For too long, New Zealanders have watched in silence as governments of all stripes have chipped away at the principle that every citizen should stand equal before the law. The steady advance of race-based governance, special rights, parallel systems and political power granted on the basis of ancestry has gone virtually unchallenged by the everyday New Zealander. That era has to end. This country won’t fix itself and it certainly won’t return to democratic equality if the public continues to whisper their frustrations privately while remaining silent publicly.
New Zealanders need to be far more forthright in defending a single, unified system of government. The creeping trend toward co-governance, race-specific policy and constitutional preferences didn’t happen overnight – it happened because the public allowed politicians to trade away equal citizenship piece by piece while hoping someone else would push back. Appeasement hasn’t worked. In fact, every time a government has yielded to activist pressure, the demands have intensified. That alone should tell us that silence is not a strategy. Silence is surrender.
This is not about ordinary Māori people. They, like everyone else, want secure families, honest government and a fair shot at success. The real issue is the machinery of race-based politics that has been built and entrenched over the past several decades. A political industry has grown around the idea that different ancestry entitles people to different political influence. That philosophy is fundamentally incompatible with democratic equality. And yet it has been permitted to take root because too few New Zealanders were willing to call it out plainly.
The result? Increasing pressure for co-governance in public services, separate representation mechanisms, race-based consultation rights and, most concerning of all, attempts to reinterpret – or even rewrite – constitutional arrangements through the back door. These pressures will not subside on their own. They will only stop when the wider public stops tolerating them.
New Zealanders must rediscover the courage to speak openly. Not in coded language, not in apologetic whispers, but directly and without fear. We must insist that all public authority – parliament, local government, the courts, and every ministry – serves the entire public, equally and without favour. New Zealand cannot function as a modern democracy if political rights depend on who your ancestors were. That path leads only to division, resentment and permanent political instability.
Being forthright means demanding that politicians stop making decisions based on which group can mount the loudest accusation of historical grievance. It means rejecting any proposal that divides the country into hereditary categories. It means telling every political party, without ambiguity, that race-based governance has no place in the future of this nation.
It also means refusing to be intimidated by claims that defending equal citizenship is somehow ‘racist’ or ‘colonial’. That accusation has been used for years to silence debate, and far too many people have fallen for it. Standing for civic equality is not extremist – it is the foundation of Western democracy. Every liberal society is built on the idea that the law applies equally to all. New Zealanders who defend that principle are not the problem; they are the last line of defence against a system that would permanently fracture our country.
The time for polite avoidance has passed. Ordinary New Zealanders – workers, small business owners, retirees, parents – must begin saying clearly that the future of this nation will not be carved up according to ancestral lines. If we want a country that treats every citizen fairly, then we need to push back, boldly and consistently, against any attempt to entrench racial preference in governance.
New Zealand belongs to all of us. And it is up to all of us to speak up, stand firm and ensure that our democracy remains grounded in one timeless principle: one people, one law and one standard for every citizen of this nation.
This article was originally published by Breaking Views.
