Even with the strong public support we consistently see for the equal treatment of all New Zealanders, regardless of race, the mainstream media are working harder than ever to stifle important debates in our society by reducing these issues to purely concerns of race, rather than democracy and equal citizenship.
Simon Wilson wrote in the Herald, calling the opposition to Maori Health Authority and Three Waters, "straight-out racism," while failing to address any of the good faith arguments made against those policies.
Read the Simon Wilson article here
ACT’s leader, David Seymour, has continued to speak strongly and responded appropriately to the flawed and naïve arguments put forward by the NZ Herald when he said:
"Our best future is a modern, multi-ethnic, liberal democracy. Each of those words matters. We should be a leading society with an equal place for all. Nobody should be born special, nobody should be born a second-class citizen. It’s a sad sign of the times that you can have a regular column in the country’s largest paper, and think such beliefs are “racist”."
Labour continues their attempt to distance themselves from the He Puapua Report, which delivered the cocktail of initiatives to separate Kiwis on race - the actual racist agenda in New Zealand. But Willie Jackson, promising public consultation on the new “Draft Plan” to realise the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, has deferred the public release of his new approach.
It is likely that there is much that in this new draft plan that will further outrage New Zealanders, motivating Labour to keep it under wraps until the controversial Three Waters legislation works its way through the select committee process.
The deadline for submissions on the Three Waters legislation, called the Water Services Entities Bill, is Friday, 22 July 2022. Submit at either the Parliamentary Submission Link or the Taxpayers' Union website Stop 3 Waters.
Meanwhile, the Minister responsible for this Bill is trying to avoid the controversy by claiming that any challenges regarding her many potential conflicts of interest are merely underhanded political attacks. Again, the media collaborate by alluding to a racist attack, rather than seeking the answers that are reasonable for the public to demand. In fact, Jack Tame played into the narrative by asking Minister Mahuta “Is it [the attacks] because you are Maori?”
More than the usual politicians' "nothing to see here", the approach now is to go on the offensive and call racist all those attempting any of the previously standard scrutiny.
Read and watch Nanaia Mahuta's interview here
Maori Health Authority
The co-governance model for public health services, in the form of the Maori Health Authority, was launched on 1 July, 2022, at Waitangi. Despite public health services not coming into existence for any New Zealander until 1938, the Government considered the site of the signing of the Treaty, over 100 years earlier, the appropriate venue.
The new Authority has given rise to more questions than answers on how health outcomes will be enhanced. In fact, the only matter to come to light so far is a $100 million budget for traditional Maori medicine, including practices based on the phases of the moon. Tipa Mahuta, who is both Nanaia Mahuta's sister and the co-chair of the Authority, has been notably absent from any public statements and the allegations of nepotism and conflicts of interest have been dismissed without any adequate explanation.
The Prime Minister has defended the co-governance structure of Health on the grounds of poor Maori health outcomes, but this bureaucratic change won't get a single extra doctor or nurse into work and the impact on how services will be allocated is yet to be seen.
With our health system struggling to meet the expectations of many New Zealanders, this divisive new structure will be the subject of further investigation by Hobson’s Pledge.
Virtue Signalling and Wokeness
Government agencies continue to be compromised by an agenda of virtue signalling and wokeness. They commit more and more funding to counter spurious claims of racism or bias, rather than selecting the most effective funding options.
While the Government leaves unanswered the heart felt pleas from business owners having their livelihood destroyed by increasingly brazen criminals, Police are spending $2 million to research racism.
The NZ Transport Agency takes the prize for political correctness gone mad, by calling for tenders to investigate how the Agency could “give expression to the treaty partnership by identifying Māori experiences, expectations and priorities for transport, to inform the development of key agency responses and help build capability within agencies.”
For example some of the research areas are:
- What are Māori expectations and priorities for transport, now and in the short, medium, and long-term future?
- What are the gaps between Māori expectations and priorities for transport and their current experiences?
- What are the gaps in data and other evidence that can be used to characterise Māori experiences and impacts on them of the transport system?
The use of public money to deliver on an agenda that continues to differentiate the treatment of New Zealanders based upon ancestry must be challenged and we will continue to fight for equal treatment of all New Zealanders.
Thank you for your support.
Casey Costello
Trustee
Hobson’s Pledge