It is the height of arrogance for New Plymouth District councillors to decide to create a Maori ward in that city, despite 83 percent of those who voted on a similar proposition just five years ago rejecting it, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.

Will Judith Collins as the new National Party leader support the agreement between Te Kawerau a Maki and Fletchers to proceed with housing at Ihumatao, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.

A possible $30 million deal over land at Ihumatao after Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became involved in the dispute shows that protests over-ride negotiated agreements, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.

Unless you were living under a stone, you will know that towards the end of May a black American by the name of George Floyd was killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, while three other police officers looked on.  And you will also know that this event has triggered huge protests against racism, not only in the US but throughout the world.

How exactly would the removal of 12 district health boards and the creation of a Maori health authority improved Maori health outcomes, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash asked today.

A Budget allocation of almost $1 billion to assist exclusively those with a Maori ancestor who have been affected by Covid-19 is an absurdity that few dare to question, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said on May 15, 2020.

This letter is provided as complaint regarding the actions of the NZ Police and endorsement by Police management of illegal roadblocks that have been established in various areas across New Zealand and widely reported in the New Zealand media. It is urgently requested that immediate action is taken to ensure that all illegal roadblocks are terminated and that the requirements of the Alert 4 COVID-19 conditions of remaining at home are consistently and urgently enforced.

Prime Minister, when you announced last week that the country would move into a period of unprecedented “self-isolation”, you made it clear that enforcement of these measures would be provided by police officers and the military, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash wrote today. 

There is not the slightest justification for tribes asserting that they have closed roads to protect their people against the Covid-19 scare, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

There is not the slightest justification for allocating $56-million in Covid-19 funding on the basis of race, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.  

Submission by Dr Tom Johnson on the Education and Training Bill

As someone with post graduate academic knowledge and practical experience in the embedding of culture on both a macro and organisational basis I believe I am qualified to comment on the Education and Training Bill, and its limitations and errors. The bill in its present form is alarming. Ethnic fundamentalism is used to masquerade as a panacea for solving future educational and training needs.

There are two pieces of legislation wending their way through Parliament at the moment designed to further entrench the crazy notion that the Treaty of Waitangi created an obligation on governments nearly 200 years later to treat anybody with a Maori ancestor in some kind of preferential way.

One is the Public Service Bill, introduced to Parliament last month and now being considered by the Governance and Administration select committee.  It represents the Government’s grand plan to revamp the whole public service by repealing the State Sector Act.

Tribal Maori have been emboldened this year as evidenced by Ngati Awa elders who, in the wake of the White Island tragedy, issued a rahui banning the public from accessing the Bay of Plenty coastline. The ban included the erection of fencing and padlocks, blocking access to Whakatane wharf. This allows a startling glimpse into our future under the Marine and Coastal Area Act: while boaties and fishers might feel free to ignore a ban issued by an Anglican pastor or Catholic priest, it is difficult to ignore a spiritual prohibition when your boat is barricaded by fencing and padlocks with the sanction of local police.

There is not the slightest justification for allocating any resource which is the common property of all New Zealanders on the basis of race, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

Yesterday, in commenting on the decision by New Zealand First to vote against his Bill to entrench the Maori electorates, Te Tai Tonga MP Tino Tirikatene accused that party of pandering to anti-treaty rights group Hobson’s Pledge”. I’m disappointed that Waatea News did not take the trouble to get a comment from Hobson’s Pledge on Mr Tirikatene’s totally unwarranted description of us as an “anti-treaty rights group”. For that, I believe you owe us an apology.

Click here to hear Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the Maori Council explain why.

The British High Commissioner should be withdrawn over her factually incorrect meddling in our 250-year national celebration, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

Royalty payments and allocations of water to “Maori” provide further evidence that the Waitangi Tribunal should go, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

Will Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s talks on the Ihumatao protest at Mangere, Auckland, lead to the Government buying a 32ha special housing area from Fletchers and, if so, what would this mean for housing, property rights, treaty settlements, and future protests?

A petition has been launched calling on the Government to uphold the Treaty settlement with Te Kawerau a Maki and for police to evict protesters at Ihumatao, in Auckland, where work on a new housing subdivision has been blocked.

Ihumatao protest leader Pania Newton should explain why the land she says was confiscated does not appear on a map of post-1840 government confiscations, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

Legal action by an iwi leader against the Government alleging "failure" to protect Māori from climate change is the height of absurdity, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.  

The addition of an absurd Treaty of Waitangi clause in the Plant Varieties Rights Act raises the question whether “Maoridom” will claim royalties on new plant varieties, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.  

The Waitangi Tribunal’s call for compensation for under-funding Maori health providers unfairly implies a systemic failure by health professionals and further excuses Maori from taking responsibility, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.  

It is appalling to see that the Labour Coalition Government is turning the clock back 20 years to the absurd “Closing the Gaps” policy of the Clark Government, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

Today’s allegation by the Maori Council that holding young alleged offenders in police cells breaches the Treaty of Waitangi is the height of nonsense, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

The seven-three vote at the Otago Regional Council yesterday to include two voting un-elected tribal appointees on its policy committee shows race-based preferential treatment in action, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

The Otago Regional Council tomorrow should reject a proposal to include voting un-elected tribal appointees on its policy committee, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

We haven’t spotted any expressions of outrage or dismay, in response to news that Don Brash is throwing his money and weight behind technology that could help to solve New Zealand’s methane headache.

Sometimes “indigenous rights” activists make themselves look silly while trying to make a stand against celebrating Captain Cook’s visit, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.

Hobson’s Pledge welcomes an investigation by the Human Rights Commission called for by the New Zealand Maori Council so long as the Commission applies the law, acts independently, and leaves prejudice at the door, Hobson’s Pledge spokesperson Casey Costello said today.

Last month the Minister of Maori Development, Nania Mahuta, announced that the Government intended developing a national plan of action for implementing the highly controversial United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

A race-based discount for iwi businesses built into the proposed capital gains tax released yesterday shows that the Tax Working Group believes that Maori can’t achieve without a tax break, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

There is an argument going on at the moment about replacing the statue of James Cook on Mount Titirangi at Gisborne. Barney Tupara, a representative of Ngati Oenone says that the first meeting between Maori and Pakeha was violent and nine Maoris were killed. This is a blatant example of the lies Maori activists tell now about the first encounter between Maori and Europeans, and when it is not a lie it is a distortion of the truth. The journal of Captain Cook is clear, four or five Maoris were killed, the only query being if one was killed or injured, and it was the result of Maori aggression.

Tena koutou ki a koutou a Ngapuhi, E hari ana taku ngakau ki te mihi atu ki a koutou, He iwi kotahi tatou, No reira tena koutou.

Can I begin my comments today by saying how much I appreciate your invitation?  I have no doubt that some of you see me as a racist of the worst kind.  It is a great tribute to you that you are nevertheless willing to have me here today, at this place of great importance in our history, even though you may disagree with me on a whole raft of fundamental issues. 

By John Robinson

A report titled Every 4 minutes: A discussion paper on preventing family violence in New Zealand, by Ian Lambie of the office of the Prime Minister’s science advisor, which claims that Maori experienced little violence before colonisation, does not survive academic analysis.

Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene’s Electoral (Entrenchment of Maori Seats) Amendment Bill will, if passed, require a 75 percent majority in Parliament to disestablish the Maori seats.

Consider these absurdities:

• The need for these seats disappeared in 1893, when New Zealand became the first nation in the world to grant universal adult suffrage. The 1986 Royal Commission on the Electoral System recommended the abolition of these seats.

The Acting Chief Executive, Canterbury Regional Council

Dear Mr McConway Re: CRC Ngai Tahu Representation Bill

I write to express my opposition to this Bill as notified in the ODT on 31 October 2018.    The Bill’s objects, as advised, appear to render the intent of the Bill unnecessary, discriminatory and hence in breach of Human Rights legislation.

While the public are in general too busy to notice yet another “Agreement” between the Crown and tribal groups, Ngati Porou’s foreshore and seabed Agreement, which confers inalienable legal rights on Porou, sets a dangerous precedent for New Zealand’s future: Parliament has a choice – it can remain a member of the small group of prosperous liberal democracies that follow the Rule of Law (as opposed to rule by law) or it can enact the Ngati Porou Bill[i], setting a precedent for future “grace and favour” deals over the foreshore and seabed in which the Minister exercises powers of gift outside our constitutional framework, established over centuries, to define and curb Ministerial powers.

Dear Ms Wilford,
Knowing that Auckland University is being represented by Ingenio – a magazine which publishes such flawed and defamatory material as found in Professor Stephen May’s opinion piece on ‘Why Should We Learn Te Reo Maori?’ − makes me embarrassed to be alumni.

To the Editor, Ingenio, The University of Auckland

I write in reference to the article written by Professor Stephen May in your Autumn 2018 issue.

The article titled “Why Should We Learn Te Reo Maori?” sought to discuss the benefits of bilingualism or multilingualism with the inference that Te Reo would be the most useful language aside from English to learn.

Aside from misrepresenting Don Brash’s position regarding learning Te Reo, the article significantly maligns an organization of which I am proudly co-spokesperson.

By Michael Coote

Over recent years the people of New Zealand have repeatedly spoken through binding polls held under the auspices of the Local Electoral Act 2001 (LEA, see link appendix 1) concerning establishment of separate Maori representation in their local governments. As of May 19, 2018, results are in for no fewer than five LEA binding polls, wherein local electors decisively vetoed Maori wards that elected representatives on their local councils tried to foist upon them.

Retired District Court Judge and Canterbury University law lecturer Anthony Willy: “Maori and the Crown are not partners in any sense of the word. It is constitutionally impossible for the Crown to enter into a partnership with any of its subjects. The true position is that the Crown is sovereign but owes duties of justice and good faith to the Maori descendants of those who signed the Treaty.” 

The recently released referendum results for the five councils that decided to introduce Maori wards against the wishes of their local electors showed, in each case, that the public is opposed to race-based democracy.

24 May 2018

Hon. Kelvin Davis Minister of Crown-Maori Relations
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Dear Minister,
We believe that the Government’s move to establish a ministerial responsibility for reviewing the relationship between the Crown and Maori is fraught with danger because it entrenches the notion that the Crown and Maori somehow exist as separate groups in partnership with each other.  Indeed, your own website affirms that “the Crown and Maori will act reasonably, honourably, and in good faith towards each other as Treaty partners”, reinforcing that notion. But the Crown’s duty to act in this way surely extends to all New Zealanders, of whatever origin; it cannot be the prerogative of only a racially selected few.

Politicians and media should respect the substantial votes against Maori wards in four districts, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

A claim in Parliament yesterday that the legislation that enables a vote on Maori wards is discriminatory looks like an attempt to divert attention from the blatant separatism that a Maori ward entails, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.

For those living in Palmerston North, Manawatu, Western Bay of Plenty, Whakatane, and Kaikoura, when voting papers arrive please vote against proposals to set up a Maori ward in your area.

My thesis is that New Zealand today is awash with fake history issuing from those seeking political advantage and material gain or personal satisfaction. You may say that I am a man with a mission and perhaps I am. Values dear to me and once, I used to think, to all New Zealanders, are truth, fairness and democracy which are under threat today.

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council is divided into three wards for electoral purposes. However, in November 2017, Councillors voted – with nine votes in favour and three opposed – to establish additional race-based wards, which would guarantee seats for Maori.