Matua Kahurangi: The great co-governance swindle

The tribal takeover of local government

In modern New Zealand, a quiet revolution is underway. It’s not fought with placards or parliamentary votes, but in boardrooms and council chambers, behind closed doors, away from the people who actually pay the bills. This is the era of co-governance - a creeping transfer of power from elected officials to unelected tribal elites, rubber-stamped by faceless bureaucrats and backed by the silence of a spineless media. If you think this is some wild conspiracy, look no further than the growing list of councils now inking secret agreements with iwi groups without public consultation or oversight.

NZCPR Newsletter: Takeover by Stealth

In 2019, under the guise of implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Government adopted “Vision 2040” – a blueprint by radical Maori to replace democracy with tribal rule by 2040.

Drafted by a panel appointed by then Maori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta, He Puapua was so explosive that Labour kept it hidden from their Coalition Partner New Zealand First – and also from voters – in the run up to the 2020 election.

Once Labour won an outright majority, He Puapua was bulldozed across the State Sector and beyond by Labour’s Office for Maori Crown Relations – an agency of over 200 staff that worked in collaboration with iwi leaders.