There have been racial tensions throughout our nation's history, but I cannot recall a time when rhetoric danced so close to outright sedition.

Te Pāti Māori and its supporters believe that Māori never ceded sovereignty. By extension they view every democratic election held since 1840 as illegitimate.

A few days ago, in a rant that can only be described as unhinged, Kiri Tamihere-Waititi (who works for Te Pāti Māori, is married to co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and is the daughter of Te Pāti Māori President John Tamihere) declared:

"We could overthrow any government. We could do whatever the f*** we want."

Today, the Party led protests it referred to as a "rangatira revolution". Rangatira means sovereign or control and the Oxford Dictionary says a revolution is "a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favour of a new system".

I am worried. There are far too many ill-informed Kiwis who still think that this is about righting the wrongs of the past. These naive folks are enabling a minority of radicals to advance a race-based power grab that is not far at all from refusing to recognise the authority of our current Government. 

We have to be ready to fight off the inevitable attacks on our democracy. Hobson's Pledge is preparing for any eventuality, but we are a small group of volunteers and we cannot prepare effectively without the support of people like you who are equally as concerned. Will you chip in to our fighting fund so that when the time comes we're ready to defend our values?

Under Labour, race-based policies and laws were embedded giving these radicals more power. Now that the Coalition Government has explicitly ruled out further race-based policies and begun reversing some of those introduced by the last Government, ethnonationalists are switching tactics.

Our biggest challenge is getting through to the majority of New Zealanders who value their fellow countrymen and women not by their race but by the content of their character. We need to convey to them the urgency of the situation and that we must stand up for our vision of an equal New Zealand. 

We are committed to peaceful expression of our defence of democracy, rule of law, and equal rights. You won't see us with smoking guns on our posters or 'fire and brimstone' style videos on social media.

Instead we want to plaster billboards, newspapers, bus stops, and social media with messages that assert our values and call on New Zealanders to raise their voices to defend those values. These things do not come cheap. We have to battle media companies to even get our messages published in the first place and then we have to find the money to pay for them! Will you chip in to ensure this is possible?

Te Pāti Māori supporters are turning out in droves to spread their messages of division and racism. We can't sit back and let them drive us to the brink of civil war. We've seen this overseas and it always seems unthinkable until it happens. 

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I'll be honest, I was hesitant to speak in such frank terms. To even say out loud the words 'sedition' or 'civil war' feels like madness. However, we have a group of powerful radicals challenging the authority of our democratically elected Government and it is plain to see they won't stop pushing the boundaries until enough of us get brave enough to say "no".

Te Pāti Māori now routinely refers to New Zealand's laws and Parliament as Pākehā laws and Pākehā Parliament. Nevermind the many Māori New Zealanders who have contributed to making our laws over the years and who have proudly taken seats in our Parliament. TPM are marching closer and closer to rejecting the law of the land and the supremacy of Government.

This is not the future I want for our country. I have been repeating messages of racial equality for decades now and it is disheartening to see that instead of growing closer to that goal, we have been driven further apart. I wanted better for my children and grandchildren. I had hoped they wouldn't know racial disharmony and strife.

New Zealand has one Government and it is democratically elected. No matter what ideas Te Pāti Māori has about the chiefs not ceding sovereignty at Waitangi in 1840, the Government's authority has been cemented by every subsequent general election and in our body of legislation.

I understand not everyone is in a position to speak up about such 'controversial' issues. It is challenging to speak about race at the best of times but to do so now can provoke aggressive attacks. We at Hobson's Pledge are not afraid to draw attention to the issue and with any monetary contribution you make to boost our effectiveness we can make a world of difference.

We do not want to be caught napping on this. I hope I have conveyed the critical juncture we are at in New Zealand and that you will stand with us in defence of equality and democracy.