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Technically, Parliament's rules mean a bill cannot be withdrawn while it's before a Select Committee, but with the Government pulling its support Mr Coffey's Bill is left high and dry.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

The co-governance movement is making its most direct attack yet on the fundamental democratic principle of one person, one vote.

Yesterday in the House, Labour List MP Tamati Coffey's Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill passed its first reading, with Labour, the Greens, and the Maori Party in support, while National and Act were opposed.

This Bill not only divides Maori and non-Maori voters, but it gives Maori voters more seats on the Council than their proportion of the population.

The 22,000 Maori Roll voters will get three seats, while the 56,000 General Roll voters also get three seats, despite being more than twice the number of people.

This kind of arrangement is prohibited under existing electoral law, which requires adherence to the one person, one vote principle. So the Rotorua District Council and Tamati Coffey have brought this Bill to Parliament to override that legal protection for democracy.

Tamati Coffey has sent his Bill to the Maori Affairs Committee, which he chairs with a Labour majority, and has outrageously limited the window for submissions from the public to just two weeks. 

Hobson's Pledge, with your support, will be fighting this racist bill every step of the way.

Copied below are my comments to the media.

Thank you for your support.

 

Casey Costello
Trustee
Hobson’s Pledge

 

Read more ↗

Co-governance has been placed under a spotlight thanks to the referendum call from ACT. Support the Referendum

Regardless of your voting intentions or political affiliation, support for this petition is essential if New Zealanders are to have a say. ACT’s Karen Chhour spoke passionately in the House confirming the party’s position.

In his speech at the Milford Rotary Club, David Seymour articulated the key issues.

His comments included: “But here’s the thing. Not all Māori are struggling and not all those struggling are Māori. The best way to address unequal outcomes is to improve ALL our health and education policies – not to single out one group for special treatment because of their ethnicity.”

Concluding with a commitment that ACT will campaign for a referendum on co-governance has catapulted the issue into the political arena. Full speech here

Making an Impact

Co-governance is also being highlighted by Hobson’s Pledge supporters. After the Maori Party announced that they would only be willing to go into a post-election coalition with a party committed to co-governance, the National Party were sent a clear message that they must rule out coalitions that would further separatism. Nearly 10,000 people used our on-line tool at www.ruleitout.nz to send e-mails to MPs, calling on National to rule out a Maori Party coalition.  

The submissions to the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngāi Tahu Representation) Bill also received some media exposure, with Hobson’s Pledge directly responsible for three quarters of the submissions against that Bill. Full article here: Democracy or division: The wrangle over Ngāi Tahu and ECan | Stuff.co.nz

Read more ↗

This is a longer update than usual, with so much to cover in recent weeks.

In today's update, we look at the divisive new history curriculum, the Government running full steam ahead with the separate Maori Health Authority, shocking comments from MPs attacking democracy, and unfortunate developments with the Hauraki Gulf Forum.

Higher standard needed for History

The new history curriculum, announced last week, will become a tool for dividing New Zealanders, with its clear focus on two types of citizenship.  

With a failing education system producing shameful outcomes in literacy, numeracy, and even attendance, this Government continues to evade accountability by distracting New Zealanders with ideology.

Although originally scheduled for introduction to schools at the beginning of 2022, there was a range of criticism, including the strong influence of ideology and the complete omission of many important aspects of our history, which caused a 12 month delay. The delay was defended by Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

“The feedback the Ministry received was wide-ranging, clear, and at times confronting. New Zealanders have a lot to say about how our nation’s histories should be examined and discussed, and that is a good thing,” Chris Hipkins said.

The new curriculum requires students to make “informed ethical judgement(s) about people’s actions”.  Making ethical judgement is not the role of history and the question must be asked as to who defines “ethical”.

Analysis of the curriculum shows the strong influence of separatist ideology.  This will do little to reduce division or encourage unity.  ACT’s education spokesperson Chris Baillie expressed valid concerns about the curriculum. 

“…Labour is trying to make New Zealand an unequal society on purpose. It believes there are two types of New Zealanders. Tangata Whenua, who are here by right, and Tangata Tiriti who are lucky to be here. We should be learning the history of our multi-ethnic society.”

New Zealanders – heal thyself

Funding of $22 million has been announced for the Maori Health Authority, which is being established under the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Bill, even though the Bill is still with the Select Committee.

Read more ↗