Prior to the election in 2023 National promised to fix the economic disaster that the Labour Government had left behind and also promised to do away with all race based legislation and stop all talk of co-governance at any level.
After seeing the latest figures released yesterday (18th Dec) it is obvious that the policies that the coalition government have implemented are starting to pay a dividend with the GDP figure for the 3rd quarter showing it has risen from the minus 1% of Q2 up to plus 1.1% for this 3rd quarter.
Whilst the government should be congratulated for this positive movement they still need to take action to remove the racial division that has infected NZ since the Labour government took office in 2017.
It is time this current government under Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, grew a pair and decided to “Fully” implement their campaign promises to do away with all race based legislation and stop all talk of co-governance at any level.
As Martin Luther King Jr stated in his “I have a Dream” speech;
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.”
While he was speaking about the coloured people of America’s segregation based on race the underlying message is just as true for us here in New Zealand today.
Right before our eyes we have seen over the last fifty or so years, NZ go from what was a multi-cultural nation to one that is becoming more divided on racial lines than ever before.
Our nation is under its greatest threat from racial division; and the current coalition government does not seem to be intent on curbing this by fulfilling their pre-election promises to do away with all race based legislation and stop all talk of co-governance at any level.
And that matters to a large section of our population contrary to what politicians may say.
We have been told that racial discrimination is not a problem yet we have also seen many of the so-called elite from the Iwi promoting separatism based on race and justified by an erroneous interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi.
These so-called elite are making claims that the Treaty created a partnership between Maori and the Crown and as such they should have a right of Co-Governance.
We see that anyone raising concerns about these claims is condemned as a “racist”, “fear-mongering”, or “far right”.
Voters who have never before considered it see this push for control, by a small minority of the Iwi members, and see the cultural cohesion NZ has enjoyed for many years, eroding.
They see this racial separatism rising openly while the authorities downplay it and when they speak up, they’re told the problem is them.
The voters are leaning away from the Coalition Government and although the mainstream media’s left-leaning bias has had an effect on this, one of the main causes is National’s lack of leadership and their failure to implement their pre-election promises to remove the race based references from legislation.
Whilst the Mainstream Media coverage now seems to be more politically charged than ever before, it looks like the voters are losing faith in the Coalition because they have not done what they promised, to fix the previous Labour Government’s appalling legacy of racial division.
In spite of all their pre-election promises, the cost-of-living pressures seem as bad as ever if not worse, and the attempted Iwi takeover continues its rapid advance. Angry voters are now pointing the finger at National and its leader, Christopher Luxon.
Since the 2023 election they have: Voted down the Treaty Principles Bill; turned a blind eye to Maori preference; were inactive while activist judges granted tribes control of our coastline; endorsed Maori in the education curriculum and effectively put their head in the sand while Iwi claim control of our national freshwater resources.
You can jeer at voters and call them names. You can pretend it’s all about misinformation, but that’s exactly the type of arrogance that has led to this situation. People in the main aren’t asking for racial discrimination, they’re asking for honesty and a return to the more balanced cultural viewpoint that existed fifty odd years ago.
Here’s the truth:
Race based governance has never succeeded anywhere and it would not be any different here in New Zealand if it was implemented.
In recent days we have seen claims that the Maori economy is key to New Zealand’s future and that the Maori economy is around $100 Billion.
The truth is that the so-called “$100 billion Maori economy” figure is not a measure of output or productivity it is nothing more than a book-value estimate of assets held by Maori trusts, incorporations, land blocks, and iwi settlement entities. As an asset-stock figure, it doesn’t tell us anything about profitability, efficiency, or real economic contribution.
There is actually no separate Maori economy. There is only the New Zealand economy, within which Maori individuals and entities participate like everyone else. Rebranding a portion of ordinary commercial activity according to the owners’ ancestry doesn’t create a new economic engine — it creates a political narrative. And like most political narratives, it thrives on selective numbers, romanticism, and the avoidance of basic economic reality.
The claim that Maori enterprises “outperform” national averages has no factual basis or evidence. Many Maori entities, especially iwi statutory bodies, hold large portfolios in low-risk, low-yield assets such as commercial property and forestry — sensible investments, but hardly the drivers of a new economic frontier.
These performance claims also overlook a basic fiscal reality: a significant share of large Maori corporate structures pay little or no tax. Many are registered as charities, giving them full income-tax exemption. Those that are not registered as charities generally operate under the Maori Authority tax rate of 17.5% — far below the 28% company tax rate paid by ordinary businesses.
When the claims are made that the “Maori economy” is the key to NZ’s future there is no mention of the fact that much of the Maori commercial activity contributes less to the public purse than non-Maori enterprises. A genuinely national economy rests on a universal tax base.
The argument that race-based management is a solution to productivity or that sustainability has some type of cultural monopoly unique to Maori organisations is far from correct. The idea that national resilience depends on adopting a race based resource-management philosophy is nothing more than cultural marketing disguised as economics.
The suggestion that New Zealand must treat Maori as partners in planning, investment, and infrastructure is again just a political claim disguised as an economic one. Partnership implies co-governance, veto rights, and statutory power based on ancestry. None of which has been shown to be an economic strategy which will increase productivity or improve capital allocation.
New Zealand cannot afford policies built on ethnic identities rather than performance. Prosperity comes from open markets, strong education, innovation, investment, and productivity — not from ethnic branding or inflated claims.
The future of the New Zealand economy is not “Maori”. It must be built by all New Zealanders, under the same rules.
After fifty years of being allowed to virtually have their own way, the so-called elite Iwi groups have become powerful and dangerous. They see themselves as de-facto rulers, and if things don’t go their way, they do not hesitate to bully and intimidate, demand and threaten, and with very deep pockets, resort to legal action through a ‘captured’ court system, until opponents cave in.
Stopping the tribal takeover is what National, ACT and New Zealand First promised to do when they agreed to prioritise “Ending race-based policies” in their Coalition Agreement.
There can be no mature discussion about our future as a country until everybody accepts that the Treaty provided for the government to have final authority, with all citizens - no matter their ancestry - having equal rights.
.svg){kind=logo}
By Andy Loader, Poke the Bear