OPINION
I will start by giving the Māori Party a compliment, albeit, some might say, a backhanded one. They are honest enough to portray themselves as exactly who they are: a racist group who have neither the interests of the country nor of their people at heart. They are in parliament for one reason and one reason only. That is to promote division, nastiness and venom at anyone who doesn’t agree with their form of racism. And anyone is the majority of people living in this country.
The philosophies they and their small gaggle of supporters hold are at odds with the majority opinion in New Zealand. They want to impose their will on the rest of us, and that cannot be allowed to happen. They might want to live in a grass-skirt mentality but the country has moved on and is trying to cope with the problems of present day 2024, not those of 1840. This reality is one they will never accept, so what is their relevance in parliament?
There are more MPs of Māori heritage in parliament than ever before. Those on the left are mainly on the grievance gravy train, while those on the right are there for the good of the country as a whole. This grievance mentality needs to be brought to a halt. It has already largely been addressed, although, listening to the wailing from the Māori Party, one could be forgiven for thinking nothing ever happened: no compensation, nothing. They never talk about it. Instead their hands are out promoting their next plan to rob the taxpayers of their hard-earned money.
The Māori Party MPs and others of their ilk in parliament lack all credibility. They take their actions seriously, while the population at large see their game for what it is – nothing more than a blatant unashamed grab for power – and money. They use the Treaty of Waitangi and their version of it to screw the rest of us. On the face of it, they might seem to be helping their people, but in reality nothing could be further from the truth.
If they were genuinely concerned about the plight of their people they would be talking about crime, law and order, family violence, health, education and the like. Do we ever hear them talking about these issues? Hardly ever, because those are not part of their agenda. I have never once heard them offer to work with the government to try and put in place policies that will make their people’s lives better.
No, it’s all about the Treaty and the Waitangi Tribunal: the tools to try and garner more money and power. Unlike ACT and NZ First – who want to bring a current relevance to the Treaty and the Tribunal – that is the last thing the Māori Party wants, as that would completely stymie their game. They suffer from a sense of entitlement that is beyond the pale, when they should be getting their heads out of the sand and addressing the real problems of their people.
On the odd occasion that they do, it is nothing but an offensive diatribe reflecting their personal views rather than anything constructive. An example is a speech Ms Kapa-Kingi made in the general debate about Oranga Tamariki. Her opening sentence was “No matter my words today, the government will not waver in its mission to exterminate Māori.” She went on to say, “The theory of the minister [Karen Chhour] is that Oranga Tamariki’s governing principles should be colour-blind, which is just another word for white supremacy, because to say ‘we are all one people’ is really to say we should all be white people.”
This tells us much. These people do not believe in a united country where everyone gets treated the same and has the same opportunities regardless of race or colour. However, that premise is about as far from their idea of utopia as you could get, because it is the exact opposite of what they want. In fact, they believe they have superior DNA. Rawiri Waititi said so. If that’s the case, then, why are they currently not better off. They have a one-word answer to that: COLONIALISM. It’s a word used in practically every speech they make.
In respect of Oranga Tamariki, they are now saying the minister, Karen Chhour, is not Māori enough. Again, a race-based comment. Karen Chhour is Māori and the perfect fit for the job having been through the system herself; she is now very upset and is finding her workplace, parliament, very toxic. It is an absolute disgrace that whomever is in charge has allowed it to get to this point. If this was any other workplace, the matter would have to be dealt with. The House is a place for robust debate – not racial hatred.
The Māori Party is out of control and the speaker needs to get a handle on it. He needs to caution them that their rhetoric needs to be toned down or they will be removed from the House. (They’re not there half the time anyway.) It appears Labour and the Greens largely support their race-based agenda. The bad news they are inflicting on themselves is they are also out of step with the general public, and Māori wards are a case in point. Hipkins stood up last week and accused the government of being racist. If he keeps that up, he will ensure he stays on the opposition benches.
Kiwis in general are pretty middle-of-the road decent people. We don’t adhere to extreme views and generally want to live in harmony with each other. Winston Peters called Kapa-Kingi’s remarks ignorant and offensive, leaving little to the imagination as to her mindset or that of the party. Winston noted these types are a shadow of past great Māori leaders.
They are, in fact, a boil that needs lancing by the abolishment of the Māori seats, which only attract and serve the minority radical end of Māoridom. Winston says their three per cent of the vote doesn’t entitle them to speak on behalf of the majority of Māori and neither do they want them to. He says they don’t want democracy: they want anarchy. How right he is. Of the total number of registered voters, 3,374,645 are on the general roll and only 290,435 are on the Māori roll. Three per cent of that number is 8,713 votes and six seats in the House.
Instead of dictating on the wearing of minuscule party pins, the speaker should concentrate on Palestinian shawls, sneakers, cowboy hats and holding racists to account. We don’t need racism in this country in any form and we certainly don’t need parliament being used as a vehicle to promote it. The time has come for a serious discussion on exactly where this country might be headed if certain issues aren’t addressed and certain decisions taken. The future well being of the country is at stake.
