether they seem capable or not.

Prime Minister Luxon I think your hour has cometh!

Dr Michael Bassett: Maori push for parallel government structures

If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong.

Over the last few days we have seen calls from one or two Iwi for prior consultation with Maori before ministers submit suggestions to the fast-track consenting panel of experts who are to make recommendations back to government on how to proceed with projects caught up in the toils of our out-of-date Resource Management Act. Various loud assertions about “partnership” and Treaty rights have been made to justify Maori having separate entitlements to everyone else.

Kevin: On to the End Game

A real estate agent is facing a five-year ban after refusing to complete a compulsory short course on Maori culture and tikanga.

Janet Dickson labelled the course “woke madness” in a Facebook post and said that she was going to fight for her rights “to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else”.

Her refusal is based on concerns that an industry body can force its members to complete training “on a subject that is only peripherally connected to their job under threat of losing their right to work.”

JC: Is Maori Mana a Myth?

The Te Aka Maori Dictionary defines Mana and Myth as: MANA – prestige, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma – mana is a ‘supernatural force’ in a person, place or object. MYTH – the modifier (adjective) “mythical” in this example is defined as “Some mythical tales of the Pakeha should be told for pleasure.”

These meanings potentially explain the modus operandi of elite Maori, both in politics (the Maori Party, Maori MPs in the Greens and the Maori Labour Caucus) and outside (Tuku Morgan), very clearly. They highlight the spiritual power, the supernatural force in a person, place or object as an historical front for their real purpose. That purpose is to use their positions to try to exert and gain prestige, power, influence and status.

Where should the Treaty of Waitangi sit within our law?

Thomas Coughlan is joined by University of Auckland sociologist Elizabeth Rata to discuss her views on the Treaty, where it sits as a legal document.

Click image to listen

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 29/9/23

“Racism” becomes a buzz word on the campaign trail – but our media watchdogs stay muzzled when the Māori Party offends

Oh, dear. We have nothing to report from the Beehive.

At least, we have nothing to report from the government’s official website.

But the drones have not gone silent. They are out on the election campaign trail, busy buzzing about this and that in the hope of winning media attention, and winning lots of headline when they are buzzing about racism.

Mike Butler: Two Governments under tribal control

For those interested, here is a letter that was sent to the Hawkes Bay Today newspaper - which has not yet been published.

Had Neill Gordon listened during the disrupted Julian Batchelor seminar in Hastings in July, he would have learned about the current government’s co-governance plan, how it is set up to work, and that there is no reference to partnership in the Treaty of Waitangi.

Damien Grant: The failure of New Zealand's teachers

Does it really take six years to learn how to teach 10-year-olds algebra? Incredibly, in New Zealand, the answer is yes.

Teaching in New Zealand is a highly regulated profession. You need a four-year degree and then at least two years on the job with a mentor before you can become registered. This does seem excessive. Adult humans have been teaching their children since before we were humans. Teaching, and learning, is hard-wired into humanity.

Point of Order: Jackson and the Treaty

It seems he has forgotten what Lange said about partnership and why Clark wouldn’t sign UN declaration

Let’s hear it for Labour’s Willie Jackson, a minister of this, that and the other in the Hipkins government and a fellow with a curious grasp of what happened in the days of David Lange and Helen Clark.

In Parliament yesterday, Jackson said ACT leader has a lot to answer for:

Muriel Newman: Nothing to Fear

In a week when Russia invaded the Ukraine, and when the protesters in Wellington scored a major victory with the removal of vaccine mandates for children, the Government has embarked on a charm offensive to quell the growing public opposition to its racist He Puapua agenda.

He Puapua is, of course, Labour’s ‘masterplan’ to replace democracy with co-governance and tribal rule.

Don Brash: Too many politicians are ignorant or intimidated

Too many politicians at every level of government – central and local – are either ignorant about what the Treaty of Waitangi meant or are intimidated by those for whom promoting the myth of partnership is the fastest way to power and resources.

We saw this ignorance most vividly when former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was asked what was in the first article of the Treaty on the occasion of her visit to Waitangi shortly after she became Prime Minister. She didn’t have a clue but, after some prompting by those around her, she mumbled something about partnership.

Graham Adams: “Co-governance for your deck!”

An effective campaign against the RMA reforms will be a nightmare for Hipkins.

After a Budget that failed to excite voters and a lacklustre party conference where his senior colleagues faintly praised him for his proletarian taste in food, the very last thing Chris Hipkins needs is a light shone on the vexed topic of co-governance.

An aficionado apparently not only of sausage rolls but also of spaghetti on toast (according to Kelvin Davis and Grant Robertson respectively), the Prime Minister is no doubt still hoping he can steer the election debate almost entirely towards “bread-and-butter” issues. Unfortunately for him, raising awareness of the co-governance provisions in the new RMA replacement legislation going through Parliament is central to the Taxpayers’ Union’s latest national campaign. With the title “Hands Off Our Homes!”, the roadshow will take in 30 towns and cities over three weeks, after beginning with a meeting last Monday in Christchurch.

Barrie Saunders: Exiting the constitutional rabbit hole

Very well-intentioned politicians, judges and others have taken NZ down into a Treaty rabbit hole, from which few know how to exit, without creating more social divisions. The modern interpretations of the Maori version of Treaty have set aside a common understanding of a few decades ago, and there is now heaps of anxiety and aggravation.

We face the reality that some iwi leaders, academics and others, think the Treaty created a “partnership” between the Crown and Maori leaders, and they should have equal say in the governance of the country, even though the terms “partnership” was not in any version. Furthermore, the textual ambiguities in the Treaty have led to Parliament legislating for recognition of the “principles” of the Treaty for which it has not provided any definition. There is an amazing amount of literature for such a short Treaty, which in itself shows up its practical limitations. To some it appears we have infinitely flexible avenues for iwi to ask for more.

Mike Butler: Treaty twisting and two govts

An article with the bland title “Restoring the mana of the treaty”, published at the weekend, is among a torrent of treaty twisting writings arguing that the Treaty of Waitangi envisaged two governments in New Zealand, one by Maori for Maori and the other a fully bicultural version of what we already have.

As we head towards an election campaign in which “co-governance” is already an issue, it is crucial for voters to understand some of the fallacies that are being presented as facts.

Its author, Alistair Reese, was described by E-Tangata magazine as a “Pakeha” theologian, historian, and farmer.

Also described as having a “particular focus on “seeking to strengthen the relationship between Maori and Pakeha in Aotearoa”, he believes that “there is a need for Pakeha to understand who they are and how they belong in Aotearoa New Zealand”.

At this point I imagine that may be quite a few New Zealanders surprised and amused to find out from Dr Reese that perhaps they need help searching for their identity.

What did he write? In a nutshell:

John Robinson: Where are we going? This is our country, our future to decide

We, the living, are not ruled from beyond the grave by those who lived before us in different times. It is for us to decide our way of life, our culture, our government, our laws.

Let go the shackles of the past

The Treaty of Waitangi was set down, agreed upon and signed in 1840, now (in 2022) 182 years in the past. In the last half-century, the text has been argued over, translated to and fro between English and Maori multiple times with massive changes in the meaning of many Maori words — such as taonga going from property taken at the point of a spear [Hongi Hika: tao, a spear] to “treasures” [Kawharu]), and given newly introduced add-ons (such as “partnership” and “principles”) so there are many and contradictory versions of what was meant and what should guide us today.

Point of Order: Thanks Minister – we now know what Govt is investing in forestry

But chatting and singing to hasten tree growth shouldn’t cost much

Point of Order’s Beehive monitors couldn’t get too wildly excited by the latest announcements from the Beehive.

A bridge was opened – the press statement calls it the Old Māngere Bridge Replacement, rather than the New Māngere Bridge.

Pacific peoples and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei have welcomed “a new dawn of partnership and prosperity” at a Dawn Raids apology commemoration ceremony in Auckland. Among other things, this suggests the Dawn Raids apology a year ago is to be remembered in commemoration ceremonies every year.

New appointments have been made to the Strategic COVID-19 Public Health Advisory Group and the term of the group has been extended until December.

The Government has activated Enhanced Taskforce Green in response to flooding in the Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough districts.

And progress is being made on another Treaty settlement. Ngāti Ruapani mai Waikaremoana and the Crown have signed an Agreement in Principle.

Point of Order: Let’s hear it for partnerships – and for the involvement of central government in formulating a future for forestry

We can’t call it a profusion, but partnerships other than the Treaty one popped up in despatches from our busy, busy Beehive workers.

There’s the primary sector partnership, for starters.

Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor mentioned this when banging on about food and fibre exports – they accounted for 81.4 per cent of New Zealand’s total exports in the year to 30 June – and the part his government plays in producing them.