Posted on June 16, 2024 By Dr Muriel Newman
“As long as I have any choice in the matter, I shall live only in a country where civil liberty, tolerance, and equality of all citizens before the law prevail.” Those were the words of Albert Einstein, who fled Nazi Germany in 1933 to live in the United States. How many of the record 55,000 Kiwis who have “fled” New Zealand over the last few months, have left to escape the racism that is now dividing our country? Using the “by Maori, for Maori” banner and the slogan “what’s good for Maori is good for the country”, the iwi elite have been extraordinarily successful in persuading successive governments to progress their separatist agenda. Their tribal takeover is not limited to delivering social services – many of the country’s institutions have been ‘captured’ including much of the mainstream media, some of highest echelons of the Judiciary, the vast majority of our universities, and most State Sector agencies. The new Government’s attempt to push-back against this widespread racism was recently on display when Cabinet agreed to remove proposed Treaty provisions, that would have given Maori prisoners cultural privileges not available to others, from the former Labour Government’s Corrections Amendment Bill. Since the Minister justified the move on the basis that measures are already in place to support ‘Maori’ prisoners, it is clear that ridding the system of racial privilege is going to be a massive job. Over the last few weeks, the scandal over the Maori Party’s alleged misuse of private Census and vaccination data for political purposes highlights the danger to government agencies of prioritising Maori rights over those of other New Zealanders. The accusations, which include the use of inducements to pressure families into not only completing Census forms, but also registering on the Maori Electoral Roll – and voting for the Maori Party – have hit right into the heart of our voting system. While multiple inquiries have now been launched, the problems are systemic and warrant a deeper investigation into the politicisation of data that’s used to influence the outcome of elections. The Prime Minister appears to agree, saying the allegations “go to the heart of trust and confidence in our democratic processes and institutions. It is critical that New Zealanders can trust that when their personal information is given to government agencies, it is held securely and used only for proper purposes.” He wants reassurance that government agencies are not only managing data appropriately but are “managing conflicts, real or perceived, in the right way”. And he wants to rebuild public confidence: “There must be independent oversight of the whole picture of government agency activity. Agencies shouldn’t be left to review these allegations themselves.”