Hobson's Pledge Trustee Casey Costello spoke at the Taxpayers' Union Stop Three Waters Roadshow event in Auckland on 30 June 2022.

 

First and foremost, thank you for being here and taking an interest in the challenges we as a nation are facing.

In the interests of full disclosure, I would start my speech by confirming that, according to our new Minister for Broadcasting and Media, and Minister of Maori Development (based upon his assessment of anyone who does not advocate for Maori in a manner that he agrees with) I am a “useless Maori”.

In addition, despite my ancestry I do not believe I have the right to speak for ALL New Zealanders who identify to their Maori whakapapa or ancestry.

But I do, however, believe that “useless” or not I have the right to point out that there is a reasonable expectation that the role of Government is to advocate for better outcomes based upon true, factual and rational information.

It is this failure to recognise that we are able to debate important, constitutional shifting issues without it being from a position of racism that is so concerning.

My reason for speaking today is to encourage the debate, to scrutinise poor policy and legislation for what it is and not allow the discussion to be shut down because the Government has inserted a race component where it does not belong.

The mere suggestion that you question the concepts of co-governance is enough to send many into a spin.

We should all be engaged in this discussion; we should be demanding this debate. If it is a logical and rational position, then those advocating for it should be able to present the evidence of where it has succeeded and demonstrate the benefits.

But instead, the request for debate is devolved into name calling and hostility.

 

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Despite the absence from your in-box, Hobson’s Pledge have been toiling away - kept busy by a Government determined to divide New Zealanders based upon ancestry.

This month alone this Labour Government has:

• Introduced the Water Services Entities Bill (which implements the Three Waters reforms) and taken it through the First Reading
• Proceeded with the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngai Tahu Representation) Bill, which has completed the second reading
• Received Royal Assent for the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill, which implements, among other things, the Maori Health Authority

Behind these issues, we cannot lose sight of:

• Coastal claims under the Marine and Coastal Area Act
• Efforts to implement co-governance over the Hauraki Gulf removing council elected representation
• The review being conducted by the Department of Conservation as to the status of roughly one third of the public conservation estate, which is “stewardship land”.
• How the history curriculum will influence New Zealand’s education system

Hobson’s Pledge continues to work to expose these issues to greater public scrutiny, as we were able to do with the Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill.  

The separatist agenda has been given momentum by the He Puapua Report that this Government, despite commissioning the report in 2019, has attempted to distance themselves from.

Willie Jackson, the Minister for Maori Development, (and now Broadcasting) announced in April we had nothing to fear from co-governance and that a new report to realise the objectives of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) had been commissioned.

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Three Waters has been thrust upon us with gusto and, make no mistake, the extent to which you will have influence, control, or even interest, will be determined by your ancestry.

The Government has now announced that they are moving ahead with their Three Waters project, after making some merely cosmetic changes to the policy.

Wading through the Government's carefully selected terminology and doublespeak, Three Waters will still be an undemocratic and divisive theft from local communities. That they are continuing, in the face of strong public opposition, demonstrates this Government's commitment to differentiating interests in water by race.

Tuku Morgan, a member of the Three Waters working group, made it clear when he said about iwi:

“We have always said, that we’re not interested in owning the water assets. What we’re interested in is the proprietor rights over water, and that is a discussion to be had with the Crown, not with councils.”

Hobson's Pledge will continue fighting Three Waters every step of the way.

Local communities will be left with ownership in the technical sense only, while control is handed over to undemocratic co-governance.

To demonstrate this Government’s contempt for a unified New Zealand, they have even established a separate submission process just for Maori.

With your support, we were able to defend democracy by forcing a u-turn on the rushed Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill.

We can do this again.

The Three Waters project has long since lost the pretence of being about better water systems and is now clearly revealed to be a power grab that will not see better outcomes for anyone. All water users will pay more and all water users will lose the voice they currently have through local representation.

With clever spin and fear-mongering from the Government, as well as an uncritical, propaganda-spreading media, New Zealanders are being deceived. We have seen that the anti-democratic movement are not even beyond attacking our Bill of Rights to achieve their objectives.

Water is a fundamental human necessity. The idea that some New Zealanders have a greater vested interest than others in how water is controlled is an insult to all of us.

Hobson’s Pledge will be fighting against the coming legislation – this is a war on Democracy. What New Zealanders need is better outcomes from government, not more division. Undemocratic projects like Three Waters won't improve outcomes for anyone.

If you haven't already signed our open letter to the Prime Minister demanding a stop to Three Waters, click here to add your name.

As we saw with the Rotorua Bill, good old-fashioned people power can force Governments to change course. We must show the Government that they must kick out Three Waters.

For May the Fourth (Star Wars Day), Hobson's Pledge put an ad in the NZ Herald to sound the alarm on what the Government is doing with our democracy. Take a look below.

Your support is making this work possible, and we are making a difference.

Casey Costello
Trustee
Hobson’s Pledge

Late this afternoon the Rotorua District Council and Labour list MP Tamati Coffey announced they were “pausing” their divisive Bill to do away with the fundamental democratic principle of one person, one vote.

While the Government is trying to save face by calling a mere "pause" to the Bill – make no mistake, this is a comprehensive win. 

Technically, Parliament's rules mean a bill cannot be withdrawn while it's before a Select Committee, but with the Government pulling its support Mr Coffey's Bill is left high and dry.

And with the admission that making Maori votes twice the value of those of non-Maori cannot be justified, no amount of tweaking can make the Bill consistent with the NZ Bill of Rights Act. In short, the Bill is finished.

Your support has achieved this victory. More than 13,000 Hobson's Pledge supporters submitted to the Maori Affairs Select Committee to achieve today's victory. That volume stopped the outrageous rush to sneak this Bill through without it coming to the public's attention.

Of those, 4,620 submitters opted to also submit orally (via Zoom or in-person). Allocating just five minutes per person, meant it would have taken at least 39 days of ten-hour hearings for the Select Committee to get through those who wanted to have a say. This alone prevented the Bill from passing before 1 June, meaning it couldn’t possibly apply to this year’s local elections.

Seeing the writing on the wall, as well as our campaign (and public anger) heating up, Labour decided that the only option was to make this U-turn. 

Thanks to the support of thousands of Kiwis like you chipping-in to this effort, more than one million New Zealanders have seen our TV ad with targeted advertising across YouTube and Facebook.

The Government knew that from tomorrow our advertisements were hitting newspapers across the country, and we have TV ads slots booked from this weekend.

Seeing the media blitz coming, Jacinda Ardern's office read the writing on the wall.

This is proof that well-organised people-power can win even against a majority government beholden to a Maori caucus. Despite the best efforts of the anti-democracy movement, democracy still works.

Michael, you stood with us for democracy and told them no. This is your win. Thank you for making it possible.

Where to from here?

We have won this battle, but the war isn’t over. Tomorrow the fight continues against the rest of the anti-democracy movement’s attempts to divide New Zealanders by race and undermine equality of citizenship.

We understand there is a major Three Waters announcement from Nanaia Mahuta tomorrow morning at 11am.

Thank you for your support.

 

Don Brash
Trustee
Hobson’s Pledge