Category: Weekly Column
The key decisions that set the food price crisis in motion were made by Labour. Framed as bold climate leadership by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, her 2018 Captain’s Call banning offshore oil and gas exploration, and the 2019 Zero Carbon Act introducing the harshest emissions restrictions in the world, came with predictable consequences: energy shortages and rising fuel prices, as the cost of carbon soared from $17 in 2017 to $88.50 in 2022.
Last week the Supreme Court delivered the second of its two-part judgement on the first Marine and Coastal Area Act case to progress its way through to our highest court. The first decision released last December put “tikanga” or Maori custom at the heart of all coastal claim decision-making, while the second, which only affects the mouths of navigable rivers, will end up opening up the country’s waterways for tribal claim.
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. By “ending race-based policies” and expunging all references to “race” and “Maori” from our Statute books (excluding Treaty settlement legislation), New Zealand would join over half of all OECD countries that have adopted a similar “colourblind” approach.
Forty-two councils are set to hold pivotal referenda on the future of Maori seats in October, yet few New Zealanders appear to grasp just how high the stakes actually are. Proponents of Maori sovereignty understand the gravity: losing these seats would deal a crushing blow to their push for control over local councils. More critically, it could jeopardise their race-based parliamentary seats and their He Puapua plan to dominate “Aotearoa” by 2040.
With clear evidence that children from single parent households are more likely to be poor, drop out of school, and suffer from health and emotional problems, it is shameful that a disastrous policy that leaves children vulnerable to serious harm, is still in place
The cultural takeover has now reached the point where grassroots New Zealand needs to again be mobilised. We need to send a strong message to central government that New Zealanders have had enough. We can do that in a number of ways, but the most urgent is to vote “No” to Maori wards in the October local body elections.
While the inefficiencies and cost blowouts of local government are a major concern for the Coalition – and rightly so given the huge impact it has on our economy and our lives – they must not lose sight of the fact that many parts of the country local government is now effectively being run by iwi for their own benefit.
Since one Parliament cannot bind another, National no longer needs to prop up a dangerous and highly destabilising law promoted by a Party that is now openly advancing anarchy. The fatally flawed Marine and Coastal Area Act should be repealed and the 2004 Foreshore and Seabed Act restored to provide certainty, security and to protect the public good...
Looking at the wider picture, all over the world, liberal democracies are being threatened by authoritarian forces. We experienced it ourselves just five years ago, when almost every single one of our democratic rights and freedoms were stripped away without warning. It was into the democratic vacuum Jacinda Ardern created, that tribal rule was ushered in.
If a line-by-line review had been carried out, Coalition Ministers would have been shocked to discover Labour’s toxic He Puapua programmes are still operating. De-funding those including “Rautaki Maori” policies to deliver preferential hiring practices for Maori. would not only have helped the Coalition to deliver on their election pledge to “Stop He Puapua”, but it would also have saved millions of dollars to reduce spending and pay down debt.
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