The New Plymouth District Council (Waitara Lands) Bill that passed its third reading on Thursday shows how a tribal group managed to expand a grievance into three current settlements totalling over $247 million.

Since the row over Don Brash being banned then un-banned from speaking at Massey University, race-based issues have appeared to have been sidelined. The issues remain, prompting Don to write in his regular column for South Auckland newspaper Elocal that “enough is enough”. Here is the article:

The message that violence is not OK apparently hasn’t got through to former MP Hone Harawira, who called for vigilante justice after seeing images of people participating in a Taranaki A&P parade in blackface

You have until December 14 to put in your submission against Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikatene’s bill that would require a 75 percent majority in Parliament to scrap the Maori seats.

An apology by Auckland University for publishing an article by a language professor that included an untrue and defamatory statement about Hobson's Pledge was a long time coming.

Former Treaty Minister and National MP Chris Finlayson, who confirmed on Friday that he will leave Parliament before the end of year, says his highlight was reforming the Foreshore and Seabed legislation.

All eligible Maori and Pacific job candidates are being automatically fast-tracked to the interview stage for openings at Auckland District Health Board, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The Crown’s strategy for Maori language revitalisation is to entrench Maori institutional racism across New Zealand society, according to commentator Michael Coote.

When Don Brash was “uninvited” on August 7 to a speaking engagement at Massey University, Vice-Chancellor Jan Thomas cited “security concerns” as a reason. But emails released under the Official Information Act revealed that the Vice-Chancellor’s “concerns” had festered for weeks and they were nothing to do with security.

A Crown-Maori Partnership portfolio and a new agency to support the Crown to be a better Treaty partner, announced yesterday, is fraught with danger because it entrenches the notion that the Crown and Maori somehow exist as separate groups.

The Waikato Regional Council is set to defend a complaint laid with the Human Rights Commission alleging its controversial Plan Change 1 aimed at improving water quality gives iwi special treatment.

A big thank you to all who spoke out and generously supported Hobson’s Pledge spokesman Don Brash after vice chancellor Jan Thomas declared he could not address students at Massey University.

A new School Journal comic book aimed at 10- to 12-year-olds with a Year 6 reading level shows indoctrination about the Treaty of Waitangi in action.  

Big talk from a Kaikohe claimant about a $1.5-billion settlement for Northland tribe Ngapuhi raises the question what is the big grievance they want settled?

The Auckland Council unwittingly did Canadian activists Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux a favour by withdrawing permission for them to speak at the council-owned Bruce Mason Centre.

Talk of a referendum on Maori seats was revived, briefly, last week when Acting Prime Minister and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters called for a two-pronged referendum on whether they should be entrenched or should go altogether.

Crown-Maori relations are in need of repair, according to Kelvin Davis, who is the Minister of the new Crown-Maori Relations portfolio.

For those following the long-running shambles to do with tribal claims for the coast, Friday is the deadline for submissions on the Nga Rohe Moana o Nga Hapu o Ngati Porou Bill (No. 2), which gives effect to a deed of agreement between Ngati Porou and the Crown for around 200 km of the East Coast coastline north of Gisborne.

We posted full-page adverts this week to advertise the fact that claimed Treaty partnership between the Crown and “Maori” is constitutionally impossible. The adverts were prompted by meetings being conducted by Crown-Maori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis, often at private maraes.

Maori wards became an issue of national significance over the past week after five districts voted against them and while a handful of politicians said they want to change the law to outlaw such referenda.

We’re into the last week of the Maori wards debate and what have we learned?

1.Only 55 percent of Maori voters are on the Maori roll, which means that 45 percent of Maori voters would vote on the general roll in council elections.

Wairiki MP Tamati Coffey found out in Whakatane what we found out while collecting signatures for petitions for a vote, that many people haven’t a clue about what proposals for Maori wards entail.

When retired computer pioneer Bruce Moon planned to give a talk to the Nelson Institute a week ago on how the Treaty of Waitangi had been twisted he was surprised to have permission to talk at the Nelson City Library suddenly withdrawn.

With the census done and dusted, citizens of Maori descent may now choose whether to vote on either the Maori or general roll.

The Auckland Council is seeking feedback on a 10-year budget and Auckland Plan 2050 and tucked in there is a whole series of questions on Maori identity and wellbeing.

On Thursday, Hamilton mayor Andrew King dropped his plan to get the city council to consider changing the name of the council to the Kirikiriroa City Council.

“Words” spoken between Crown/Maori Relations Minister Kelvin Davis, Finance Minister Grant Robertson, and Environment Minister David Parker on Monday prompted Stuff reporter Jo Moir to surmise on how the battle lines are drawn between coalition partners on water rights.

A mass haka at Waitangi at 3pm on Friday, March 9, 2018, probably timed for the 6pm news, will kick off the first national tribal rebellions day.

Petitions in both Palmerston North and Kaikoura were validated on Wednesday, which means that all five districts where councils have voted to establish Maori wards will have a vote in May on whether or not those should proceed.

Campaigners in Manawatu, Western Bay of Plenty, and Whakatane have taken sufficient signatures to their respective councils to trigger polls on proposals for Maori wards in their areas.

Closing the gap between Maori and everyone else in terms of inequality in education, incarceration, poverty and employment was how the news media reported New Zealand’s national day on Tuesday.

At Ratana Pa last Wednesday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern kicked off the political year when she said “we will never have fulfilled our obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi or the prophesies of Ratana” until “we” have improved Maori social indicators.

Two iwi have quietly been paid huge top-ups, totalling $370 million, to their supposed "full and final" Treaty of Waitangi settlements, Stuff reported today. Waikato-Tainui received $190 million and the South Island's Ngai Tahu $180 million – more than they originally settled for in 1995 and 1998, respectively.

Over the holiday period, Hobson’s Pledge has focused on collecting signatures for five petitions on proposals for Maori wards in Western Bay of Plenty, Whakatane, Manawatu, Palmerston North and Kaikoura. With a deadline of February 21, one district has already surpassed its goal with the others having made varying degrees of progress.

Councils in Palmerston North, Manawatu, Whakatane, and Western Bay of Plenty have decided to proceed with Maori wards, so it is over to residents in those areas to have their say.

After reviewing our campaign over the past year in light of the general election result, Hobson’s Pledge members chose to continue as a lobby group.

New Zealand now has a government described by The Australian newspaper as a coalition of the losers put together by New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, who promptly reneged on his campaign pledge for a referendum on whether or not to continue with separate Maori seats.

The Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 has a number of problems, according to a legal opinion obtained by Hobson’s Pledge on correspondence relating to the Act and the huge number of last-minute claims by Maori groups earlier this year. Wellington law firm Franks Ogilvie wrote:

Why are the Auckland Council, Napier City Council, and Palmerston North City Council currently considering Maori wards? This is because they are required to do so by legislation, most especially Section 19 Z of the Local Electoral Act 2001, which allows all councils the option of establishing Maori constituencies or wards by resolution of council. If councils decide to establish Maori wards, the decision can be challenged by a poll of all voters.

With 46 percent support, National could form a government with NZ First that could look beyond paternalistic policies intended to “improve the lot of Maori”.

The new Labour leader’s threat of yet-to-be-specified widespread taxes has turned the general election into a close race with voters prioritising financial survival over disgust at years of race-based policy.

A Hobson’s Pledge researcher found in New Zealand’s vast body of legislation an interconnected set of laws, judicial rulings and institutions that has created the race-based administration that we labour under today.

A burst of frantic activity by Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson during the last week of the Fifth National Government gives the appearance that he may think that the days of National rule are numbered.

The policies of Labour’s new leader Jacinda Ardern on Maori seats and a water tax should send a chill through Hobson’s Pledge supporters.

Labour has yet another leader and the Green Party is overrun with a leader’s past indiscretions, what is the National Party about to do? One thing they could do would be to match the promise made by Winston Peters to hold a binding referendum of all voters on the future of the Maori seats.

Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson acting as the Crown on Thursday offered northern Hawke's Bay tribe Ngati Pahauwera a deal on a sizeable part of Hawke Bay under his Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011.

A total 91.1 percent of us support the idea that the Government should treat all of us equally at law irrespective of ethnicity, a poll commissioned by Hobson’s Pledge released today revealed.

Hugh Barr, who is secretary of the Council of Outdoor Recreation Associations of New Zealand, and who has fought against the National Government’s marine and coastal area policy since 2010, details the threat posed by the current outpouring of claims for the coastal area that the Government said would never happen.

Hobson’s Pledge spokespersons Don Brash and Casey Costello will discuss the Palmerston North City Council’s Maori ward proposal at a meeting tonight at the Palmerston North Library.

A number of the 1.6 million flyers we delivered nationwide last week prompted complaints to the Human Rights Commission alleging racism. See http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/top/333677/complaints-made-to-hrc-over-leaflets