John McLean: A different kind of rights

No pot of human rights gold at the end of this Rainbow

About three weeks ago, New Zealand’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Dr Stephen Rainbow, talked to Michael Laws on webcasting media channel, The Platform. You can listen to most of the interview here (in order to listen to the full interview, become a Platform Plus subscriber):

Chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow On Polarisation

John Robinson: Choice 2023: for racism or for equality

Societies across the world have long recognised that we all belong to one human race, that we can best live together in harmony when there is a general belief in equality, all belonging in a united county, as one people, equals.  That principle has been steadily undermined in New Zealand since 1975, and is now gone: this is a divided nation moving from separation and partnership to co-governance, and towards two unequal race-based parliaments.  

There is a choice to be made between tribal rule and equality.  We must face the issue, make a decision for ourselves, of what sort of society we want for ourselves now and for the future.  It cannot be dodged; to continue as we are is to accept racial separation. 

John Robinson: A constitution enshrining racial apartheid in NZ is coming

There is a move afoot to rewrite the basic constitution of New Zealand, unsurprisingly to set in place racism and apartheid.

A meeting has been organised at The University of Auckland’s Business School this month to develop a new constitution. This is announced as a ‘Constitutional Conference Korero’, a national hui “to provide the technical and legal support for constitutional transformation in Aotearoa New Zealand — a ‘national wananga’ to bring together experts from around the world and within Aotearoa to present arguments and options for constitutional transformation to ‘realise Maori rights’.

This is a minority effort, excluding the majority of New Zealanders. It will cause considerable harm and deepen existing divisions between the two racial categories enshrined in existing law, overturning the belief in equality and implicit refusal of race-based separation. The country will be torn apart, as the process of writing a constitution is among the most wrenching any nation can go through, even a nation at peace. It brings every tension, rivalry, prejudice and latent grievance to the surface.

NZCPR Newsletter: The Revolution Within

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if private power becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”

― President Franklin D. Roosevelt

In April last year, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced a review of local government: “They are now facing a wave of reforms that will significantly affect their traditional roles and functions… This offers an important opportunity to embody the Treaty partnership through the role and representation of iwi/Maori in local government.”

She was referring to Labour’s planned removal of two core roles and sources of funding from councils, namely the provision of water services and Resource Management Act consenting.

Bruce Moon: "Indigeneity?"

Alert observers will surely be noting today the increasing references by Government spokesmen and others to “the rights of indigenous peoples” with Maori Development Minister Willie Jackson saying that “New Zealand’s efforts [are] already well down the path.”[i]  So perhaps now is the time to have a good look at what all this is about!

It all seems to have started when former Prime Minister Helen Clark visited United Nations headquarters in 2007. In September that year the General Assembly of the United Nations passed its “Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People”, UNDRIP.  Of the four nations which refused to sign it at the time, Clark explained that she had not done so “because of legal concerns”. 

Rosemary Banks, New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, in her address to the United Nations on 13 September 2007 went a little further, outlining why New Zealand could not sign the Declaration:

“Madam President, the place of Maori in society, their grievances and the disparities affecting them, are central and enduring features of domestic debate and of government action. Furthermore, New Zealand has an unparalleled system for redress accepted by both indigenous and non-indigenous citizens alike.”

Tony Sayers: He Puapua - the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

Introduction:

The document ‘He Puapua’ is apparently, the roadmap for the implementation of ‘The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples’ (UNDRIP) into New Zealand Law by the Year 2040.

This implies that He Puapua should reflect the principles of UNDRIP. However, as I read both documents, it becomes apparent that this is not entirely the case. He Puapua, is using UNDRIP as a disguise, it is obviously a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

NZCPR Weekly: The Tide is Turning

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we examine the Government’s separatist health reforms and expose the deceit that underpins the He Puapua roadmap for the tribal control of New Zealand, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Mike Butler shares his critical analysis of the radical plan for a Maori sovereignty takeover, and our poll asks whether you agree with the Labour Government’s proposal for a separatist Maori Health Authority.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

Rodney Clifton: A Meaningful Job is the Only Way Forward for First Nations People

There is little doubt that the condition of Indigenous people is desperate in Canada, especially for those living in the 600 or so small isolated First Nations communities.

Most Canadians know some facts about the quality of lives of the people in these communities, but let’s refresh our minds with a few statistics. 

First Nations have the highest rates of incarceration, homelessness, poverty, and welfare dependency. They also have the highest rates of infant mortality, suicides, and the lowest life expectancy of any racial or ethnic group in Canada. As well, reserve communities have the highest rates of sexual abuse, single motherhood, and alcohol and drug abuse.1  

Peter Williams: Plans for a co-governed New Zealand you should be concerned about

I want to talk about a very important issue. It’s called democracy.

As Winston Churchill once said, apparently, “no-one pretends democracy is perfect. In fact, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

But the question I think we should be asking in this country is this: is democracy under threat? 

Garrick Tremain: Waves

Here is Garrick Tremain's latest cartoon commentary!

NZCPR Newsletter: Defending Our Democracy

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we examine the implications of the Government’s plan to implement the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by 2040 and we re-launch our Declaration of Equality to defend New Zealand democracy, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Tony Sayers outlines the importance of pushing back against separatist control, and our poll asks whether you believe all race-based preferment be abolished from New Zealand Statutes.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

NZCPR Weekly: The End of Democracy

Dear NZCPR Reader,   

In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we outline what the full Government ‘roadmap’ to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by 2040 reveals, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Fiona Mackenzie shares concerns that Nania Mahuta’s Water Services Bill will result in freshwater being controlled by Maori tribal interests, and our poll asks whether you support the proposal to elevate the status of Maori to 50/50 co-governance.

*To read the newsletter click HERE.
*To register for the NZCPR Weekly mailing list, click HERE.  

Rodney Clifton: An Uprising in Canada

Ten years ago, Douglas Bland, a retired lieutenant-colonel from the Canadian Forces and the Chair of Defense Studies at Queen’s University, wrote Uprising: A Novel. 

In this 500-page work of “fiction,” Bland outlines how militant Indigenous warriors and their allies could, in the tradition of Louis Riel, hold Canada up for ransom, stopping rail traffic, blocking highways, disrupting government offices, and even bombing hydro towers north of Winnipeg.

Brian Arrandale: Ethnic Rights and the UN Declaration

The prime reason for Local Government New Zealand is so insistent in its desire to give Maori special non voting privileges for appointment onto Local Bodies, is that it can refer to the fact that since this country signed the U.N. Declaration on Indigenous Rights it is an ethnic right.

Also Parliament itself continues on this pathway of appeasement and promotion of an elite Maori Tribal dictatorship outside our common law. We have already seen efforts to promote this apartheid divide in the re-writing of the Treaty and in future demands.

Reuben Chapple: All ideas have a pedigree

Dr Elizabeth Rata’s recent article (“Democracy and Diversity”) makes some excellent points about why equality in citizenship and one law for all must always trump identity politics in the public square. However, she seems to have skated somewhat lightly over how it is that “liberals of both the Left and the Right embraced biculturalism with such religious-like commitment.” All ideas have a pedigree.