Maori rights dominate those of the majority of NZers

Dr Muriel Newman Wednesday, 22 June 2005 Speeches - Treaty of Waitangi & Maori Affairs

Speech to the Speech to the Whangarei Electorate Committee ACT New Zealand, Monday 20 June 2005

There is growing apprehension around the country that the rights of the Maori minority are increasingly dominating those of the majority of New Zealanders.

While the incremental progress of Maori advantage has largely gone unnoticed and in itself each small step is of little consequence, collectively there has been a significant shift in power and resources.

While it is recognised that Maori have high needs, the approach taken by Labour - and before them National - is creating racial divide where previously there was none.

Nowadays, Maori have privileged health care status whereby they pay less for health care and get priority on waiting lists. They are given access to exclusive student quotas and receive generous taxpayer funding for Maori educational institutions. In housing, special taxpayer funded grants have been provided for improvements made to private homes, with Maori receiving preferred assistance for state houses. And at local body level, Maori have been granted exclusive constitutional entitlements, ranging from special Maori seats at the council table, to a variety of liaison functions, as well as resource consent governance roles, according to the council.

The principles of the Treaty of Waitangi are now enshrined throughout our statutes despite those principles remaining undefined. This imprecision has allowed the Maori rights industry to be hijacked by ever-demanding radicals, who thirst for power, status, privilege, and ultimately sovereignty.

Their progress in achieving their sovereignty goal has recently been exposed in a case in which Maori have successfully lobbied for change in the name of a major Whangarei landmark. The Geographic Board, the government agency that deals with such proposals, preferred Maori oral history to the official documented evidence of our earliest maps and Maori Land Court title deeds. This is despite historians warning against the reliability of such oral accounts.

At a public meeting of some 250 concerned residents, the instigator of the name change proposal said that those opposing the change were wasting their time even discussing the issue. He said that it didn’t matter what anyone did or said, the name change was going to go ahead.

This is a case where the outcome of a public consultation process appears to have been pre-determined. It always was a ‘done deal’. The mistake that I and thousands of others made is to believe that in a democracy citizens can have a say and that their views will be counted.

In my mind it is now only a matter of time before the name of Whangarei is changed to “Te Renga Paraoa” and New Zealand becomes “Aotearoa”. The Maori sovereignty agenda is being enacted both nationally and at local body level.

Here in Whangarei, the view of the majority of locals - 94 percent who opposed a name change - has been totally ignored by council and a government agency. The matter will now be referred onto the Minister but given that the Labour Government has been largely responsible for introducing special privileges for Maori - assisted by law changes introduced by previous National Governments - his involvement will be just a rubber stamp.

Last month I wrote a column - see www.murielnewman.co.nz - entitled “The Underbelly of Radical Maori Intimidation”. The name change proponents have taken exception to my right to freely express my view and have complained about my column to the Human Rights Commission’s Race Relations team. That they did this, after earlier that day on radio calling me a ‘racist’ and accusing me of ‘bullying’ Maori - because I dared to hold a contrary view - smacks of blatant hypocrisy!

This is the dark side of political correctness whereby the powerful elite attempts to silence anyone who expresses a contrary view that could discredit their agenda. As a result of recognising how elite groups of radical Maori have become very powerful in progressing their separatist agenda, I am now even more disturbed and worried for the future of our country.

The root of their power is, of course, a complicit government and a complacent silent majority, which have allowed the Treaty of Waitangi to be hijacked. From being an agreement which ensured Maori chiefs ceded sovereignty to the Queen, introduced private property rights and established the protection of the rule of law for all citizens equally, activists have re-invented history claiming it to be a living document that created a partnership between Maori and the Crown. The widespread indoctrination of this two-world view is now being used to divide New Zealand - ironic for a country that fought for an end to apartheid in South Africa.

If we are to ever become a single nation united in making our country a better place for each and every one of our citizens, this separatist agenda must be stopped. To do that, all racist clauses in legislation and regulation must be repealed, all special funding stopped, the Treaty of Waitangi process closed off for any new claims and a process for settling legitimate claims fast-tracked.

The only parties that can do what is needed are National and ACT - National because it has finally recognised the widespread damage to race relations of enshrining separatism in law and ACT because ACT is the only party in Parliament that has steadfastly stood against division and racial privilege. It is ACT that can provide National with the strength, courage and conviction that it will need to bring about the law changes that are necessary to once and for all end separatism in New Zealand and establish one law for all.

ENDS

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