Steven Mark Gaskell: A Week in the Glorious People’s Republic of Aotearoa Formerly New Zealand.

A Week in the Glorious People’s Republic of Aotearoa Formerly New Zealand. (If Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori win in 2026)

Monday — Redistribution Day
The new government kicks off the week by announcing that anyone who still has a job will be required to hand over 80% of their income for “Community Equity Realignment.” Public servants assure workers this is “not a tax” but a “compulsory contribution to collective happiness.” Meanwhile, those who haven’t worked in years receive a new “Universal Kia Ora Benefit” with free Netflix, vape subsidies, and complimentary electric scooters. The Finance Minister warns that GDP may drop “slightly,” but reminds everyone “money is a colonial construct anyway.”

Steven Mark Gaskell: Chisels, Carvings & Cash: How Your Tax Dollars Are Funding the “Traditional Arts Revival” Industry

Ever wondered where your hard-earned tax dollars go? Roads? Hospitals? Teachers? Silly you. The real action is in carving workshops, cultural wānanga, and Toi Ake grants - where Māori artists and carvers are busy keeping “ancient traditions” alive, with a little help from Creative New Zealand’s million-dollar wallet... and you.

Insights From Social Media: Steven Mark Gaskell - Omnibus

Stop the Bulldozers! The Spirits Might Get Upset

So apparently now, before we launch a ship, open a school, or God forbid start a building project, we need to check in with the spiritual hotline of ancient deities. Because nothing screams modern infrastructure quite like pausing for a karakia to appease Tāne Mahuta before the digger moves an inch. Welcome to New Zealand 2.0, where taxpayer funded spirituality gets wheeled out with more regularity than a traffic cone on State Highway

You’d think we were building pyramids to honour the gods of the forest, not classrooms and council buildings. Karakia is now the go to ritual for everything from opening a mop closet to planting native shrubs. But don’t worry it’s not religious, they say. Just deeply spiritual, ancestral, metaphysical, and involving gods. Totally different. And if you object, well, clearly you're a coloniser who doesn’t respect the Treaty. Never mind your right to freedom of belief or secular government spaces.

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Why Has Te Pāti Māori Still Not Filed Their Financial Returns? - Steven Mark Gaskell

Is it incompetence, corruption, or just political arrogance?

As of mid-July 2025, Te Pāti Māori has still not filed their financial returns a legal requirement under electoral law. Every other party has. So why the delay?

Here are 7 possible reasons they’re hiding from the public:

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One Country, Two Governments And Guess Who Doesn’t Need Your Vote - Steven Mark Gaskell.

Pita Tipene isn’t just campaigning for a council seat he’s campaigning for a country where democracy comes with an asterisk.

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“Read the Fine Print, Minister” – Why Seymour’s Regulatory Standards Bill Might Actually Be a Win for Democracy - Steven Mark Gaskell.

While political noise swirls around co-governance and fast-track laws, another bill — quieter but arguably more powerful — is making its way through Parliament: the Regulatory Standards Bill, spearheaded by ACT leader and Minister for Regulation David Seymour. And despite the predictable outrage from the usual suspects, this legislation could finally force our lawmakers to do something revolutionary: justify their decisions.

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Kōkā: Starring Your Tax Dollars And A Half-empty Hall”

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Oh, wonderful yet another taxpayer-funded cinematic masterpiece destined to pack out... well, maybe half a community hall if they offer free snacks.

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Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Māori Unemployment? Let’s Stop Blaming Everyone Else

Here we go again. Another report telling us that Māori unemployment is 8.4% nearly double the national average. And of course, out roll the usual explanations: structural inequality, systemic racism, not enough government funding, not enough iwi investment, not enough jobs in the regions... not enough of something that isn’t personal responsibility.

Let’s just be honest for once: maybe it’s time to stop blaming everyone else and look in the mirror.

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Brian Kennedy writes > WHY a karakia to open a new highway ?

WHY Stone Age Maori myth, beliefs, customs and voodoo witchcraft ?

WHY not a blessing by a Catholic priest or an Anglican vicar ?

What extra special relevance do our part-maori citizens have to a new highway ?

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Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Decolonisation: Because Who Needs Democracy When You Can Have Tribal Backtracking?

So, you’ve heard about this new “trendy” political movement decolonisation. Apparently, our forebears messed everything up by, you know, building a modern society based on individual rights, rule of law, and brace yourself equality under the ballot box. Now, instead of simply moving on from history like mature adults, we’re supposed to rewind the clock to some romanticised era where everyone was relegated to their little tribal fiefdoms. Good luck finding a civics textbook in that dystopia.

Insights From Social Media

Maori Activists / Racists Create Racism Watchdog Website

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Oh spare me, just what New Zealand needed another website, this time courtesy of the Iwi Chairs Forum, to inform us all that the real problem in New Zealand isn't crime, cost of living, or failing infrastructure, but hurt feelings.

Enter “PAPARA” a name that sounds suspiciously like a noise a toddler makes, now moonlighting as a self-appointed racism watchdog. Because obviously, what the country has been crying out for is more publicly funded moral scolding, dressed up in cultural jargon and co-governance buzzwords.

Steven Mark Gaskell: The return of the Alliance Party

Just when you thought New Zealand’s political stage had reached peak saturation with virtue signalling and utopian wish crafting, the Alliance Party has decided to stumble back into the spotlight like an aging garage band convinced their 90s demo tape was misunderstood brilliance.

Yes, the same Alliance that flamed out of national politics years ago is now eyeing a return, this time through the back door of local body elections. Because apparently, nothing says “grassroots democracy” like dusting off tired socialist slogans and hoping no one remembers how badly it went the first time.

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Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Let’s Rebuild New Zealand with Flax and Wairua What Could Go Wrong?

Just when you thought navigating New Zealand’s building code couldn’t get any more complicated, here comes a call to “weave tikanga and wairua” into your next resource consent application. Because, obviously, what our housing sector really needs isn’t fewer regulations it’s spiritual guidelines and indigenous architecture footnotes from 1823.

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Steven Mark Gaskell writes > Let’s Rebuild New Zealand with Flax and Wairua What Could Go Wrong?

Just when you thought navigating New Zealand’s building code couldn’t get any more complicated, here comes a call to “weave tikanga and wairua” into your next resource consent application. Because, obviously, what our housing sector really needs isn’t fewer regulations it’s spiritual guidelines and indigenous architecture footnotes from 1823.

Insights From Social Media

Steven Mark Gaskell responds to two recent articles in the Media

Another Day, Another Lecture from the Green Party’s Moral High Ground

Former Green MP Catherine Delahunty has dusted off her soapbox to remind us again that the Treaty of Waitangi isn’t just a founding document but apparently the undisputed blueprint for total constitutional overhaul. According to her, the Privileges Committee and by extension, democracy itself should defer to an activist interpretation of Te Tiriti that somehow bypasses elections, representative governance, and that pesky little thing called public accountability.

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Tikanga

Steven Mark Gaskell writes > “Tikanga for Thee, Not for Me” – A Special Set of Rules for a Very Special Few

By now, you've probably seen the latest soft-focus explainer floating around social media and news columns: “What is Tikanga?” It’s being pitched as a living, breathing code of conduct, deeply rooted in Māori values, spirituality, and communal harmony. It guides how people should behave with respect, dignity, and balance.

All sounds lovely — in theory.

Steven Mark Gaskell: Waitangi Tribunal, Co-Governance and Treaty-based nursing standards

Another day, another seat at the table: Welcome to the Waitangi Club - By someone who's definitely not getting a seat 

Well, what a surprise. Another day in the Beehive, another golden chair handed out in the name of “representation.” This time, it’s Gerrard Albert – yes, that Gerrard Albert – the man with more Treaty miles under his belt than a Crown SUV. Freshly appointed to the WaitangiTribunal by Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. Three years, nice and tidy. Just long enough to approve a few more grievances, keep the machinery well-oiled.

Anzac Day Thoughts: Steven Mark Gaskell - Hijacking Anzac Day

ANZAC Day was about courage, sacrifice, and a quiet, shared respect for those who served—regardless of where they came from or what language they spoke. No one in the trenches stopped to ask their mate’s ethnicity before going over the top. But fast forward to 2025, and now you can’t start a dawn service without a political preamble wrapped in cultural theatre. Because obviously, what the fallen really died for was modern virtue-signalling and identity politics.

Steven Mark Gaskell: Cultural vetoes

Progress halted once again—this time by spiritual vibes and centuries-old ghost stories. Onoke Heights, prime real estate in Te Kamo, where a developer dared to imagine something so outrageous as homes for actual living people. 

Steven Mark Gaskell: Water Wars - When “Co-Governance” Becomes “You Sit Down, We’re in Charge”

Well, here we go again. Another round of “give us control” dressed up as cultural justice.

This time, it’s Ngāi Tahu marching into the High Court demanding rangatiratanga over freshwater. That’s not just some symbolic title—they want the power to make, regulate, alter, and enforce water decisions. In other words, they want to hold the hose, write the rules, and charge you rent to drink from your own tap.