Poli’s Promises & Fairies in the Garden

Poli’s Promises & Fairies in the Garden

What do they have in common?

They’re a figment of someone’s imagination and once they are discussed they are unlikely to ever materialize again as they are just a lot of hot air.

A classic example would have to be the recent admission that the PSA and the previous Labour government agreed a condition in the employment of a number of government departments, for staff of Maori ethnicity to be able to take paid leave for cultural purposes over and above their normal annual leave allowances and there is no way for managerial staff to oppose this leave.

I recently listened to the Minister for Oranga Tamariki telling Duncan Garner that the government cannot do anything about this as it is part of the staff employment contracts. She went to some lengths to explain that she was only commenting as an Act Party Member not in her capacity as the Minister.

While I can understand that the principle of being unable to change part of a contract after it has been agreed is a fact of life, there must come a time when it is up for renegotiation and then the current coalition could just refuse to include this in any renewal.

But can we rely on the commitment from the Coalition’s pre-election pledge to end race‑based policy and ensure all New Zealanders stand equal before the law, by taking this stand?

On the evidence so far the answer has to be a resounding NO.

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.

When it comes to the pre-election promises to end race‑based laws and practices the Coalition has failed dismally.

Instead of being eliminated, Labour’s He Puapua programme to replace democracy with tribal rule remains embedded within the country’s legislative and regulatory framework.

In light of National’s claims around building a society based on following our democratic principles, equal citizenship, equal opportunity and despite the clear mandate against racial division and co‑governance that was delivered to the Coalition at the election, not only are activist Treaty principle clauses continuing to shape policy advice and decision‑making, but official references to the original Treaty of Waitangi are being replaced with “Te Tiriti” – a radicalised version that embodies He Puapua through Treaty partnerships and co-governance.

Prior to the 2023 election the current Coalition Government parties promised to reverse race-based laws and practices.

Much of the government bureaucracy (both central and local) has demonstrated support for co-governance and outright resistance to any change, that without decisive action to remove divisive race‑based provisions from law and practice - and to reassert the primacy of Parliament - the drift towards tribal governance will continue. This represents an enormous threat to New Zealand democracy.

The fact of the matter is that by going down this pathway we find our country is being divided on the basis of ethnic background; becoming a place where some citizens were denied equal political rights on the basis of ethnic background.

Yet even with this knowledge and the mandate that they were given at the 2023 election, based on their promises to remove race‑based laws and practices, we have seen Prime Minister Luxon state that the issues of race are not serious and that he is in favour of co-governance.

The National, Act, NZ First coalition government under Luxon’s leadership has ignored their responsibility to their voting supporters at the time of the last election, by not carrying out their election promises to remove race‑based laws and practices.

Whilst they did repeal the Three Waters legislation and remove the Maori Health Authority, given the failure to actually address the underlying issue of race based legislation these changes are nothing more than tokenism as the circumstances that allowed these things to happen have just been swept under the rug not dealt with!

A minority of so-called elite Maori have been attempting to seize a level of control through co-governance claims and indoctrinating our public service into their ideological beliefs around the colonisation of New Zealand (using a radical campaign of disinformation with a narrative of victimhood and grievance).

It has effectively become a tool used to side-line democracy and to force the NZ population to accept that there is some unchallengeable right for Maori under the Treaty of Waitangi, to have a right of veto (or power) over all other races which call NZ home.

We are told repeatedly by the so-called elite from Iwi that this is the only way forward to honour the Treaty.  But in fact this is nothing more than moving from the democratic system of government we have had since the signing of the Treaty to a system of racial discrimination where equality in government has no place as it will be replaced by a person’s ethnicity.

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.

We must stop being afraid to say it. This is not just wrong. It is corrosive. A separatist political model based on racial ancestry belongs in 19th-century Apartheid South Africa, not 21st-century New Zealand.

The Prime Minister and the coalition government’s job is to protect our system of democracy & equality and to ensure that any threats to either are promptly and firmly opposed by, if necessary legislation, and by publicly speaking out against them.”

The National party of today seems to believe in what are so-called 'progressive' policies that would once have been seen as left-wing policies.

These policies cover issues such as ideas about ethnicity that promote mythical ideologies and racial division of our nation; Issues that will destroy the idea of equality, one person, one vote; Issues about ethnicity that require unequal treatment based on an erroneous interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi.

National was elected in 2023 with a mandate for change; Voters wanted race based legislation and practices removed; they wanted the bureaucracy to be changed back to a non-partisan secular viewpoint.

People feel let down; they voted for change and have only got more of the same & seen the implementation of many of the very ideas that they voted to reject.

With the upcoming election we need to hold the coalition accountable for their promises prior to the last election and ignore any talk of issues that resemble the fairies in the garden.

We must retain our working democracy where all citizens - no matter their ancestry - have equal rights; one person one vote!