> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Good Oil Podcast – Episode 34 – Billy Brown - URL: https://goodoil.news/the-good-oil-podcast-episode-34-billy-brown/ - Published: 2026-06-01T20:00:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-06-01T20:00:51.000Z - Description: “The only person who’s going to save you is yourself” – Billy Brown on meritocracy, iwi elites and why New Zealand needs to start digging. - Author: Cam Slater - Tags: Podcasts, NZ Politics, Election 2026 Billy Brown is a Māori/Moriori man from North Canterbury who left school at 13 with dyslexia and built himself from the ground up on pure work ethic and accountability. In a wide-ranging conversation, he argues that New Zealand is a genuine meritocracy – not a racist country – and that the biggest thing holding Māori back in 2026 isn’t colonisation: it’s the victim politics of Te Pāti Māori and a welfare mentality that replaces personal responsibility with grievance. He calls out iwi elites extracting hundreds of millions in “taniwha tax’ from mining and infrastructure projects as extortion, argues National and Labour are functionally identical managers of managed decline, backs New Zealand First as the only real alternative and makes the case for unlocking New Zealand’s coal, oil, gas and rare earth resources to fire up the economy. He closes with a practical environmental agenda – clean waterways over net zero – and a vision of a unified, prosperous New Zealand where Māori and non-Māori thrive together. --- CHAPTER TIMINGS 00:02:00 Prosperous NZ – good for Māori 00:03:14 Background – dyslexia, left school at 13 00:04:29 Upbringing in Kaiapoi 00:05:31 His father’s work ethic 00:07:25 The only person who will save you is yourself 00:08:52 Free speech – it’s not 2020 any more 00:09:22 Racist abuse from Māori toward Māori 00:11:22 Is NZ racist? Two Māori deputy PMs 00:12:39 The only thing holding Māori back is themselves 00:13:02 Te Pāti Māori’s victim business model 00:15:02 Leadership is sitting at the table 00:15:45 The Treaty – three articles, no principles 00:16:58 Property rights vs holding NZ to ransom 00:17:16 The taniwha tax – $350M, $150M, $100M 00:18:46 Billy T James was ahead of his time 00:20:07 Ngāi Tahu – settlement should draw a line 00:21:14 Santana mine – opposed only when demands weren’t met 00:23:09 If it’s so tapu why is it $150M? 00:24:01 Extortion is extortion 00:25:01 Better model: royalties, equity, labour hire 00:25:43 Sealord – are Māori on the boats? 00:26:41 Iwi corporates – no long-term people plan 00:28:09 Hapū farm – gates used as hāngī pits 00:30:51 Moriori — not Māori, completely different 00:31:45 1835 – stolen ship, genocide at the Chathams 00:33:05 Rewriting Moriori history 00:33:22 Māori are not indigenous 00:34:26 Cultural evolution – can’t be stuck 00:37:12 We’re just Kiwis 00:37:20 Coming back after Covid – a divided country 00:39:22 National and Labour – a tissue’s worth of difference 00:40:07 Labour has abused Māori votes for 100 years 00:41:02 Ardern split the country 00:41:39 Why Billy backed NZ First 00:41:54 NZF at 20 per cent changes everything 00:42:25 National’s hatred of Peters – 30 years in the DNA 00:42:51 National manages the decline, nothing more 00:43:15 Dig the coal 00:43:36 Waitaha Dam – the treaty or the frog? 00:47:58 Electrify everything, build nothing – Green hypocrisy 00:48:28 EVs – expensive, grid can't cope 00:49:47 NI-SI cable at capacity – $2B to fix 00:50:19 EVs export our problems overseas 00:50:55 Ditch net zero – dig oil, gas, rare earths 00:51:16 Real wins: clean water, ban microplastics 00:52:05 Lake Rotorua nitrates – a fixable problem 00:53:14 Not feeling good. Feeling smug. 00:53:27 Who votes Green? 00:53:48 NZ was an economic powerhouse in the ’50s 00:55:08 Kiwi innovation killed by red tape 00:55:26 Road cones – 15 per cent of a tender is compliance 00:56:36 Whangaparāoa tollway: six years for five km 00:57:05 Oteha Valley busway – moved the bottleneck four km 00:58:32 Think 12–24 years, not election cycles 00:59:06 Think Big – all opposed, all essential 00:59:41 Without Think Big: $10 a litre 01:00:31 NZ’s Pacific footprint – stop lecturing 01:01:01 China filling the vacuum 01:03:29 Bainimarama – NZ boycotted, China moved in 01:06:28 Fiji’s income: remittances and UN soldiers 01:15:06 One nation, one people 01:16:40 Frank’s downfall – AG corruption 01:18:55 Should NZ become a republic? 01:19:42 The Treaty blocks a republic 01:20:21 Bill of Rights should be primary legislation 01:21:01 Another Covid inquiry won’t get anywhere 01:21:47 River of filth – we remember 01:22:00 We’re changing managers, not government 01:22:44 The blob in action: the vape ban 01:25:08 Drain the swamp or nothing changes 01:25:54 Ministers need to appoint and sack 01:26:28 The mandarins – never held accountable 01:27:35 Willis’s advisors were Robertson’s advisors 01:28:57 The PSA – two messages, one Labour candidate 01:29:50 Labour: 40,000 more civil servants, worse services 01:30:20 Whānau Ora – Maori health didn’t improve 01:30:52 Cigars, nicotine, strong men 01:31:38 Strong men, strong families, strong economy 01:32:27 Labour tells Māori they’re feeble 01:33:40 National: remove Māori seats and I’ll lose mine 01:35:02 Labour now represents elites, not workers 01:35:29 Winston rode a horse to school. Hipkins went to Wellington. 01:36:12 Everyday Kiwis back in parliament 01:38:12 Luxon – rehearsed, empty 01:39:30 Plain speakers not riddle speakers 01:40:38 Fixing it for your grandkids