Many Hobson's Pledge supporters have contacted us in recent years with stories of cultural training in their workplaces. As time has gone on, what began as optional courses are now more often than not compulsory and highly politicised. I know that this has been an issue of immense frustration for many people.

That's why I am introducing you to Janet Dickson.

Janet is a real estate agent with more than 30 years experience, but the Real Estate Authority is threatening to cancel her licence for five years.

Why? Because Janet is taking a principled stance in refusing to complete a compulsory online course instructing real estate agents on te reo Māori, tikanga, and the Treaty of Waitangi.

Her refusal is based on concerns that an industry body can force members to complete training on a subject only very loosely connected to their job under threat of losing their right to work. It is also a key concern to Janet that the online course Te Kākano is a singular perspective on the subject matter when there is a variety in opinion and understanding within Māoridom and all New Zealanders.

For Janet, this is a matter of personal and professional autonomy and diversity of opinion.

Faced with the choice to capitulate to the REA or lose her licence for five years, Janet has decided on a third option: judicial review in the High Court.

The review could serve as a critical tool in addressing the overreach by other professional organisations who force diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training on workers via mandates too. Her lawyers believe it could establish a precedent that will inform the conduct of other professional regulatory bodies.

But judicial reviews don’t come cheap.The entire process is likely to cost more than $150,000 and Janet needs $50,000 to kick it off and get this in front of the High Court.

Will you back Janet and this opportunity to rein in radical policies being pushed through companies and organisations via employee or licensee training? She needs support to maintain her principled stance to reject mandates and to challenge the idea that the writers of Te Kākano are an infallible authority on all things Māori.

Now is the time for collective resistance to safeguard the major principles of our democracy. It is imperative to ensure that Janet's voice, and those similarly situated, are not silenced. We need a unified stand to uphold the fundamental values of professional autonomy and democratic freedoms.

Contribute to Janet's legal fund

This case has the potential to be groundbreaking. It is our best opportunity thus far to draw a line in the sand around our rights. It is a clear cut case where the punishment for not completing the training is so obviously disproportionate. We simply couldn't pass up the chance to support Janet's effort. Will you join us?

It is quite laughable that the Real Estate Authority in conjunction with Ngāti Awa has decided that their Māori training manual is the one true account of New Zealand history, Māori culture, and the Treaty of Waitangi. 

Not only does Janet have a different perspective from Ngāti Awa's Te Kākanotraining, but I strongly suspect many other iwi would disagree with the training materials too! Making this training compulsory is an attempt at indoctrination.

If you want to see professional bodies and employers reminded that they don't have a right to own our opinions nor the right to impose their particular cultural perspectives on their employees and members, you need to get behind Janet and her judicial review. 

Back Janet Dickson's judicial review and say 'no' to compulsory Māori cultural training. 

On behalf of Janet, thank you for your support,

Waitangi Day is fast approaching and tensions are expected at official events. Kiwis can hardly be blamed for the widespread confusion behind the tensions related to the Treaty Principles Bill, which incidentally hasn't even been written! 

Sign our open letter to the Coalition Government calling on them to stand their ground!

At this point, it can be credibly argued that there is a deliberate effort to spread false information about what the Government, the ACT Party, and David Seymour are proposing with the Bill.

No one is suggesting a referendum on the EXISTENCE of the Treaty of Waitangi, for example. Recent media stories have often seemed to suggest otherwise.

What the ACT Party is arguing for is of foundational importance to New Zealand’s future. It is important New Zealanders understand it.

In recent years, more and more people have been led to believe that the Treaty of Waitangi created a partnership between two distinct groups of New Zealanders, with those who chance to have one or more Maori ancestors having an inherently superior constitutional status. 

According to this view, those with some Maori ancestry have a superior right to be consulted about a whole range of policy issues, including those regarding land use, natural resources, and political representation.

David Seymour totally rejects this interpretation of the Treaty and argues that having a society where some citizens have rights which are inherently superior to those of other citizens is inconsistent with any reasonable definition of democracy. He argues that we have no future as a democracy if rights are dependent on who our ancestors were.

Moreover, he argues that the words of the Treaty actually support what he proposes that the Treaty Principles Bill will provide – that the government has the right to rule, that we all have rights to our own property, and that all citizens have equal rights.

I have no idea of course what will happen to ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill when it comes before Parliament.  But whatever happens to that particular piece of legislation, it is imperative that as a community we resolve whether we wish to be a democracy where all citizens have equal political rights or whether we want to descend further into the awful morass where rights depend on who our ancestors were.

Central to the opposition to this political equality is the relatively new assertion that Maori did not cede sovereignty to the Crown. This is not a credible position given the obvious practical sovereignty of the Crown in New Zealand since 1840. 

For most of the years since, great Maori leaders accepted that the Crown is sovereign, with the greatest of these being Sir Apirana Ngata.

And all New Zealanders have engaged with the sovereignty of the Crown – they have been employed by the state as teachers, nurses, doctors, soldiers and sailors, they have paid taxes to the state, and received benefits from the state.

Those of us who believe in the superiority of democracy and that equal rights are a cornerstone of such a system must hold the line. 

There will be uncomfortable conversations and tensions as we work through these matters, but if we give up on equality and democracy now, I fear we will never get them back.

No doubt this Waitangi Day we will hear all sorts of other false claims about what the Bill seeks to do. Please remember the Treaty Principles Bill simply seeks to create clarity and consensus on what the Treaty means. It seeks to halt the creative and expanding principles the judiciary have attributed to the Treaty.

We have more than 22,000 signatures on our open letter to the coalition asking them to hold line. Will you add your name if you haven't already done so?

Things are heating up and it looks like we might just get the conversation about the Treaty that we have been asking for. But if you think that the activists with their extremist interpretations of the Treaty are going to play fair, think again.

We must step up and stand strong. There is no other option. Defending democracy and true equality under the law for all Kiwis is simply too important.

I'll be honest with you, after the huge push we did for the election, we had a long, hard look at what the future of Hobson's Pledge might look like. But seeing the viciousness of the opposition and frankly the disingenuousness of the media, we concluded we have no option but to keep going.

In fact, we need to kick up a gear. This is a pivotal moment in our nation's history and we either seize it or accept a future of separatism and disunity.

You will have seen how effective we can be throughout the election period, but that will all be for nothing if the separatists and their friends in the media can browbeat Christopher Luxon. He needs your support. Hobson's Pledge cannot do this alone. 

>>> Will you chip in to our Fight For Equality Fund to ensure that we can help the Government dismantle race-based policies and keep the pressure on the one-sided media? <<< 

Over the weekend the Māori king hosted an event that was dubbed the National Hui for Unity.

Before I go on, it is important to note that the Māori King is not recognised by all iwi and so his title is somewhat inaccurate. Large iwi like Tuhoe, Ngāti Porou, and Ngāpuhi have historically rejected the Kiingitanga movement. And of course most New Zealanders don’t recognise him as king at all.

Thousands of people attended the event, including Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka and fellow National MP Dan Bidois. Leader of the Opposition Chris Hipkins attended also.

However, New Zealand First gave the event a miss with Minister Shane Jones predicting it would be a "moan session".

The whole point of the meeting was an attempt to unify Māori activists in asserting that Māori never ceded sovereignty to the British Crown. This is a radical and dangerous rewriting of history. It is a far cry from what was said at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and what prominent thought leaders like Sir Apirana Ngata have written over the years.

Even before the gathering commenced media were engaging in a misinformation campaign that appears designed to whip up opposition to the government. TV One, our state broadcaster, described the proposed Treaty Principles Bill as a "rewrite" of the Treaty. This is a complete lie and has never been proposed.

Inflammatory statements calling the government and its leaders "white supremacists" were also blatant lies and designed to create more division. Unity was supposed to be the theme of the day but it was evident that the only unity hui leaders were interested in was between those organising against those New Zealanders seeking true political equality. A definite 'us versus them' dynamic was present.

We must reject this drive to split New Zealand even further by race and we cannot allow ahistorical rewrites of the Treaty to become entrenched. As we should have learned by now, when these things are embedded it is very difficult to undo them.

It is now or never.

We either fight for an equal and unified New Zealand now or watch this beautiful country continue to slide into a race-based caste system. Can we count on you to stand with us?

Don't be fooled by the Māori King Tuheitia's rhetoric about unity.

Remember that this is the man who said:

"We have always owned the water!... In the eyes of our people, Pakeha law was set up to minimise our mana and maximise their own."

These are not the words of a man who respects the law of the land. He has already won the battle for the Waikato River and would like to see all water under Māori ownership.

Can you see the precarious position New Zealand is in? We are on the precipice and it could go either way. Our Fight For Equality Fund will determine how aggressively we can fight racial separatism.

>>> Will you contribute so we can make more New Zealanders aware of what is going on and equip them with the means to speak up? <<<

I'm not someone who likes to overstate things so please hear me when I say that 2024 may be one of the most significant years in our history when it comes to democracy and who we are as a nation.

The past few decades of activism and constant chipping away at our democratic principles are culminating in a big, organised push for co-governance, separatism, and Māori ownership of natural resources.

Let me be clear, what we stand for is plain and simple: equality. Only then can New Zealand look forward to more prosperity for both Māori and non-Māori.

Do you share our belief that equality and democracy must be fought for and defended? With your support we can grow our Fight For Equality Fund and put up the fight of our lives for these precious values.

We owe it to our children and grandchildren to ensure that the battle for our democracy is won.

The time is now.

Thank you for your support,

As the year draws to a close, we want to express our gratitude for your dedication and unwavering support of Hobson's Pledge.

Throughout this year, our collective efforts have significantly influenced and reshaped the future of governmental policies and legislation. Together, we've remained steadfast in our commitment to ensure equal rights for every individual, regardless of their ethnic background, and been staunch protectors of our democratic values.

Every petition signed, letter written, submission made, and generous donation has been instrumental in our success this year. From our short and sharp campaigns to halt anti-democratic agendas in local councils to our extended election strategy to change the Government and ensure the new one opposes co-governance, we were driven by people power.

The belief that we should all be equal before the law is held by many, many New Zealanders. It is a minority who are driving division, but unfortunately they have had disproportionate power. This year we significantly destabilised their agenda and in 2024 we cannot let up. 

 

On behalf of Hobson's Pledge I wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. While there's more work ahead on our journey, we hope you have a restful and joyful summer break.

We will be taking this opportunity to recharge, as we prepare to continue the fight in the coming year.