We cannot rely on our courts.

The judiciary has been captured by the divisive ideology that separates New Zealanders into two groups - Māori and non-Māori - and assigns rights based on this.

Today, the Court of Appeals overturned the High Court decision that said the Waitangi Tribunal had erred in issuing a summons to the Minister for Children Karen Chhour. The new decision says that the Tribunal has an important constitutional role and full powers of a commission of inquiry.

We have to be strategic. The courts may be captured but the Government has made several promises in their coalition agreements to unwind racist policy and law. We must demand they end the Waitangi Tribunal now.

Here's why:

• It was always meant to be a temporary standing commission and it is nearly 50 years old
• It has been radicalised and is now run by activists rather than legal experts
• The bulk of Treaty settlements have been achieved and all remaining and future cases can be heard through the court system or negotiated directly with the Crown
• It has steadily pushed the boundaries of its purpose and power and is asserting the right to interfere with Government policy
• Helen Clark's Labour Government introduced a September 2008 deadline for the lodgement of all historic claims and that has well passed

SIGN OUR PETITION TO END THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL

The only way we can achieve our goal of equality of all New Zealanders is by dismantling the systems that have been set up and manipulated to consolidate power in the hands of iwi.

The Waitangi Tribunal has done its dash. It served an important role in righting historical wrongs, but in recent years has begun creating new wrongs. 

It is time to wrap up the Tribunal. Sign our petition now.

If we don't achieve change with this Government, we may well never get the opportunity again. National appears to be the handbrake on this Government taking definitive steps toward removing race from our constitution. Winston Peters and David Seymour need to be able to demonstrate that they have public support so that they can carry Christopher Luxon, however reluctantly, over the line.

We need to get as many signatures as possible to show that the silent majority don't care what the media or academics say. We want change and we voted for it. Sign our petition to show that you support removing racist institutions.

If you agree that it is now or never and that we must push the Government to take action so that the courts can't run roughshod over our rights, sign our petition and then share it with everyone you know.

Quick, go sign it and then copy the link into your family group chat or send an email around your networks.

I feel quite ill thinking about how far down the rabbit hole our judiciary has gone. But given the Waitangi Tribunal is not a court, it is a standing commission of inquiry, the Government has power to disestablish it. That is where we must begin.

At least if the Waitangi Tribunal goes there will be one less lever for the activists to pull. 

Did you see the abhorrent comments by Auckland University of Technology's Dean of Law Khylee Quince circulating on social media last night?

I am shocked that a Dean in a New Zealand law school would say such a thing. In fact, I feel so strongly that I wrote a letter to the Vice Chancellor of the University.

Dean Khylee Quince who has a mere handful of years of junior practising experience prior to joining academia, is referring to Gary Judd who has been a Queen's Council and then King's Council for 29 years. He has appeared before the Supreme Court and Privy Council more than a dozen times each. Hat tip to Kiwiblog for this information. 

In my letter to the Vice Chancellor I convey our deep concern that someone in such a prominent position in their law school has:

a) used such abusive and disrespectful language;

b) publicly demonstrated disdain for our system of law and the right of people of all perspectives to take legal action;

c) contributed to the toxicity of the debate about the role of tikanga and the Treaty in law rather than using her position to foster respectful discussions.

d) failed to live up to legislative expectations of lawyers.

Click here to send your own letter to the Vice Chancellor.

In response to Dean Quince's comments, Gary Judd KC (whom she is talking about) said:

What sort of lawyers will be produced by a law faculty led by someone who resorts to petty abuse instead of engaging in rational argument? 

Why did she not explain why tikanga is law? Why did she not explain why a body of law built up over centuries for the purpose of testing whether a custom should be accorded the status of law must be jettisoned because tikanga cannot meet those standards? Why did she not answer other matters raised in my complaint to the regulations review committee? Responses like those could have been expected from a person holding a privileged leadership position.

I have been conscious to write my correspondence to the university in the manner in which I would have expected the Dean to communicate. I strongly encourage you to do the same. We do not advance our cause of equality in New Zealand by stooping to the level Dean Quince did.

We must let AUT know that New Zealanders are entitled to discuss, debate, and legally challenge matters regarding tikanga, the Treaty, and race relations in our country.

Students must not be taught that to question law and policy changes makes them "racist dinosaurs". They certainly should not be taught that it is appropriate to tell people they disagree with to "go die quietly".

As I write this I still can't believe this has happened to us. We hear of political interference happening overseas, but today Hobson's Pledge has been the target.

Facebook has deleted all of our posts that sent supporters to submit on the Fast Track Approvals Bill including paid advertising we were running. 

At first our team thought there must have been an error and attempted to post again. It became clear that anytime we used the link to the Government website to make a submission on the Bill, Facebook either blocked us or removed the post minutes after it went up.

As we were aware that the Māori Party were also promoting submitting on the Bill, we checked out one of their posts and found that there we could access the Government submissions page with no problem at all. 

This is discrimination and political interference. Will you stand with us against it?

For a start Facebook should not be able to block links to the Government website and impede democratic engagement.

They certainly shouldn't be able to pick and choosewhich organisation can help their supporters to access the submissions page.

It is nearly impossible to reach an actual person at Facebook to ask what on earth is going on.

Are they taking stances on all political issues? Or is this something an individual staff member has taken it upon themselves to do? Maybe it is simply that their systems are vulnerable to bad faith activists overwhelming them?

We would love to know. 

We will be doing our best to follow up and ensure that this kind of thing doesn't continue to happen.

Every New Zealander should be free to encourage submissions and indeed to submit. We would never dream of attempting to prevent Māori Party supporters from having their say. We live in a democracy!

Don't let political interference get in the way of you having your say on the Fast Track Approvals Bill and opposing special rights for iwi when it comes to consultation and decision making.

CLICK HERE FOR THE BANNED GOVT SUBMISSION PAGE!

I cannot overstate how much of a political intrusion this is. Hobson's Pledge already experiences significant hostility from the media and we use emails and social media as a way to go around the patronising so-called fourth estate to reach New Zealanders.

For our ability to use social media to be threatened is truly concerning. In today's online world, it is an attack on our right to freely engage in politics. 

I will keep you updated on where this goes. If there is any action we can all take, you can expect an email straight away.

I have received several emails asking what Elliot and I wrote on behalf of Hobson's Pledge in our submission on the Fast Track Approvals Bill. I thought you might be interested too!

It is short and to the point and we will elaborate when we get a chance to speak to the select committee.

Submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill by the Hobson’s Pledge Trust

• The Hobson’s Pledge Trust was founded in 2016 to promote the fundamental principle that all New Zealanders have equal political rights, as acknowledged in Article III of the Treaty of Waitangi. We named the organisation after Governor Hobson, who is understood to have said, as each chief signed the Treaty, “He iwi tahi tatou” (“We are now one people”).  We are convinced that acknowledging that equality of rights is the only way forward for a peaceful and harmonious New Zealand.

• From small beginnings, Hobson’s Pledge has grown to the point where some 130,000 people receive our regular emails.

• As an organisation, we take no position on the need for the Fast-track Approvals Bill. There is no doubt a wide range of strongly felt views on the Bill among our supporters.

• We respect the effort which the Bill makes to ensure that property rights are respected.

• But we are dismayed that the Bill gives a much greater priority to the rights of iwi than to the rights of other New Zealanders. The word “iwi” appears 56 times in the Bill, and the proposed four-person panels by which projects are to be evaluated are to include one person nominated by the relevant local authority and one person nominated by the relevant iwi. This apparent equivalence between local authorities and iwi authorities seems to us totally inappropriate, and is likely to result in the concerns of Maori New Zealanders being given much greater weight than the concerns of other New Zealanders.

• This not only causes us dismay: it also causes us surprise. During the election campaign, both the ACT Party and the New Zealand First Party made much of their commitment to equal citizenship.  In the coalition agreements which both parties signed with the National Party in the process of forming a Government, there were numerous quite specific promises to eliminate the racial preferences which have crept into New Zealand law in recent years.  The National Party’s constitution includes a specific commitment to “equal citizenship”, and of course it too was a party to the two coalition agreements which enabled the formation of the new Government.

• Clearly, in approving any new investment project under this Fast-track Approvals Bill Ministers must be mindful of the property rights of those New Zealanders who could be affected by the new project. But this principle should surely apply to all New Zealanders, whatever their ethnicity.  As drafted, the Bill fails to acknowledge that principle.

• We wish to appear before the Committee to present this submission.

I urge you to take a few minutes to send in your thoughts on the Fast Track Approvals Bill. You don't need to address every aspect of the Bill - if you're like me you may be in favour of it overall. Just make it clear that special powers and representation for iwi will slow approvals down and do not reflect the mandate given to the Government at the election to end race-based law and policy.

>>> CLICK HERE TO MAKE A SUBMISSION <<<

You only have until Friday the 19th April 2024 to submit! Don't miss out!