I cannot stress enough how crucial these next few weeks will be. Our democracy is on shaky ground and we have a limited amount of time to make other New Zealanders aware and put pressure on politicians.

With this in mind, the team at Hobson's Pledge have been working on a plan to help you help us to shift the dial. We have a list of actions that aren't time consuming, expensive, or difficult and we will be sharing them with you each week and encouraging you to complete them.

First up is our most substantial action. We have created an online tool that allows you to locate your electorate and then send a message to all of the candidates for that electorate seat.

Head to BottomLine.co.nz to check it out. 

We provide a template letter on the site, but encourage you to put your own spin on it. Candidates will likely ignore too much repetition, so putting your feelings in your own words will be much more effective.

The website also outlines each party's position on co-governance and while these policies may seem set in stone, never underestimate the pressure that we all can generate through our electorate candidates. 

Politicians (and aspiring politicians) must know that protecting democracy and equality before the law are our bottom line. We will NOT vote for a candidate or party if they are pro-co-governance. 

Don't delay. Head to www.BottomLine.co.nz now and have your say. Then send the link around to friends and family so they can do it too. 

I'll be back next week with another action.  

Authorised by: Hobson’s Pledge, Suite 311, 184 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010

It is sometimes difficult to write to you detailing the issues that threaten the future of our wonderful country, but as we approach this election, it is important that we do not forget what is at stake.

And nothing demonstrates this more than the opinion piece published by Tukoroirangi Morgan published in yesterday’s Herald. 

Read Tukoroirangi Morgan's opinions here

His statements make it clear that water reform is a bottom line for him, and he will drive this agenda without compromise. This will include taking the issue to the courts if the democratic process goes against his desires.

This not-so-veiled threat, that taxpayers will be forced to bear the burden of defending litigation, demonstrates that no matter what the democratic process decides, this will be challenged in the courts if the majority comes to a conclusion unacceptable to Tuku Morgan.

It should be noted that although Morgan was appointed to be the chair of Entity A, this was before the Three Waters structure changed from four entities to ten. Although he is prominent in the Waikato, he seems to have self-appointed himself as the chair for the new Entity A that does not include the Waikato area at all.

New Zealanders have been distracted by a legislative agenda and policy reform that has inundated us with the need to make submission after submission on undemocratic bills. This has made it hard to keep track of all that Labour is doing leading up to the election.

According to the Department of Internal Affairs' Three Waters program, three further pieces of legislation need to be passed into law before Parliament rises for the election. It is claimed that this will be completed by August 31, 2023, with nine more sitting days.

Don’t forget that this legislation received over 80,000 submissions opposing the Waters Services Entities Act.

Labour intends to implement a poorly developed, unworkably complex water management system through rushed legislation that is founded on co-governance. And, according to Tuku Morgan, if this does not happen, he will be off to court.

At the same time, many New Zealanders are also struggling to defend their property rights against classification, without consultation, as “Sites and Areas of Significance to Maori”. 

Find out more here

The next few weeks will be essential in ensuring that no one forgets what is at stake in this election.

We are a proud, inclusive, multicultural nation – don’t let co-governance rob us of our identity.

There has been an outcry in recent weeks about the race-based differentiation of access to, and allocation of, health services. The spotlight on health came from the confirmation that identifying as Maori is a factor in determining a patient’s position on surgical waiting lists.

This discrimination is not new but has been escalated by the establishment of the Maori Health Authority. 

The severing of our health system into two was opposed and challenged by academics, health professionals, and those of us who believe all New Zealanders should be treated equally and that allocation of services should be based on need, not race.

And wouldn't you know it, all of our concerns, fears, and submissions have come to fruition in a review of the Maori Health Authority released by the Ministry of Health at the end of last week.

I won't bore you with all 36 pages of review, but there are some excerpts of interest. In particular, the document reveals multiple pressure points where the views of Te Aka Whai Ora (Maori Health Authority), Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ), and Manatū Hauora (Ministry of Health) have tensions and disagreements. Despite splitting our health system in two there are concerns that the existence of the MHA might take away from Health NZ's "Māori capability". 

"...challenges arose in the relationship between those Te Aka Whai Ora and Manatū Hauora managers due to differing views on how the strategy development process should run. This has yet to be resolved."

"Tension surfaced between Te Aka Whai Ora and Manatū Hauora with regard to their respective roles of monitoring in the system...

"The interim Hauora Māori Strategy is expected to be delivered by June 2023. However, tensions described between Manatū Hauora and Te Aka Whai Ora teams working on this require an intentional reset of the ways of working."

"Concerns were raised about staff transfers not being focused on the critical skills and expertise needed, and on the potential for the focus on Māori personnel / team transfers to diminish Te Whatu Ora’s own Māori capability."

Additionally, the review found that the promised gains in outcomes were not going to eventuate due to a number of issues:

"The Board appears to have made little progress in establishing a governance level risk monitoring and management framework, despite repeated requests."

"Te Aka Whai Ora staff have significant workloads and are struggling with forward planning."

"Projected underspend from finance of approximately $66m means the highly anticipated boost in services for Māori will not be fully realised in FY22/23."

"Organisation-wide planning and prioritisation work for FY22/23 is evident, but below the level of the SOI and SPE..."

"...discretionary choices made by the Board and/or executive have occasionally detracted from Te Aka Whai Ora’s delivery of its core functions."

"...there have been delays in the development of the monitoring framework due to insufficient deployment of resource (capacity) and capability to date, and this area not being sufficiently prioritised."

"...we tried to source a Board-approved implementation plan that outlined the Year One priorities for Te Aka Whai Ora and set out the detail on how these will be planned, delivered, managed and monitored...There appears to be no such overarching plan." 

David Seymour called it “a damning assessment of the Maori Health Authority that shows that it has failed on every level." While, National's Dr Shane Reti said:

“Labour’s bureaucratic health restructure has cost taxpayers half a billion dollars, and for there to be no plans or details for a whole year on how to better improve Maori health is shocking. No other public service would be allowed to operate like this.”

The defence that it is early days for the Authority should be rejected outright as the criticism is not limited to outcomes but also notes failure to even establish targets and performance indicators.

Of course, the Maori Health Authority is doomed to fail as there is simply no empirical evidence that outcomes are impacted due to systemic racism or, more fundamentally, because they are Maori.

The New Zealand Initiative completed a detailed review on the matter and made the case for equal treatment. 

In the foreword of the Initiative's report, Emeritus Professor Des Gormon, professor of medicine at the University of Auckland, says:

“We can all agree that the time to address the underlying causes of this [health outcome] inequality is well overdue. However, what is needed are objective data about what leads to improved outcomes rather than political rhetoric."

Another report, produced last month by Tailrisk Economics’ Ian Harrison, highlights the same lack of evidence.

Read the Tailrisk Economics Report here.

The research report concludes with an extract from the 'Waitangi Tribunal 2000 Napier Hospital Report' which states:

“The chief difficulty with the claimants’ position is not the goal of equal health outcomes but the one-track focus on healthcare services as the means to achieve it. More ambulances under the cliff cannot remove the factors causing people to fall off.”

This Government has staunchly held their position that racism is the cause of all failure to improve Maori outcomes and have refused to listen to medical professionals and academics with evidence to the contrary.

In April 2022, co-leader of the Maori Party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also promoted the idea that the MHA would be a fix-all: 

“With the establishment of the Māori Health Authority a new era in Māori health is arriving. It’s crucial that this is done right, and there is no other way of guaranteeing that than letting Māori lead. We must not have a situation where the Māori Health Authority can be vetoed or underfunded by Pākehā bureaucrats.”

Despite the establishment of this Maori Health Authority, in the general health system wait-listing has become race-based, grocery vouchers have been offered to Maori women in exchange for getting mammograms, and, most recently, $100 worth of Prezzy cards to entice pregnant Maori women to attend two prenatal appointments.

Maybe Minister of Maori Development, Willie Jackson was correct when he stated in May:

“Most Maori are not attached to a lot of our Maori organisations.”

And yet, the Government is ploughing on with these separatist systems.

As a nation, we were sold the importance of co-governance as being THEsolution for resolving inequity. 

Friday’s MHA report demonstrates everything we have criticised in co-governance – added cost, increased bureaucracy, lack of accountability – and NO IMPROVEMENT IN OUTCOME.

For better outcomes, and for New Zealand, we must end co-governance. 

Sign our petition for equality in healthcare.

P.S. Take a moment to check out our billboard, now live in Lower Hutt. Thank you for your ongoing support in making this possible... let’s make sure everyone knows what is at stake this election.

Authorised by: Hobson’s Pledge, Suite 311, 184 Symonds Street, Auckland 1010

New Zealanders are being led to believe that co-governance is necessary, inevitable, and does not impact our democracy.

It is nothing to be scared about, according to our current Prime Minister. One person, one vote is too simplistic, says the Prime Minister before him.

WE ARE BEING LIED TO. 

Co-governance is not co-operation and consultation as we are being told. It is division and discrimination.

Co-governance is the appointment of the unelected onto councils and in roles that make important decisions simply because they are Maori. Democracy does not exist where 50% of the decision makers are not elected. Nor where 20% or 1% are not elected.

Democracy is equal suffrage. Equal voting rights. You can't have a partial democracy. It is all or nothing.

As highly respected economist Thomas Sowell says:

“It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

When decisions are made by those who cannot be voted out when they get it wrong, and who have no mandate through a democratic process, our democracy is lost.

I will say it again: co-governance is the appointment of the unelected, to make decisions that will affect us all.

This election we are voting to protect our rights to make sure the power of government remains with those who are elected by the people of New Zealand.

Never before has it been more important to have your voice heard.

You will hear a lot of discussion about co-governance in the weeks leading up to the election and you will hear lots of commentary about democracy. You may even spot a billboard or two...

We will be working to counter the false and sanitising narrative that co-governance is an obligation and therefore a done deal. 

New interpretations of the Treaty are used to make outrageous claims about what the Government 'owes' Maori, but we have an existing system to deal with historic wrongs and we should be avoiding racialising the future of our country at all costs. 

Co-governance isn't a power tussle between Maori and white New Zealanders. It isn't just those with European ancestry who are on the other side of this division of our country. It also involves every single New Zealander from any one of the around 200 ethnicities represented here. 

Why should any New Zealander - of any ancestry - have less of a say in electing representatives and decision makers?

In the next few weeks Hobson’s Pledge is rolling out a plan to empower you to fight alongside us to defend our democracy.

Our first tool is coming next week. It will allow you to easily and quickly send a message to the candidates for your electorate to inform them that a commitment to ending co-governance is your bottom line. It also will lay out for you the positions of each party on co-governance. 

Please use the tool and then please share it around your friends and family. 

We will also be spreading the 'End Co-governance' message throughout the country on billboards, radio, and print media.

Thank you for all you have done to make this action possible. Everything is at stake. I will be in touch next week with the Bottom Line tool.