Don Brash
Hobson’s Pledge
There are many reasons to support the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill and to have your say in a submission. You can read the key reasons we’ve identified on our Treaty Principles Submission Tool.
Equal rights, fundamental human rights, rule of law, liberal democracy, clarity of understanding [and] Parliamentary supremacy, to name a few.
But there are other reasons why David Seymour's bill is worth speaking up for...
1. The status quo will not remain. Unless this bill becomes law, things will get very much worse. Te Pāti Māori will continue to push rhetoric that would have been unthinkable not long ago and the media will publish it uncritically. Ideas like Māori not ceding sovereignty are relatively new and the mind boggles as to what new concept they will promote next.
2. It has become mainstream to refer to any New Zealander who doesn't have a Māori ancestor as manuhiri, which translates to visitor. Calling the place of your birth or citizenship ‘home’ should not be a political act that you have to fight for. Speaking up is a way of demonstrating that you will not be bullied into accepting that you are allowed to live in this country only by the grace of New Zealanders who have at least one Māori ancestor.
3. You are being silenced virtually everywhere else. Let’s just look at the New Zealand Herald as an example. They are often touted as the best media outfit of a bad bunch, but a Hobson’s Pledge supporter has pointed out how much they have been censoring any comments that are remotely positive toward the bill.
And (with some help from the Centrist) he provided receipts.
The first screenshot shows that there were 169 comments on the article and the second shows that within a matter of hours the comments had disappeared.However, our eagle-eyed supporter managed to grab screenshots of the comments that the Herald decided to hide.
Look at the number of likes on the comments. It’s almost like the Herald doesn’t want New Zealanders to realise that large numbers of other New Zealanders also support the bill and their concerns about separatism.
We haven’t spotted anything objectionable in these comments. If there were one or two violent comments, surely they could have removed those and left the large number of totally reasonable ones?
This isn’t the first time that the NZ Herald has been caught out deleting comments, especially on Treaty issues. They did it to a story on taxpayer-funded te reo Māori lessons, and then again last month on their article about race-based prosecution guidelines.
This mass censorship of New Zealanders’ opinions on a bill that is before parliament is why getting your thoughts on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill on the record is so crucial. It is not a symbolic gesture either. Making a submission contributes to building a wave of support that the prime minister will have to explain ignoring.
When the media are pushing such a deliberate narrative that anyone who supports the bill is racist or stupid, we all need the reassurance that we are not alone. There is strength in numbers and through this submission process we can demonstrate that we have the support to look at a Citizens-Initiated Referendum.
It is now or never. I’m not sure how many different ways I can emphasise the critical juncture we are at. All we are demanding is equality. Nothing more and nothing less. We need your voice in the chorus.
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Please remember that written submissions are only open until the 7th of January 2025.
This article was originally published by Hobson’s Pledge.
