After seeing our Prime Minister caught on camera gleefully promising to "kill" and "spike" the Treaty Principles Bill before a single submission has been read, the Hobson's Pledge team put our thinking caps back on. 

Clearly, Christopher Luxon has no respect for his voters. He must have seen the polling on the Bill. Polling that shows 64% of decided National Party voters support passing the Bill.

With such a mammoth response to the public consultation and support from all decided coalition party voters (53% NZ First and 95% ACT), the Government should pass this Bill and send it to a referendum.

That is an important thing to remember. The Bill will not become law simply by the Government passing it. First, it will go to a binding referendum at the next election and will only be enacted if that referendum passes.

So what can National voters do? Hobson's Pledge has written letters, sent emails, and made it pretty clear that Christopher Luxon is upsetting a large portion of his own supporters. But he has dug in. 

It's time to step things up and we have an idea, but we wanted to put it to you first and see what you think.

What if National Party members cancel or don't renew their membership unless Christopher Luxon and the Government make the Treaty Principles Bill a conscience vote?

A conscience vote means that instead of each party voting in a bloc, every individual MP casts a vote. Generally, conscience votes are used for Bills regarding controversial or 'moral' issues e.g. alcohol laws and Easter trading.

What do you think? Are you a National Party member? Would you be willing to cancel your membership in order to remind National who their voters are?

If we get enough support for this idea, we will launch a Boycott for the Bill campaign.

Click the button if you back our idea and want to chip in to fund spreading the word*.

I have had some good news... apparently because of my race, I get to pay less to attend music events organised by a group called Browntown than my non-Māori/Pasifika friends! 🤯🤯🤯

Chris Lynch reports from Christchurch that tickets for a Sunday Session event featuring King Kapisi and others was initially advertised with different tiers for pricing based on race.

“Early bird (for all Tangata): $15, Tangata Moana (for our Māori and Pacific Tangata): $20 and Tangata Tiriti (for our allies): $30.”

Browntown was founded last year by Devyn Baileh, Grace Colcord, and Shea Wātene (pictured below) and promotes itself as "a platform for cultural engagement aimed at addressing racism".

Browntown founder and director Grace Colcord (pictured left), allegedly of Malie and Afega descent, was defiant in the face of criticism of their racist ticket pricing. She told Chris Lynch that it was "in line with our kaupapa" and "pricing models based on specific groups aren’t unique to this event. Many venues and organisations offer discounted pricing for children, seniors, students..."

Not quite the same thing, mate.

The group has received $35,000 in funding from Creative New Zealand's Pacific Arts Fund. Another case of arts funding going to blatant racism.

What Browntown haven't got is an understanding of the Human Rights Act 1993 and how discrimination works! Or maybe they just don't care?

A Pasifika Community Leader who didn't want to be named - probably because he would be harassed for daring to speak out - said: 

“This is a blatant attempt to manufacture victimhood, and Creative New Zealand fell for it. Charging higher prices for white people doesn’t foster unity; it drives a wedge between communities."

I couldn't agree more. We don't need this racist crap in New Zealand. What's next? Separate drinking fountains?

The manager of the bar Muy Muy, where the event is scheduled to be held, was unaware of the discriminatory ticketing and told the organisers to amend the pricing or face cancellation of the event.

“At Muy Muy, we have a great sense of acceptance for all cultures and traditions. We support all communities equally,” Bugz Munasinghe said.

Chris Lynch says that by yesterday afternoon, the wording for the ticket prices had been changed to “early bird, $15.00, Alofa Access Ticket $20.00 and Ally Access Ticket $30.00.”

Not really an improvement.

You and I both know that if the ticket pricing was arranged the other way, and Māori and Pasifika were expected to pay higher prices, there would be an uproar. 

I guarantee you, Chris Lynch wouldn't be the only brave journalist reporting on it as is the case here. TVNZ would have a reporter stationed outside the bar calling for it to cancel the event. Stuff would have a journalist tracking the three Browntown organisers and writing full exposes on them and their immediate families. The Spinoff would spontaneously combust.

It sickens me that this kind of thing is happening in New Zealand. It isn't 'progressive'; It is divisive.

Shout out to Chris Lynch for covering this story. If only we had more journalists like him.

Before I sign off, I just saw a video that is doing the rounds on socials of Christopher Luxon telling some people at the airport (I think) not to worry because he is going to kill the Treaty Principles Bill. He's going to "spike it"!

More than 300,000 submissions and our Prime Minister doesn't give a flying you-know-what about considering a single one. He has made up his mind and our opinions don't matter.

No wonder the polls aren't looking too good. Don't forget you can still send him a message on our Scaredy Cat Christopher website telling him to support the Bill or lose your support.

When I was at school we called people like him 'try hards'. Trying to fit in with people who blatantly don't like them.

Someone tell the Prime Minister all the cool kids believe in equality.

I hate to break a promise, and I did say that my previous email would be the last reminder about the Treaty Principles Bill consultation, but the breakdown of Parliament's submissions process has resulted in the Justice Committee reopening submissions until 1pm on Tuesday 14 January. I figured you would forgive me for letting you know!

We have quickly put our submission tool back online and we encourage you to use it rather than going through the Parliamentary website. It is likely that the Parliament submission system will again come under immense pressure due to large numbers of people attempting to submit at once. However, to be extra sure of success, we are collecting, printing, and delivering all submissions that come through our submission tool.

Justice Committee Chair James Meager told media that they have received more than 300,000 online submissions so far.

This blows previous records for number of submissions out of the water and doesn't include hard copy submissions.

As we have seen in the extensive coverage the media has given to those opposing the Bill, we are far from the only community organising to support each other to make submissions. Though the integrity of some of these efforts appears dubious. 

We have been contacted about allegations of groups opposing the Treaty Principles Bill submitting multiple times using their children's names to make the submissions appear unique. We have also been contacted about influencers advising their international followers that they can submit against the Bill and indeed encouraging it.

This just reinforces that we must use these extra five days of submissions to ensure that every New Zealander who supports the Treaty Principles Bill has their say. We won't play dirty like the other side, but we do need to make every effort to throw our weight behind the Bill and behind the simple idea that we should all have equal rights.  

Don't worry if you've never written a submission before. Our tool helps you choose the points you agree with and builds the submission for you. Quick and easy.

The sheer number of submissions clearly demonstrates that a referendum is warranted on the matter. Naysayers who oppose the people of New Zealand voting on the Treaty Principles Bill must explain why more than 300,000 submissions have been received online alone. New Zealanders want to have their say!

I urge you to join us in this last push for submissions. Talk to your friends and family. Send them the link to our submission tool.

Let's ensure that the message of equality and democracy is heard loud and clear by the Justice Select Committee.

This is the last Treaty Principles Bill submissions reminder I will send you! I promise.

Today is the LAST day to have your say on this important Bill, so head to our easy submission tool NOW. We will be dropping submissions off to Parliament tomorrow!

Don't worry if you've never written a submission before. Our tool helps you choose the points you agree with and builds the submission for you. Quick and easy.

Thank you for understanding the need for all of these reminders. If you've seen our billboards, you'll know we have thrown the kitchen sink at this.