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

A video by actor-director Taika Waititi leads a new promotion launched last week by Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy titled “Give Nothing To Racism”. See http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11875975

An advertisement featuring Prime Minister Bill English waving the white flag of surrender with text attacking the National Party on a single standard of citizenship appeared in the Sunday Star Times today.

A $4 million fund to help young Maori get their driver licences to get them into work and keep them out of jail, launched this week, makes good sense, but why base the programme around ethnicity?

This year’s New Zealand Budget shows that over $8 million, or 17 percent of the total allocation for Vote Treaty Negotiations, has been earmarked for determining customary interests in the marine and coastal area over the next year.