Pee Kay
No Minister
We all know the dangers and long-term implications for democracy should the radical proposals within He Puapua gain an even stronger foothold in our country’s governance structures. Yet, many New Zealanders remain completely unaware of how close this ideology is to entering parliament through parties claiming to be centrist or pragmatic.
Let’s look at exactly what is being proposed.
Under the guise of reform, there is a push by Māori Sovereignty activists to fundamentally alter our democracy into a structure composed of three distinct spheres:
- The Rangatiratanga Sphere: Representing Māori self-determination, tikanga, and separate governance structures.
- The Kāwanatanga Sphere: Representing the elected government and legislative authority for the rest of the country.
- The Joint/Relational Sphere: An overlapping, co-governed space where Māori and the Crown share equal decision-making authority over critical issues and resources.
What the proponents of this model never openly admit is the severe imbalance of power that is deviously built into it.
The Rangatiratanga Sphere holds an absolute power of veto over the core functions of the broader government. Crucially, there is no reciprocal power of veto given to the non-Māori government to protect the interests of the wider public.
This is not partnership: it is a structural dismantle of democratic equality.
How long will it be before standard democratic processes are completely pushed aside in favour of total control handed to Māori?
The timeline is already set. Radical sovereignty activists have made it clear that their ultimate goal is to have a completely new constitution in place by 2040, the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
But what too few voters realise is that this agenda has a direct vehicle in the upcoming election. Standing as a high-ranking candidate, number four, on the Opportunity Party list is Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb.
Voters need to know her history. In April 2019, Dr Kingdon-Bebb was appointed by the Minister for Māori Development, Willie Jackson, to the explicit technical advisory group tasked with working on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The very working group that delivered the blueprint for He Puapua.
The members of this group were chosen specifically for their deep expertise in:
- Tikanga and mātauranga taiao (the natural environment)
- Conservation issues and practices
- Applying radical reinterpretations of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi
- High-level policy development and analysis
Now, she campaigns under the banner of a “constructive, centrist” minor party. But can a leopard really change its spots?
When a candidate has spent years at the activist heart of designing a blueprint to divide New Zealand’s governance by race, voters must ask themselves what agenda they are truly letting into parliament if they give their vote away.
When evaluating a political party, voters must ask two fundamental questions: Who are they, and why are they running?
The “Who” behind the Opportunity Party
If you look closely at the Opportunity Party as they campaign in the 2026 election, a troubling pattern emerges causing voters to ask – What exactly is a Trojan horse?
It is a mechanism designed to look completely harmless on the outside so it can infiltrate and destroy a system from within.
Is Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb the Trojan horse of New Zealand democracy? Perhaps she is.
What is most alarming is how the party completely keeps her radical constitutional background in the shadows, choosing never to publicise her past and now her true(?) role.
The “Why”: A Calculated Silence?
Look at how TOP operates its campaign. Their final party list contains 42 candidates, yet there is practically zero national publicity for the vast majority of them.
Why the total silence on this critical factor?
Instead, almost the entire public focus is funnelled onto party leader Qiulae Wong. TOP is presented to voters as a moderate, pragmatic political party but it performs as a one-woman band. Whenever contentious “Māori issues” or Treaty discussions are brought up, they are strategically deflected with moderate word salads.
Curiously they are never openly linked or handed to Kingdon-Bebb. That despite her being one of the central figures who helped draft the original blueprint for He Puapua. Deliberate keeping on the ‘down low’?
For many of TOPs candidates, a belief that New Zealand is a ‘failing nation’ seems to be their primary motivation to enter politics. But have a close look into their backgrounds and it reveals a collective alignment that gives the distinct impression of being heavily pro co-governance. Many of them share extensive background experience working within local councils or the Wellington public service bureaucracy.
Voters must ask: Where did TOP’s highly controversial, semi-Marxist economic and social ideas – such as land taxes and citizens’ incomes – actually come from? Will these extreme constitutional and economic restructuring policies suddenly surface the moment TOP crosses the five per cent threshold, enters parliament, and potentially holds the balance of power in a coalition government?
The “Who”: The Top 12 Portfolio Holders
TOP has structured its list so that only positions one through 12 carry specific portfolio responsibilities, while the remaining candidates exist strictly to pad out the list:
- Qiulae Wong (Leader): A law graduate focused on sustainable business models.
- Daniel Eb (Deputy Leader): Media, agriculture, and rural development expert (and son of prominent Auckland PR specialist Deb Pead).
- Jessica Hammond: Health, employment, and children; a former Wellington public servant.
- Dr Kayla Kingdon-Bebb: Formally assigned Climate, Conservation, and Environment. Conspicuously, her official profile contains absolutely no mention of her extensive work in Treaty law and her co-authorship of He Puapua.
- Eden Skipper: Academic focusing on indigenous development and former public servant. Does his visible adherence to the Treaty act as a convenient decoy to draw attention away from number Kingdon-Bebb?
- Jodie Kuntzsch: Industry, innovation, sustainability, and ocean-based industries.
- Sarah Lucas: Local government, regional development, and small business.
- Dave Bainbridge-Zafar: Transport, housing, and IT, with local council experience in Dunedin and Gore.
- Holly Knill: Education, media, space policy, and AI expertise following 20 years abroad.
- Pāpā Wharewera (Waiariki): Māori-Crown relations portfolio; background in the military, fire service, and local government.
- Bianca Beebe: Women, housing, and workplace relations.
- Romeo Tevaga: Law graduate covering Justice and ethnic communities; former public servant. The Ultimate Irony.
When you look past the glossy, centrist marketing of the leader, you find a front bench stacked with former bureaucrats and co-governance (or worse) advocates.
This brings us to the most dangerous aspect of the 2026 election. New Zealanders are actively looking for alternatives, desperate to avoid the radical division of the past.
Wouldn’t it be the ultimate irony if the radical constitutional transformation of He Puapua, which would dismantle equal suffrage and grant absolute veto powers over our democracy, was quietly realised from within a party that sold itself to voters as a harmless, moderate ‘alternative’?
Do not be deceived by a Trojan horse. A leopard does not change its spots.
Voters should not be blind to the risk.
This article was originally published by No Minister.
