Waitangi Day was an opportunity to reflect on our past and our future.
There was a time when we were predominantly a nation of just two cultures – Maori and European. Nowadays New Zealand is a nation of peoples from all over the globe – Maori, European, Asian, Pacifica, Australian, American, African… The commonality between us all is that we call New Zealand our home. We like to think we are a nation of equals – but there are many who seek to divide us by race.
Just look at the fiasco last week over a teenage girls’ basketball team that was barred from competing in the National Maori Basketball Tournament because their coach wasn’t ‘Maori’. At least that is how the story was first reported.
After the team, which won the under 15s last year, had already registered for the under 17s division, the coach was told that he had to be Maori to enter. If he wasn’t to be ruled out, he needed to supply his “whakapapa to an iwi” or “state tribal links”.
In the face of a storm of outrage, the organisers denied that they had changed the rules, instead claiming that it was the players who had to state their tribal links. They said the Maori tournament was for iwi and hapu-based teams, and players not linked to an iwi or hapu could apply individually and be placed into teams. The coach’s desire to keep the girls together in their winning combination was “not the whanaungatanga of Maori basketball”.
Defining people by race has always been dangerous. The atrocities of the Nazi extermination programme during World War Two should leave no-one in any doubt about that.
In fact, that experience led the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to invite leading international anthropologists and sociologists to investigate the issue of ‘race’ and in 1950 they issued a declaration, which included the following statement:
“The biological fact of race and the myth of ‘race’ should be distinguished. For all practical social purposes ‘race’ is not so much a biological phenomenon as a social myth. The myth ‘race’ has created an enormous amount of human and social damage. In recent years it has taken a heavy toll in human lives and caused untold suffering. It still prevents the normal development of millions of human beings and deprives civilization of the effective co-operation of productive minds. The biological differences between ethnic groups should be disregarded from the standpoint of social acceptance and social action. The unity of mankind from both the biological and social viewpoints is the main thing. To recognize this and to act accordingly is the first requirement of modern man.”
In the US, the development and deployment of the atomic bomb during World War Two resulted in a Congress authorisation to the Department of Energy to analyse human genes in order to identify, among other things, any genetic mutations that might have been caused by radiation. The early studies led to the realisation that the best way to examine such effects was to map out the entire human genome in order to obtain a reference sequence. This eventually led to the Human Genome Project, a thirteen year international effort, launched in 1990 and costing more than US$30 billion, to discover the complete set of human genes and their DNA sequence.
The project found that “DNA studies do not indicate that separate classifiable subspecies (races) exist within modern humans. While different genes for physical traits such as skin and hair color can be identified between individuals, no consistent patterns of genes across the human genome exist to distinguish one race from another. There also is no genetic basis for divisions of human ethnicity.”
With no scientific foundation for defining people by ‘race’, but a recognition of the destructive societal consequences of racial profiling, many countries are now moving towards the elimination of the concept from their constitutional arrangements. Austria has rejected the idea of separate races, as have Finland and Hungary. Similar moves are being considered in both France and Germany. In Fiji, all laws and conventions based on race – including separate electoral rolls and reserved seats in Parliament – have been abolished.
In Sweden, the government regards race as a “social construct which should not be encouraged in law”. As a result a high level review has been launched to investigate how to remove all mentions of race from legislation. It is expected to be completed by December.
As the Minister for Integration, Erik Ullenhag, explained in an interview last August, “it is always unacceptable to judge people from a collective standpoint. They should always be treated as individual human beings. We need the political leadership to stand up for the equal value of all humans.”
The problem in New Zealand is finding politicians prepared to stand up against the powerful vested interests that have captured the concept of race for their own advantage, since it wields considerable political force and has become an extremely lucrative money-making proposition.
The concept nearly died a natural death in the mid-seventies when, as a result of the rapid rate of intermarriage in this country, the number of legally defined ‘Maori’ with 50 percent or more of Maori blood, was in serious decline. This led to demands for a change in the legal definition and, as a result, the 1974 Maori Affairs Amendment Act replaced the blood quantum classification with one based on self-identification and ethnic affiliation – in other words, having a Maori descendent.
This clever political manoeuvre guaranteed an on-going rise in the number of people categorised as ‘Maori’, thereby fulfilling the tribal leaders’ ambitions for increasing power and resources.
Over the years, the Maori rights movement has also successfully persuaded successive governments to allocate increasing levels of funding to race-based initiatives – all in the name of reducing so-called ‘Maori’ disadvantage. The problem is that such programmes are based on a false premise – it is not being Maori that causes disadvantage, instead, it is such things as a lack of education, long term welfare dependency, sole parenthood, violence and criminality, substance abuse, or living in an area where there are no jobs.
Many New Zealanders are becoming increasingly alarmed about the long-term impact of the government’s continued promotion of ‘race’ within our society. It is being used by corporate iwi as a ruse to progress their increasingly radical demands – as witnessed at Waitangi when iwi leaders expressed anger at the Prime Minister for rejecting Maori claims for the control of New Zealand’s water and the right to charge for it.
During the annual meeting between the Cabinet and the Iwi Chairs’ Forum at Waitangi, the issue of water rights was top of the agenda. Iwi leaders want the Government to agree on concrete proposals for Maori water rights within a year, but Prime Minister John Key has said two years is more realistic. If they get the rights to water, iwi leaders have said they want to make money off it – but the Prime Minister is ruling out iwi being able to charge: “They won’t be able to do anything different to any other New Zealander”.
Mr Key again confirmed that the Government is maintaining its position that no one owns the water. But he did say that Maori have some genuine rights and interests in water, which need to be defined: “In the Supreme Court, we said in our statement … that we think there are legitimate rights and interests. We think there might be quite a gap between what some groups think those rights and interests are, but there are by catchment, in certain places, rights and interests.”
The NZCPR looked into that Supreme Court ruling over water rights last year in Re-writing History, with a Guest Commentary, Maori water rights a recent Supreme Court decision, by Judge Anthony Willy.
In contrast to National’s attempts to contain iwi demands and dampen down expectations, the new leader of the Labour Party, Andrew Little, appeared to have turned his back on former leader Helen Clark’s successful strategy of taking a hard line against iwi greed, by calling for more discussion on the sovereignty activists’ demands for self-governance and self-rule. He said the government should not dismiss the Waitangi Tribunal’s claim that Maori did not cede sovereignty: “There are models around the world where indigenous peoples have a level of authority over some issues and some territories they control, so I think let’s not try to be dismissive of it”.
The Prime Minister has called Labour’s plan “divisive”.
Over the last few weeks, another of the Maori sovereignty movement’s new converts, Gareth Morgan, has also been divisive. He has been ridiculously controversial, presumably in order to sell his new book. Having now ‘found’ the Treaty of Waitangi, he no longer appears to regard Maori as equal citizens to everyone else, but as a racial elite – ‘partners’ with the Crown. He wants the Treaty entrenched in a new constitution, an Upper House of Parliament established with half the members Maori, and the Maori language to be compulsory in primary schools.
While on the one hand he pushes radical Maori rights, on the other, he claims to be against Maori privilege and would like to see the Maori seats and race-based funding abolished.
Mr Morgan’s bizarre crusade saw him turn up at the venue of former National Party leader Don Brash’s infamous “Nationhood” speech. As part of a publicity stunt to get on television, Dr Brash was asked to attend – to face the insults and then respond.
I invited Don Brash, the former Leader of the National Party, to share his thoughts on the occasion as this week’s Guest Commentator. In his article, Why I disagree with Gareth Morgan, Dr Brash makes the point that since he rejects Dr Morgan’s starting point, that Maori are partners with the Crown, he disagrees with most of his conclusions!
“Dr Morgan talked about Maori having a partnership with the Crown, making us, in his words, ‘one nation, two peoples’. I also think this is nonsense, Lord Cooke notwithstanding. The idea that Governor Hobson envisaged the British Crown – the representation of the most advanced country in the world at the time – forming a partnership with a disparate group of Maori chiefs who were, at that time, scarcely out of the Stone Age, is ludicrous.
“Moreover, to speak of New Zealand in 2015 being ‘two peoples’ is equally silly: the overwhelming majority of people who identify as Maori also have some non-Maori ancestors, frequently a non-Maori parent, while ‘non-Maori’ are no longer exclusively European but embrace a very wide range of ethnicities.”
On many occasions during his book tour, Gareth Morgan called ‘Pakeha’ “ignorant”. But he was not alone. Sir Tipene O’Regan, whose father was Irish, used Waitangi Day to do the same, describing ‘pakeha’ as ignorant and calling for a future where Maori culture would play a bigger role.
Being mired in racial division is not the way of the future. We need to follow those enlightened nations around the world that are abolishing the concept of race from their statute books. And it needs to be done now, before the likes of Labour and the Greens, who are pandering to those who claim that the Maori did not cede sovereignty, ever get their hands on the levers of power.
THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
Do you believe the concept of ‘race’ should be removed from all New Zealand’s legislation?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Whilst we have the word race in our legislation we shall always have racism in this county. once any group based on race is given preferential treatment over others the greed of the favoured group will never be sated. | Mavis |
| Dam right. We are all one. | Ron |
| AS well as the concept of Maori being indigenous. | John |
| Great article by Don Brash which I read on the “One Law 4 All” site. Keep up the good work Muriel. Regards Alan. | Alan |
| One country…one people. | Derek |
| There will be a great divide should we continue to go down the path on which Gareth Morgan and the Labour Party are taking us. | Margaret |
| Of course it should. It doesn’t matter how the politicians and maori dress it up APARTHEID is alive and being encouraged and taught at the earliest possible opportunity. Repeal ALL legislation mentioning race. | Terry |
| Absolutely. Gareth Morgan seems to be going through some mid life crisis. | Ronmac |
| A race is a competition. We all belong to “the human race’; any reference to the incorrect term “racism” would more correctly be termed as Apartheid. We need a Nelson in NZ or at least a politician with a spine. | Zoran |
| All humans are the same. | Peter |
| We’re all equal. | S |
| We are a multicultural country and race should have no part of our legislation. | Andrew |
| Division by race has no part in any civilized community. | David |
| Racism is these days used for petty political purposes. What is required is understanding and genuine respect for the good and positive aspects of various cultures which now make up our society and country. | Alan |
| Just so simple – for the future of New Zealand. | Stui |
| It should never appear in any legislation EVER ! | Des |
| I have said so publically in a blog last Augst http://www.joholmes.com/blog/time-to-abolish-tribal-privilege | Jo |
| Race is an anachronism. If you are a New Zealander that is it – you are a New Zealander just like the rest of us. And due the exact same privileges and responsibilities as everybody else. Why is that so difficult? | Frank |
| Tis time our “brown brothers ” were put in their place. Fed-up with all their greedy, grasping arguments. So are all my Maori relatives. | Elayne |
| The very idea is a gross transgression. On the democratic rights of all citizens. | Bryan |
| Most definitely, is it also true that at the time of writing the t o w the maori language had only been spoken!!! I imagine so…. So how accurate can it possibly be…. The translated and how it is being manipulated today!!!!! | Craig |
| Absolutely, At last some common sense. | Athol |
| Omg!.. would i ever!! I believe our ‘race’ does not fully discribe our make up in this day & age. We are so immerced & intergrated in the last 50-60yrs, we (seem) to see past our hews of colour that we ask each other ‘where are you from’?!.. | Pepper |
| The race division is and will be the cause of great dissension on our beloved country. I fully support that race be removed from all NZ legislation. | Brian |
| It would certainly make me happier to be called a New Zealander….. | Marie |
| Minister Ullenhag seems to be more intelligent than our politicians. Yes, we should treat people on their individual merits without regard to socio economic status, culture or religion. All equal under the law and one law for all. Our politicians are really a hopeless bunch when it comes to dealing wit the advocates of racial preference. I am particularly disappointed that the rank and file members of the National Party are not able to send a firmer message to their MPs. A sad fact in the current predicament is the apathy of many New Zealand citizens. They seem utterly indifferent or unconcerned with the damage and the cost that the county if facing with the continual whining and demanding from racial preference groups. Who is listening to Middle New Zealand? Yes, you can send emails. Yes. you can submit petitions and Citizens Initiated Referenda. However I suggest that the track record of politicians actually listening to the citizens is not good. When we have a system where the politicians ignore the people then I suggest it is time (long overdue) to reform the system. What I have in mind is the Swiss system of Direct Democracy – but this would require a massive mind set change for many of our citizens. | Denis |
| This is no more than common sense. Maori must get into line as we all have to. | Desmond |
| ABSOLUTELY! | Mark |
| We must avoid divisive concepts and not tolerate any concept of one people TWO races, Fatuous indeed it would be. | John |
| There are no full blooded Maori, in NZ they are New Zealanders with Maori Back ground. & should be treated as New Zealanders & get no more privaliges than any other Race, Stop the Gravery Train. | Geoff |
| John, whatever your flag agenda is, ditch it. Concentrate on what YOU REALLY KNOW your voters want and get on with it. Purge this racial crap THIS TERM! | David |
| And before it is too late. | John |
| Will New Zealand ever be a country of one people having equal rights but having many and varied ethnic backgrounds? I begin to despair when supposedly educated leaders within the community can take such obtuse positions promoting separatism and elitism based on race and a Political Leader can promote separate development and privilege whilst still being one nation. | Michael |
| We are all New Zealanders and should always be treated the same and no reference should be made to any race if different from the general population. | Peter |
| Should never have been conceded. | Jim |
| Yes of course it should. The definition of a maori, has been stretched so far as to be totally ridiculous! If you think you are a maori, then you are accepted as one!! What utter BS! | Michael |
| Maori have obtained political advantages by manipulating the intent of the Treaty. This has created separation which is undemocratic. | Peter |
| How backwards are we? Of course race should not come in to any of our laws – there are way too many different races here for that. Let’s embrace different races and progress, not go backwards. | Sheila |
| When will we accept that we are all New Zealander’s,. My ancestors arrived in March 1853. | Peter |
| I am sick of Maori preference treatment in nearly everything. We are NZ’rs, not Maori and others. | Bob |
| There can be no excuse for promoting any one ethnic race above another. I just cannot believe how government after government in New Zealand fails to have the guts to stand up to those among us who continually force issues on the majority in favour of the few. After all, EVERY New Zealander is an immigrant or the descendent of one! | Stewart |
| Ironically radical Maoridom is attempting to entrench what they purport to abhor – APARTHEID. Instead APARTHEID in NZ should be immediately abolished by terminating the separate Maori seats in Parliament. | Geoff |
| Sooner the better. | Richard |
| This ‘Race base nonsense’ has gone far enough! Time to remove all references to ‘race’. | John |
| NZ is a nation of one people regardless of race or colour. | Roydon |
| As Hobson said “we are all one people now” We are a mixture of cultures now so we all should be one people under one rule of law. | Kay |
| Yes! We are one people. | Jane |
| It’s time we came into the 21st century and gave maori the same rights and privileges as all of those that live in NZ. They should not be granted any separate rights or conditions as they, like all other races in NZ are immigrants. | Phil |
| All legislation should be colour blind, and any form of social assistance should be needs- based, rather than ethnically. | Dave |
| We should be one people and people who come here should live the New Zealand way of life and not what they have done in the past. Maori should stand on their own and stop running the race card against white New Zealanders. | Robert |
| We are fast becoming them and us .if one race wants more and more and gets it .This creates deep resentment by others, Maori must realise they have been well looked after with settlements etc, Remember the Europeans developed this country with the help of some maori .The maori are already showing showing their muscle and are acting in a bully type manner Im anzer to the end but I have decided to leave nz due to this situation. | JEFF |
| VERY DEFINITELY !!! | Tony |
| All people equal one rule for everyone. | Tony |
| Forced separate development or apartheid as it is notoriously known will eventually end badly for all New Zealanders. The on-going legislated dependency on o.p.m. will only weaken and not strengthen them as a people. It can only lead to further dependency. Do they realise this ? End this modern tribal plunder with one law for all the people in in New Zealand. | Donro |
| Removed by last week would be good. | Alastair |
| One country, one people. | Edward |
| Yes. By the way I don’t subscribe to the New Zealand Herald so don’t know if they have published Dob Brash’s “Why I disagree with Gareth Morgan’. In the interests of fair and balanced journalism NZ Herald should publish Don Brash’s rebuttal. | Peter |
| Yes but it won’t happen when such a divisive sector of the public relies on concept to obtain advantage over others. Even with the removal we can still all retain our own distinct culture whether it’s religion, dress or traditions. | Audrey |
| Absolutely! The people want equality, it is only our governments that are racist and give Maoris extras; like their own schools, radio stations and TV station. | Eric |
| Yes, absolutely. With English, Scottish, French and Danish in my ancestry I wouldn’t expect to claim privileges from any of them but with 1/32nd Maori I could share in NZ sovereignty – Complete madness. Just Another Ignorant Lefty (JAIL) – Gareth Morgan is dong more damage to our country than any feral cat! | Bruce |
| We need to be as one not any divisions no matter what our heritage is. | Clyde |
| We should be New Zealanders – one country – one people – equal in all matters. We need to have one democratic parliament with no biased maori seats and one national day – New Zealand Day. All New Zealanders whether should be treated equally with no special concessions for individual races. | Lesley |
| Over this topic for ever, if it happens it will only bring more seperation than can be conceived. | Keith |
| Apartheid will not work. | Peter |
| Yes, for pity’s sake! If it doesn’t happen soon, racism will destroy New Zealand. Misguided, self appointed “social scientists” like Gareth Morgan should be completely ignored. | Les |
| ‘Maori” is no longer a biological fact. When an individual with 90% pakeha heritage claims to be ‘Maori’ then it is obviously a matter of personal belief and as such should be classified as a religion and treated in the same way as any other religion. Belief and reality are often two different things. Interestingly enough, it is common knowledge regarding when the last Moriori (Tommy Solomon) died, but it appears to be a deep secret when the last full-blooded Maori passed away. | Mitch |
| I am heartily sick of the claim that there is a partnership between maori and the Crown. | Wah |
| Division by race only leads to misery for all in the end. | Pieter |
| “We are one people” supposedly since Feb 6th, 1840. | William |
| We are all from different races and tribes etc.but this should not stop us from working together for the benefit of us all! | Theodorus |
| Yes, absolutely! – one nation, one people, all New Zealand citizens, equal under the Law. Gareth Morgan needs to stick to his knitting – while he may be skilled in making money, this does not automatically imbue him with a superior intellect. Thank goodness we have people like Dr Don Brash who are able to rebut his inane remarks in an logical fashion. | Scott |
| And as quick as possible. | Benjamin |
| The only reason that Maori wish to regarded. As seperate is to gouge more money from hard working New Zealanders, so that they have more time to laze and commit more crime and grow fat on handouts. | Allan |
| Legislation at all levels should be based on the individual, their individual rights , aspirations and as a grouping the collective rights of groups of individuals with a commonality. | Ray |
| Of course it should. The only reason it is not is because a radical group of part Maori descent have found the underbelly of weak but greedy politicians who will give anything to anyone, to ensure being elected. Successful Maori, like any successful people from any race get on with their lives successfuly. No-hopers of Maori descent demand handouts just to appear successful. My dream, is, one day a government with GUTS will be elected to govern this country, with apatheid being outlawed immediately. It certainly isn’t going to happen with the two major parties that we currently have.. | Allan |
| Well overdue. | David |
| Please will someone with guts, make a stand against the increasing nonsensical claims of a small group of radicals! | Kabe |
| But the liberals and the loony left will support it, especially if it even hints at getting at the “rich”. | Sam |
| If race continues to be the cornerstone of further Maori greed it is the one enduring obstacle to ever becoming one people here in NZ. It is past time that the greed of self seeking Maori was squashed once and for all and we all got on with being one people. | Don |
| There is no question that as soon as race is mentioned there is a stumbling block to any fair and reasonable discussion or agreement. | Anthony |
| Mr Morgan is very misinformed to think that all New Zealand people who are not Maori are ignorant. Indeed, I believe that we are now waking up to the problem of forking out billions of dollars to a group just because they have a fancy title – ditch the race card and lets all be New Zealanders. We may even be able to see the last of Winston – Yeah!! | Derek |
| Most definitely! | Fraser |
| Yes indeed – nothing else will suffice. | Murray |
| Completely outmoded & divisive concept. | Jenny |
| The current situation causes friction and that is NEVER any good for the country. We ARE all one people. We are ALL New Zealanders. Together we stand, divided we fall. We do not want to fall! ‘All for one, and one for all’ should be our new motto. | Diana |
| At last some common sense. | Roderick |
| Get rid of the concept of “race” once and for all. If New Zealand does this, we can join those enlightened countries who have already made such a decision. It will be better for us all. Of course, it will be necessary to disestablish the office of the “Race Relations Conciliator”; another positive step forward. | Peter |
| Definitely. Gareth Morgan needs to get on his bike and ride off into the sunset, never to return again. Another case of having found a little bit of Maori blood within his wider family has now changed his clothing. I am thinking of an all European basket ball team with members and coach having to prove they do not have any Maori ethnicity within their family. Just a pure blood line of European descent. What difference is that to what Hitler was trying to do!!!! | Peter |
| Definitely. Not to do so leaves open the possibilty of discrimination between people. through legislation etc. | Paul |
| Yes! References to the Treaty, the Maori seats and all attempts to force racism into other aspects of life should be removed and the Treaty gimme gimme, now long past its use by date, especially, must be stopped. | Chris |
| We all belong to one race, the HUMAN RACE, which has minor superficial variants, but shares common anatomy and physiology. | Michael |
| Very well said Don Brash. | Stuart |
| Definitely. | Stan |
| Race can only ever be just that ….a concept,and those who “play the card”do so at their own peril. | Neil |
| It is just so obvious that we should not need to be discussing it. | Trevor |
| Absolutely!!!! As one of your contributors pointed out in one of your recent articles; a prominent Maori chief present st the signing was reported as saying ” NOW WE ARE ALL ONE PEOPLE”. & we all used to be until the PC brigade & the UN stuck their noses into things & started re-writing the Treaty. The Littlewood copy of the treaty which was Busby’s final draft before being translated is nothing like the current “version” floating about as “true & correct”!!!! One country, one nationality & ONE law for all!!! NOT the current apartheid system that is being quietly foisted upon us!!! | Dave |
| We are all New Zealanders. | Bob |
| And the sooner the better. | Helen |
| The word racist ought to be abolished from the dictionary as it is so wrongly used. | Elaine |
| Race is the chief cause in the division of New Zealanders. | Warren |
| One law for all. | Les |
| Maori are using their race to gain privilages over Pakeha. | Tony |
| Seems lot of corrupt Politicians trying to push for special maori rights. | Ron |
| How do we bring an end to this rubbish? Time the silent majority took ownership and required our elected representatives to listen to this majority. | Chris |
| If this country is to prosper and be recognised on the world stage it must become one people and one law for all. The Don Brash speech at the Orewa Rotary Club had 80% support from the Country. If the Prime Minister has any doubts about doing this now at least he could put it to a referendum. Either way it should be done now! | John |
| Early historical reasons for any concessions according to race have long since outlived any reasonable justifications. Maori must have the nipple firmly removed so they can stand on their own feet especially now the compensation claims are coming to an end. | Frank |
| Thanks to the wide range of evidence in this newsletter I believe that the longer that action is delayed, our international status will join our other rankings in fields such as education. Informed opinion is much more credible than uninformed beliefs. | Barry |
| Of course. | Richard |
| We should be all equal in NZ, no matter what race we are from. | Winifred |
| Most definitely. | Ron |
| One Country. One people. | Doug |
| As a nation will not go forward until we are regarded as “one race” with one set of rules equal to everybody. | John |
| I used to respect Gareth Morgan – largely due to the fact that he’s a self-made man. However his writings and pronouncements have led to a reversal in my opinion. The man’s a meddling fool and his opinions ludicrous. | Aunty Podes |
| The racial division is stifling New Zealand”s development. | Brian |
| The last cannibal feast in New Zealand was held not far from my family farm, mid last century. The Treaty of Waitangi was to protect Maori from cannibalism and tribal warfare. As Don Brash rightly points out, Maori were a stone age people prior to Europeans arriving. | Rodney |
| That’s the only way to establish all equal before the Law, and have no so called ‘elite groups” with unfair advantages! | Anna |
| It’s to bloody old 175 years out of date and no ones around that was there to tell the truth. | Robert |
| If pakeha are ignorant, there must be a huge number of so-called Maori who have some ignorance too as most have pakeha or other ethnicity in their genealogy!! | Amy |
| And, as a priority, the removal of race-based seats in parliament, so that politicians no longer need to pander to this small but powerful pressure group. | John |
| Read dr brash writings about the treaty, come on, don’t let greed destroy our country, we are one people as signed by all. | Colin |
| I am sick of growing pro-Maori apartheid in this country. | Selwyn |
| The only race that should ever be mentioned in legal terms is “the people of New Zealand”. No race should be singled out. | Brent |
| Absolutely. | Gerhard |
| We should be a country without racial division. To give those who claim to be “Maori” 14% on NZ population a status above other New Zealanders is a nonsense.. | Jeff |
| This race based separatism should be stamped out now before we get into a much more serious situation. | Carolyn |
| MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!! How can we ever survive in the modern world when we are the only civilized country actively creating aparthied. | Andy |
| Without a doubt ‘race’ is the most divisive issue in New Zealand today. No single race should have privileges not available to other races in this country. We are one people according to those who were present at the signing of the original and only authentic Treaty. | Terry |
| The philippino people come here to rip our men off, from our homes, get nz passport then go,same as south africans use nz as a stepping stone ive seen it first hand, some races give nz a very bad name. | Frank |
| It appears that NZ has become an apartheid country. | GW |
| Maori are not indigenous to NZ any more than Pakeha are so why should they be entitled to more than any other citizen. | Helen |
| How do we define a Maori other than by the feeling in the heart? Many claiming Maori blood do not know who the father was so only the mothers whakapapa should be applicable. | Bruce |
| Please research which politicians want to remove ‘race’. | Keith |
| There is only one human ‘race’ although there are many ethnic groups. There are more differences between members of the same so called race, than there are differences between members of different ‘races’. | Tony |
| Any form of racism is unfair and dangerous. | Diane |
| One Nation one people. | Graham |
| If you are born in N.Z. you are a Native of N.Z. If an Immigrant a Naturalized N.Z’er. Your “Blood Lines” only determine your “Family history” not your position in the society in which you live. | Graeme |
| A good article which sums it up well. Muriel. I am glad to see Don Brash having the courage to speak up again. | Bruce |
| Disgusted at the M.Ps , voting ;. they rightly deserve to be classed as the least trusted class of people in this country . Many with minimum Blood trace are also unreservedly against the attitude adopted by government . | Malcolom |
| We are all just people – born the same way and die the same way so why not live in harmony during the short time we have on this earth? | Mary |
| Everyone should treated the same. The same right and the same responsibilities. The quickest way to have a fight in your family is favour one of your children, The favoured one is hated by the other children. The favoured class of citizens in a country soon become disliked and even hated by a lot of the other citizens. | Colin |
| How nice it would be if the powers did something right for once! | Bill |
| We are all filled with RED blood regardless of the outside covering. But some are trying to feed poison to the brain. Let us remove those peole with funny ideas ansend them to Africa so they can find out what it is like. | Johan |
| Every one regardless of their race should have equal rights and votes not one race should dictate to everyone else. | Cherryl |
| No country, one rule for all. The same rule for all. That is fair. That is a true democracy. | Peter |
| Racial division is in effect apartheid & no one race, creed, ethnicity or group should be able to be advantaged or disadvantaged by it. | Nick |
| Most thinking New Zealanders are inured to the fact of racism and heartily sick and tired of the ” race ” card being played to gain any political advantage – get rid of it. | John |
| One country, one people – race is not one people. | Greg |
| It is long overdue that ethnecitie separation reference in NZ for separate recognition should be removed from all govt and local body constitutions and bylaws and be considered alien to this country. | Ian |
| I was South african (Now Kiwi). I have seen how destructive that can be with my own eyes! | Ken |
| We are all New Zealanders, and therefore we are are equal and definitely not ignorant. | Lorna |
| Really fed up with all the governments kowtowing to the Maoris who are living off the rest of New Zealand. | Chris |
| This issue has become a Political Football and it is time to call time on the whole mess. We are all born and we all die and the end is not what race we were but what we did with our lives and did we make a difference. | Laurel |
| Thanks to spineless self serving politicians deep divisions are being created with misinformation and weak leadership it will continue. | Rowan |
| Separating treatment under the law, either financially or by eligibility is contrary to the singular rule of law conferred by the Treaty of Waitangi, Its inheriently Illegal Remove the notion of race or all races, Remove ethnic separation. Remove any and everything relating to the Treaty of Waitangi and every reference to that event, Remove separate ethnic funding of all descriptions, remove special taxation concessions based on ethnic and or race grounds. RESTORE one nation – One law and one standard of law enforcement for all citizens. | Richard |
| Abso bloody lutley. NZ will never have a balanced racial future if different peoples are listed as being or having preferences. | Brian |
| Definitely, no question. | Peter |
| When will this farce end and when will the political weakness shown desist. | Lance |
| The race card has be taken out of play once and for all. NZ needs to follow the lead of other countries on this contentious issue. | Mark |
| One nation, one people. | Mark |
| Yes we are all kiwi’s some have not got their beaks out of the sand yet, about 14% or so. | James |
| The trouble is that sly Maori separatists would then shift from talking about ‘race’ to ‘culture’ instead. It sounds so much more refined, doesn’t it?…..Their demands for economic and political privilege would continue unabated. | Graham |
| We are New Zealanders made up of all races – not just Maori, and then ‘other’. | Natasha |
| We are all New Zealanders or Kiwis, my great grandparents, grandparents, parents and myself have all fought in wars overseas and for the country so we have put our stake in and will not be moved or bullied by any other race and I am a proud white New Zealand born kiwi. | Wayne |
| we need to work together as one in order to provide our following generations with a country free of divisiveness. | John |
| Let’s focus on ALL disadvantaged – not just Maori! | Rachael |
| I protested against the regime in South Africa in the 80’s so to have the same thing implemented here is simply unbelievable. To separate NZers via race is just stupidity & is motivated by nothing more than greed. | Tracy |
| Absolutely! It is time this race based preference must stop! | Rhys |
| The white “race” brought most of the good things to NZ, so the facility for its members to be be preferred should be in NZ legislation. Then, if the future of white people in NZ becomes threatened by others the legislation may be used for self defence. NZ is a white Western country. | Barry |
| We will not be able to move forward if the concept of race is not removed. | Lyn |
| Immediately!! We need to stop the BS before apartheid takes over completely!! | Jim |
| Wouldn’t it be nice not to have race included in comments, instead New Zealanders. One day perhaps. | Frank |
| Raced based policy only benefits the select few. While growing up in the 1940-50s in New Plymaouth, there was no them and us no black or white no recognition of difference. Everything was sweet. any mention of race should be removed from legislation to make this country one people. A lot of my Maori friends agree. | Dave |
| Plus remove it from sport so there is no such thing as Iron maori, maori all blacks etc. | Jim |
| Absolutely! We are being indoctinated by a creeping stealth – or in another sense, ISIS without the arms and brutality. I fully support Maori holding on to their traditions but not at the expense of every other NZ’er and/or ethnicity. I do not wish to live ‘the Maori way”, that is for them, on the marae where it belongs. What is the value of education if it is based on blatant mistruths and fabrications of history. | Brian |
| …especially the ‘iwi’ crims’…the Chinese were here from 226 BC/19 AD. Carbon datings do not lie..!!! | Christopher |
| The concept of “race” exists in NZ for two reasons, both of which are unattractive. First and foremost, it gives iwi elite a power and income base. And secondly, parliamentarians to have lacked the courage to risk even a temporary hiatus to their incomes by rejecting the notion as being contrary to our national interests. | Geoffrey |
| One country- ONE people.. Same rules for everyone… | Donald |
| Whilst agreeing with you wholeheartedly on this subject, may I voice another concern. Our granddaughter has just left school and wil be attending AUT next year. She has done well at school. I asked her what “life skills she learnt whilst at school e.g. Shopping on a budget, cooking meals with a weekly budget, banking procedures etc and was deeply concerned to learn she had been taught virtually nothing by her school. She was taught how to make a burger bun and a pizza – once. Is that a good education. Is this example typical? If so we seriously need to overhaul our education system. | Peter |
| The world disapproved of Apartheid which seperated people by race. In 1981 NZ was split by those for and against “race classification in” RSA What makes NZ any different with race classification in law? | Martin |
| It is just incredible how these racist policies have been able to grow and prosper – at the expense of a future New Zealand that will be unrecognisable from what we have fought for. | Paul |
| Of course it should be removed from all legislation. But it will not be in the foreseeable future. Andrew Little at least is honest in his view that part Maori need special treatment over non-maori. However, John Key’s government, whilst professing equality for all races under the law, has in actual fact, overseen more in the way of racial separation than Labour ever did. I believe that John Key does not personally believe in racial separation, but does not want the inevitable eventual bloodshed to occur on his watch. | John |
| One nation, one set of rules – no privileged group or race. | John |
| Absolutely. Race is a meaningless concept that is used for social control. It has become destructive and should go! | John |
| It is disgraceful that successive governments have pandered to activists who push race down our throats. | Andrew |
| Yes, New Zealand should follow the lead of those other countries and remove race from legislation. | Ronald |
| The current system is failing New Zealanders. Radicals with a vested interest are being kept happy, but the government should be looking out for the welfare of ALL citizens. | Ken |
| A colourblind government is what this country urgently needs. | Wendy |
| Racial stereotyping is an anathema to a civilised society. The sooner the government gets rid of it the better this country will be. | Peter |