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.
Articles
Hobson's Pledge to the people of New Zealand signing Treaty of Waitangi "We are now one people" "he iwi tahi tatou" Our vision for New Zealand is a society in which all citizens are equal before the law, irrespective of when they or their ancestors arrived in this land.
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Will National end stalemate at Ihumatao?
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.
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Protest trumps Treaty process in possible Ihumatao deal
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.
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Brash questions Maori board in health revamp
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.
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Brash questions $1b for Maori after Covid-19
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.
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Police Complaint - illegal roadblocks
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.
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Brash asks PM to stop Maori road blocks
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.
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Brash: No justification for tribes ‘closing’ roads
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.
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No justification for race-based Covid-19 funding
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.
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Education Amendment Bill: Ethnic fundamentalism is used to masquerade as a panacea for solving future educational and training needs
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.
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Brash: The country is going mad
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.
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Iwi erect fencing and padlocks to enforce coastal rahui with blessing of Police
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.
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Brash: No justification for race-based spectrum give-away
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.
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Brash: Hobson's not "an anti-Treaty rights" group
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.
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Absurdistan Aotearoa: NZ Maori Council call on Pope to apologise to Maori for colonisation
Click here to hear Matthew Tukaki, Executive Director of the Maori Council explain why.
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Brash: British meddling in 250-year event not wanted
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.
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Brash: Water report another reason why Tribunal should go
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.
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Will Ihumatao talks mean Govt buyback?
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?
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New petition wants law upheld at Ihumatao
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.
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Brash: Questions for Ihumatao protesters
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.
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Brash: Iwi climate change legal action absurd
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.
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Absurd plants Treaty clause raises royalties question
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.
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Tribunal’s Maori health stand excuses irresponsibility
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.
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Brash: Budget revives old race-based gap-closing
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.
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Brash: Police cells Treaty breach claim nonsense
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.
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Race preference in action in Otago vote
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.
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Otago Regional Council should reject voting tribal appointees
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.
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The things Brash can publicly discuss without upsetting the thought police
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.
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Anti-Cook protesters make themselves look silly
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.
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Hobson’s Pledge welcomes investigation call
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.
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Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
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).
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Brash: Tax discount says Maori can’t achieve
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.
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A statue, lies, and the legacy of James Cook
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.
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Brash at Waitangi: Where to now?
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.
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Colonisation-violence link debunked
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.
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Entrenched Maori seats a political absurdity
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.
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Citizen urges Canterbury Regional Council to abandon odious Ngai Tahu Representation Bill
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.
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Ngati Porou Agreement sets stage for hundreds of “grace and favour” MACA deals
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.
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Auckland University Alumni magazine gives impression University no longer a centre for logical thought and exploratory thinking
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. -
Auckland University Alumni magazine publishes defamatory article
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.
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Maori Myths & Legends: Local electors deliver stinging rebuke
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.
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To Kelvin Davis “Maori and the Crown are not partners in any sense of the word.
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.”
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Race-Based Democracy Opposed
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.
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Open letter to Kelvin Davis, Minister of Crown-Maori relations
24 May 2018
Hon. Kelvin Davis Minister of Crown-Maori Relations
Parliament Buildings
WellingtonDear 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. -
Brash: Respect ‘No’ votes on Maori wards
Politicians and media should respect the substantial votes against Maori wards in four districts, Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash said today.
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Diverting attention from Maori ward separatism
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.
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Vote against Maori wards
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.
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How the Treaty is being twisted
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.
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Ratepayers Fight Council Racism
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.
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Local Democracy Undermined
Last month Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, the President of Local Government New Zealand – the union that represents the country’s 78 local authorities – wrote an open letter to the coalition Government calling for the removal of the petition rights that allow local residents and ratepayers to demand a poll if their Council unilaterally decides to establish Maori wards.
