We are making sure New Zealanders know just how much of our coast is being carved up into customary marine titles and today we hit the front page.

It is thanks to Hobson's Pledge supporters, like you, who chipped in to our Save Our Shores fund that we have been able to place ads on the *FRONT PAGE* of today's New Zealand Herald plus the inside cover.

Additionally, you'll find similar full page ads in several regional papers this week.

We are expecting some blowback and the poor folks at the Herald will no doubt be receiving complaints, but this is because our opponents don't want New Zealanders to be informed on this issue. If we weren't exposing truths that Te Pāti Māori and the like don't want to be public knowledge they wouldn't react so aggressively to our attempts to gather awareness.

Speaking of which, I read this morning that New Plymouth Councillor Murray Chong has been targeted due to his opposition to Māori Wards. Someone fired a shot at his car!

The poor man is clearly terrified for himself and his family. He told reporters:

"I'm now scared. I've had my life threatened several times in letters.

"I now can't walk by myself at night because I've been told I will be king-hit and I'll wake up in a hospital. I've had people say they will grab my dog, chop it up into quarters and leave it on my doorstep. I've had my daughter hassled."

It is worth remembering that these threateners and thugs are extremists. Murray Chong may be in the minority on the council, but polling shows that New Zealanders (including a majority of Te Pāti Māori voters) support referenda for Māori Wards!

This incident, as well as the other harassment Councillor Chong has endured due to his stance on Māori Wards and related policies, demonstrates how high the political temperature is in New Zealand currently.

Because of this, I have reached out to Te Pāti Māori co-leaders offering a joint statement condemning the violence directed at Murray Chong and calling for calm. We await their response and will go ahead with a solo statement this evening if they decline or we don't hear back.

These are incredible times. I share your intense dedication to pursuing our goal of an equal and unified New Zealand. Hobson's Pledge will not take our foot off the pedal, but we will do so with an utter commitment to non-violent advocacy and activism.

I urge you to join us in standing firm in our beliefs and principles and rejecting violence.

Cheers again, to everyone who contributed to the Save Our Shores fund. We'll be in touch with more details as to the next stage of this campaign.

P.S. Keep an eye out for another small campaign we are kicking off soon to ensure that our Prime Minister doesn't listen to John....

Did you catch this Herald article over the weekend?

Former National Party leader Sir John Key has urged people to “take the temperature down a wee bit” in the debate surrounding race issues. He believes this is an area where any government needs to “tread carefully.”

He also mentioned recent issues such as ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, the removal of Section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act, and National’s move to overturn a court decision on the Marine and Coastal Area Act.

It seems clear that Sir John Key prefers to avoid difficult conversations. When he was Prime Minister, he favoured deals that solved immediate problems and did not allow division and resentment to foster in the long term.

The reality is, if we had always trod carefully and feared stepping on toes, we wouldn’t have achieved nearly as much progress in halting separatism as we have.

Avoiding tough discussions has led successive governments to allow officials in Wellington (as well as special interests) to take New Zealand down a dangerous path of co-governance and a two-tier democracy. There’s still a long way to go to ensure equal rights for all, and we certainly won't get there if our political leaders are too timid to talk about it!

Restoring public access to the foreshore and seabed in the Marine and Coastal Area Act, removing Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, and addressing ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill are ongoing issues that can’t be ignored simply because Sir John Key suggests we "cool down."

He stated: “The important thing is that we’re all New Zealanders and I think everybody wants to live in a place where we can respect one another, get along well, and foster a better New Zealand. So I’d kind of encourage everyone to maybe take the temperature down a wee bit.”

This is exactly the point.

These conversations must persist because we share a vision of New Zealand where everyone is equal and where no one is given special rights based on their ancestry or skin colour.

“You should always treat race issues carefully because, in the end, we all want to live in a harmonious society. Māori are the indigenous population of New Zealand and Treaty partners, so you have to treat them with respect and care,” Sir John added.

While we respect Sir John Key’s contribution, we must respectfully disagree.

Capitulating to special interests is not a sign of respect or caring.

If we respect the value of all New Zealanders, we must discuss any moves to weaken our democracy.

What is there to disagree with in the Treaty Principles Bill?

• The Bill aims to finally define the principles of the Treaty as frequently mentioned in law and clarify what the three articles of the Treaty actually mean in 2024 and for the future (and reject what the activist academics have reinterpreted it to say).
• It will not alter the Treaty itself.
• New Zealanders as a whole have never been democratically consulted on these "Treaty principles."
• The Bill seeks to clarify that the Treaty was meant to ensure equality for all, not to justify offering different access to taxpayer-funded services, guaranteed positions on government boards, or a separate healthcare authority based on ancestry.
• It promotes equality before the law.

The issue isn’t the content of the Bill but the fact that it’s even considered controversial. This should be a concern for the National Party

The decisions to create and remove Māori Wards are once again in the hands of local communities!

From now on local communities can demand a referendum on Māori Wards if they gather 5% of voters' signatures. Councils that have already brought in Māori wards without a referendum will need to hold one - or scrap the wards they had set up.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said:

"[Labour] took away the voices of local communities across the country and undermined the principles of democracy. Today is a great day for local democracy."

Don't under-estimate the role you and other Hobson's Pledge supporters played in ensuring this legislation was introduced by the Government and passed.

As you know, we have been making noise about Māori Wards for a long time. We opposed Labour's underhanded changes to the law in 2022 and were on the frontline of the battle in Rotorua when the council attempted to do away with proportionate democracy. 

This is a moment for celebration. Local democracy has been restored.

However, through the passing of this bill we have also seen the reason for Hobson's Pledge's existence reaffirmed. The media reporting has been outrageous.

The ridiculous claims of "racism" from opposition parties have been used to frame the narrative of this legislation. It has been presented as if it is an almost universally held truth that the bill is racist, but polling shows New Zealanders support referenda for Māori Wards.

Even Te Pāti Māori voters support referenda for Māori Wards when polled!

And Labour's accusations are bizarre given this law change simply returns us to the way things were under Helen Clark's Māori Ward law. Imagine the names 2024 Labour would call Helen Clark's Governments!

The media is operating as the Government's extra Opposition when it comes to matters of race-based policies and equal rights. Only the negative perspectives and often the extreme rhetoric of Te Pāti Māori get proper coverage.

Hobson's Pledge is increasingly finding that we have to look for ways to get the truth out to New Zealanders that bypass the media gatekeepers. We couldn't do this without supporters like you. It is people power that enables us to get the word out and mobilise New Zealanders to put pressure on our elected officials.

And the fight is never-ending! This week Te Pāti Māori have announced they want Waitangi Tribunal rulings to be binding on the Government. Are they kidding? We may as well chuck our democracy out the window and let the Tribunal rule over us unelected and with total control.

We have a petition to end the Waitangi Tribunal. If you haven't signed it yet, click here. 

There is a lot to do and this may just be our busiest year yet. But, now is the best chance we have to make change and set New Zealand on the right path. If we don't take our opportunities now, I fear it will be too late.

Cheers to Māori Ward referenda and cheers to fighting the good fight.

Two things - Major news came through yesterday regarding Customary Marine Titles and I have shared Janet Dickson's written submissions for you to take a look at should you wish.

SAVE OUR SHORES - MARINE AND COASTAL AREA ACT

At the beginning of the week, I sent you information about our campaign to save New Zealand's shores (see below in case you missed it). At the heart of the issue is the legislation that replaced the Foreshore and Seabed legislation of Helen Clark's Government: the Marine and Coastal Area Act (MACA).

Just TWO days after we launched this fight, the Government announced their intention to make changes to the MACA legislation!

We allowed ourselves a moment of celebrating before we had a proper look at what the Government plans to do.

In accordance with the New Zealand First coalition agreement, the Government intends to pass legislation to "overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament's test for Customary Marine Title".

Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says:

"All New Zealanders have an interest in the coastal waters of our country...

...the Government has agreed to propose legislation which will ensure these tests for applications directly with the Crown or through the Courts are upheld as originally intended.

These measures include:

• Inserting a declaratory statement that overturns the reasoning of the Court of Appeal and High Court in Re Edwards, and the reasoning of all High Court decisions since the High Court in Re Edwards, where they relate to the test for CMT.

• Adding text to section 58 to define and clarify the terms ‘exclusive use and occupation’ and ‘substantial interruption’.

• Amending the ‘burden of proof’ section of the Act (section 106) to clarify that applicant groups are required to prove exclusive use and occupation from 1840 to the present day.

• Making clearer the relationship between the framing sections of the Act (the preamble, purpose, and Treaty of Waitangi sections) and section 58 in a way that allows section 58 to operate more in line with its literal wording.

Cabinet also agreed that the amended section 58 test should be applied from today’s date, if enacted. This will be reflected in the proposed legislation. This means existing CMT decisions will continue to be recognised." 

This is a big win! If MACA is returned to its original intent very few Customary Marine Titles will be awarded. 

The Government is working on the Bill now and we will reserve our final judgment until we have seen it all in writing. 

However, we are left with one big question: is this enough?

Does this legislative action restore public ownership to most of our coast? 

We want to hear from our supporters. Is this a big enough step in the direction we want things to go? 

Either way, we still have a big part to play. If we need to push the Government harder, we will. But we also need to get behind them in getting this legislation through. 

The media and Opposition will not like this one bit. Just as with Māori wards and removing section 7aa from the Oranga Tamariki Act, they will run a campaign of distortion and dramatics.

New Zealanders need to understand what is really going on and why it isn't racist to amend the MACA.

The media will try to paint a picture of mass opposition to the Government on this. We need to provide proof to the contrary. We were already planning social media, print newspaper ads, and other attention-grabbing tactics. We will go ahead with these.

Basically, we are in for a fight either way. The message just changes slightly depending on our direction. 

What are your thoughts? You can reply to this email or head to our Facebook page to join the discussion.

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JANET DICKSON V REAL ESTATE AUTHORITY UPDATE

We sent an update to everyone who donated to Janet's case a little while ago, but we have received a few requests from other supporters for an update too so here we go!

First, Janet wants to express her heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported her in any way thus far.

Janet has had her day in court where her lawyers argued that the Real Estate Authority did not follow proper processes for approving the rules they used to make Te Kākano mandatory, that the course is not relevant to real estate agents' practice, and that this was an unjustified breach of Janet’s freedom of expression.

>>> YOU CAN ACCESS HER FULL WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS HERE <<<

We now await the decision from the Judge, and there is a lot at stake. Janet is at risk of losing her real estate licence for five years if the REA is allowed to continue imposing controversial courses like this.

Unfortunately, our courts are under immense pressure so while the expected timeframe for hearing back should be 90 days, it is likely to be longer. We will keep you posted, but we've been told to expect a wait

We will update you as soon as we hear back from the court.

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Those are our two updates. We will be in touch again soon once we have established what Hobson's Pledge supporters are thinking regarding the proposed amendments to MACA.