“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book has been rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street and building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And that process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
– Winston Smith in George Orwell’s 1984.
New Zealand is not immune from the consequences of protests over the tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of US Police being captured by political extremists pushing their own radical agendas.
This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator UK journalist and author Melanie Phillips believes the situation has reached a crisis point:
“Over the years, I have repeatedly warned that the refusal of the political establishment to defend the integrity of the western nation and its culture has opened the way for noxious forces to occupy the vacuum… Now the British establishment is kow-towing to a movement which is behaving like the Taliban, pulling down statues and other artefacts in order to erase aspects of British history as the product of a rotten society that’s institutionally racist and so must be supplanted by another.”
She describes the vandalising of statues of Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria in the UK and draws similarities with the Taliban in 2001 toppling ancient monuments in Afghanistan – to the horror of the western world.
These events evoke memories of some of the darker periods of human history when rational thinking gave way to dangerous fanaticism, including book burning in Nazi Germany, and the destruction caused by Chairman Mao’s Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution.
Even well-loved classics in film and television are no longer safe these days – ‘Gone with the Wind’ and episodes of ‘Faulty Towers’ are amongst the treasures now being withdrawn from view.
Melanie Phillips believes that by failing to act, society’s leaders are complicit: “The establishment is effectively condoning a sustained and organised onslaught which is taking place against not just a number of stone images but a culture’s historic memory.”
She describes Black Lives Matter as “a racist, anti-white, anti-west violent revolutionary movement” which aims to overthrow white western society by “overturning capitalist society because it is white and therefore deemed intrinsically evil”.
Yet instead of resisting their racist and dangerous agenda, Melanie Phillips describes how the political establishment has “fled the cultural battleground in order to cower, wringing its hands, at a distance”.
That was certainly the case in New Zealand last Friday, when Hamilton’s Mayor Paula Southgate had the statue of the city’s namesake, British naval commander Captain John Hamilton, removed – as the result of a request and a threat.
The request was from Tainui, the iwi that supported the original decision to accept the bronze statue as a gift to the city from the Gallagher Group seven years ago but now appears to have changed its mind: “In an email to council chief executive Richard Briggs, sent at 4.59pm on Thursday, Waikato Tainui chief executive Donna Flavell asked the council to consider the immediate removal of the statue from Civic Square. Flavell said she was aware the council was meeting on Friday and asked him to put the request to councillors then.”
The threat received by the council was from 80-year-old Taitimu Maipi of Huntley, who had vandalised the statue in 2018. At that time, he was arrested by police and received a pre-charge warning, which was supposed to act as a deterrent and an alternative to prosecution for offences of not more than six months’ imprisonment. The deterrent didn’t work as last Thursday he threatened to vandalise the statue again.
But instead of notifying police and taking steps to protect the statue the Mayor authorised its removal. Not content with that outcome, Tainui now wants the name of the city changed as well.
Demands for the removal of ‘offensive’ statues and monuments, city and street names, is escalating – and going from the bizarre to the ridiculous. Complaints have even been made about Fielding’s iconic bronze drover and dog statue on the basis that “To speak of the early settlers as being the ‘life blood’ of the land is to completely deny the indigenous blood that flowed here first.”
The Maori Party, which is sitting at one percent in the polls and desperately needs traction before the election, has called for an inquiry.
As Newstalk ZB’s Heather Du Plessis-Allan explains: “I think we’ve had a good insight into how the Maori Party is planning to spend the days through to the election. And that is to whip up racial tensions. In the space of just 24 hours, they made political play out of the colonial statues, calling for an inquiry but then saying it should only include Pakeha statues and only consider Maori grievances, excluding any other ethnicity with gripes and any controversial Maori figures.”
The Maori Party’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer claims, “We still honour some of the most racist and oppressive figures from our colonial history… I am calling on Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her government to work alongside hapu and iwi Maori… to undertake a comprehensive inquiry into colonial monuments and statues, place names, and street names… What we are asking is that… iwi and hapu with the government decide.”
Not only does the Maori Party appear to place no value whatsoever on the view of other New Zealanders, but their racist elitism ignores the record of Maori tribalism. Just as all of history is replete with events and practices that are no longer acceptable in a modern world, they are no exception.
Slavery, cannibalism, and infanticide were all practiced before colonisation, with some customs taking years to stamp out. In fact, it was two decades after the first missionaries arrived in New Zealand, that the genocide of the Moriori on the Chatham Islands took place, where hundreds of peace-loving inhabitants were slaughtered, eaten, and enslaved by Maori.
The reality is that separatists pushing for Maori sovereignty want to abolish the evidence of New Zealand history so they can re-cast it in a way that suits their racist agenda.
Rather than erasing historical monuments and memories, they should be preserved as part of an evolution that makes us what we are today – better and wiser through experience.
We urgently need our political leaders to stand up and defend the evidence of New Zealand’s past – including our right to an accurate portrayal of our nation’s history.
So where do the politicians stand on this controversy?
In his latest Straight Talk blog, political commentator Frank Newman outlines the position of National’s new leader: “Todd Muller is showing his true worth as the leader of the National Party. In a speech at the Te Puna Rugby Club on the weekend he added his thoughts to the debate about the removal of the Captain Hamilton statue: ‘It’s not for a leader of a political party to say what statue goes or stays… One of the strengths of our country is we are able to have the capacity for conversations like this’… Great to have that cleared up!”
The Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson was more direct – and radical: “I support the protests against these monuments of oppression”.
New Zealand First’s leader Winston Peters has also expressed strong views, opposing this ‘wave of idiocy’: “A self-confident country would never succumb to obliterating symbols of their history, whether it be good or bad or simply gone out of fashion. A country learns from its mistakes and triumphs and its people should have the knowledge and maturity to distinguish between the two.”
While Winston Peters’ comments will have resonated with many New Zealanders bewildered by the dearth of leadership condemning the radicals threating their communities, it’s important to remember that like the Maori Party, New Zealand First is struggling to reach the five percent threshold to get back into Parliament.
The party knows race-relations is a ‘hot button’ issue and a point of difference. In 2017, many New Zealanders supported the party as a result of their “bottom-line” promise to hold a referendum on the future of the Maori seats. Yet even though Winston Peters was the ‘kingmaker’ after the election and chose the government, he failed to deliver on his election promise.
While the Prime Minister refused to become involved in the statue controversy, the Minister of Justice Andrew Little supported claims by protesters that New Zealand’s justice system is racist: “When well over half of the men in our prisons are Maori, when nearly two-thirds of women in our prisons are Maori, that tells you there is something wrong with the system.”
In response to similar claims of institutional racism in the US, research by Manhattan Institute fellow Heather Mac Donald, shows there is no structural racial bias in the criminal-justice system with regard to arrests, prosecution or sentencing.
She finds it is criminal behaviour, not race that determines most police actions. “In 2018, the latest year for which data have been published, African-Americans made up 53 percent of known homicide offenders in the US and committed about 60 percent of robberies, even though they represented only 13 percent of the population.”
New Zealand’s crime figures, available on the Police website, show virtually the same pattern – Maori are arrested and go to prison more often because they commit more crime.
In 2019, ‘Maori’ offenders were responsible for 39 percent of homicides, almost 66 percent of robberies, 56 percent of burglaries, 55 percent of thefts, 48 percent of acts causing injury, 48 percent of property damage, and 46 percent of weapons offences, even though they represent only 16 percent of the population.
If protesters were rational in their demands to reduce the number of Maori in prison, instead of blaming institutional racism or the Police they would address the real cause of criminal offending, which was clearly outlined by US President Barack Obama in a Fathers’ Day speech in 2008:
“Of all the rocks upon which we build our lives, we are reminded today that family is the most important. And we are called to recognize and honour how critical every father is to that foundation. They are teachers and coaches. They are mentors and role models. They are examples of success and the men who constantly push us toward it.
“But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that what too many fathers also are is missing — missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.
“You and I know how true this is in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, a number that has doubled — doubled — since we were children. We know the statistics — that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioural problems, or run away from home or become teenage parents themselves. And the foundations of our community are weaker because of it.”
It’s the same story here in New Zealand. The rise in the breakdown of the family – especially the Maori family – has been catastrophic. It is and always has been the root cause of social deprivation, violence, and crime. Reducing sole parenthood and intergenerational welfare dependency is at the heart of the solution.
Calls for race-based laws and greater taxpayer funding are all part of an ambitious power grab by sovereignty activists who want to see the governance of New Zealand pass to the Maori tribal elite. The problem is that most people are completely unaware of how far this dangerous agenda has advanced.
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THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Do you support the removal of colonial era statues, monuments, street and community names deemed by some to be ‘offensive’?
*Poll comments are posted below.
*All NZCPR poll results can be seen in the Archive.
THIS WEEK’S POLL COMMENTS
| Total nonsense | Bryce |
| This is our history which I am proud of, if the British hadn’t come here it would still be undeveloped like alot of countries. if the north island cant represent the Nz I grow up in then maybe the south should self govern or at least have its own political party ..Wellington Politicians don’t represent the views of the south . | Dean |
| I deem the childish attitude of the complainants to be totally offensive and the following of Floyds criminality.(check his history) to be totally misleading, his suppression in this case was excessive but under the circumstances necessary, this gave an artificial aroura to the event. | IAN |
| They are a part of our history , whether they represent good or not such good things. The people represented by these symbols lived in different times generally behaved in ways acceptable to those times. They are history, no more no less. Keep them all, they represent the History of the country we live in today | Diana |
| Under no circumstances. | Kevan |
| I’m sure that if you look hard enough, you’ll find that every statue, monument, street, etc will have someone that might be offended by it. All of us will offend someone in our lives, some more, some less; we are human after all. By removing these “offensive” reminders of past people and events, we are trying to rewrite our past in line with what is socially acceptable this week or month. We also remove opportunities to remember and talk about what is important in life, how to treat others, and what happens when we don’t. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is something we should never forget. | Jenny |
| The whole “black lives matter”movement is based on a lie. Here in New Zealand we need to tell these idiots calling for statue removal & name changes to back off. The pendulum has swung way too far to the toxic left. | Rex |
| Very worried about the direction NZ is heading. We are fast heading towards being a separatist nation and it seems to be getting worse everyday. We are definitely not a united team of 5 million. | Adele |
| No of course not. Maori culture has its own share of historical issues. We all have ancestors who were sometimes famous, but mostly ordinary, and influenced by the pervading culture of the time. Many NZrs are sick of special people who are perpetually offended, yet happy to be bought off with taxpayers money (as long as it continues). Has to be reigned in. | Neil |
| Could a petition or referendum be organized calling NZ, New Zealand or that revolting word beginning with A. which I find offensive? Apart from long-standing town names, I am sick of everything being turned into a maori place name, most of which most people will never use. As Comrade Ardern will not defend statues remaining where they are, I find her unfit to be a leader of this nation. | Monica |
| At best, it’s an anachronistic view of history and, at worst, worryingly close to an Orwellian re-write of history. | Sam |
| So disappointed to see our history being eroded. Feeling angry at the lack of push back. | Caroline |
| Simply part of the journey to separatism in NZ | Phil |
| Desecrators either active or intenders, should be prosecuted | Bob |
| Place them somewhere non-prominent with suitable interpretation where colonial acts of individuals and the crown can be remembered for what it was in its wider context. | Nicki |
| What’s next – taking a chainsaw to Maori carvings of their ancestors because they engaged in cannibalism and slavery? Imagine the outcry……… | Dave |
| Racist and pathetic, both. Driven by a dangerous ideology which has NO PLACE in New Zealand. | Coral |
| every legend it has been said contains a legacy of truth. conspiracy theories the same. perhaps we as a planet full of people need to address why the race fears develop, how to move forward and leave race behind. Racism comes from people who shout goliwogs are racist , Racism comes from those who shout about Anything that could be construed as racist gets a name change .. god help us when we can no longer say dark or white chocolate .. | al |
| We need to have our history whether it be Maori or European. Why destroy it it is our heritage and for all to know where we have come from good or bad it is who we are and where we have all come from . We do not need to go backwards. We should be one country one law. You do the crime you take the consequences and be responsible for your own actions. If you don’t want to be hounded by police then obey the law and they will leave you alone. | Claire |
| The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth. Orwell, 1984. Let’s not go there. | Bill |
| Reducing sole parenthood and intergenerational welfare dependency is at the heart of the solution. Symbols of deeper issues. NZ history not taught. Statues may not have gone up in the first place if we knew the truth. | Graeme |
| You can’t obliterate history. I’d like to see the removal of the perpetrators of these suggestions instead to places like Campbell Island, where they might reflect that colonisation wasn’t such a bad thing for most of them. | Craig |
| It’s our history | Francis |
| We need to learn from history not destroy it. | Linda |
| Put up one statue of a Maori chief and then Simone complains – he ate my father – what then? | Frances |
| There is a secret underlying socialist agenda behind this movement to change our nation’s identity. | Denis |
| Muriel’s article is spot on. I sent a letter to the Waikato Times on the Friday of the statue removal, expressing similar views and the bully like threat of destruction using the support of black power members. I also said they were furthering the division of NZ which is being promoted by some people. The letter has not been published! | Barry |
| Offence is subjective and even those who have caused some offence have also been responsible for acts of greatness. | Andy |
| I would not get upset if some street names that cause offence to residents are changed by | Bryan |
| Weak politicians will encourage the Maori supremacists to go further than just pulling down statues and erasing everyone’s history, their objective is to install a race based anarchist political system, the communist Chinese will be an eager participant in furthering that objective. The Maori supremacists should be reminded they also have monuments. | Rex |
| ‘All lives matter’. If you were blind and couldn’t see colour you wouldn’t believe the BS raging around the world today. | Maureen |
| Maybe a tour of these as a mini doco series by someone “suitably wise” would be a better use so we know the background and can learn from this history of ALL monuments | Garth |
| It seems Jacinda would sell her soul as well as her grandmother to attract more votes. | gale |
| It is our history for better or worse and frankly our history compared world wide, is pretty good, but of course could have been better. | Tony |
| Yes I support the removal of Statues and Names. Statues and Names represent the real values of our culture through enterprise and deeds down through history. This current bunch of slush brain Red socialists have demonstrated they are culturally UNFIT to share in our civilized progressive European derived culture, and the values of such Statues and names should be completely denied them. I don’t agree we should replace statues and names with those of any cannibalistic backward native culture. A culture of longer duration and significant achievement might be fitting, one such as Chinese perhaps. Why celebrate 200 years of democratic colonialism when you can celebrate 900 years of cannibalism or 4000 years of thuggery. Such a great background to our impending martial law misery. | Richard |
| stop the stupid iwi/maori insanity! | Donald |
| It is our history good and bad | Owen |
| This is not Rhodesia. We must guard against those who would destroy our great nation. | Igor |
| No. Of course there will always be someone who is offended by something, but that’s human nature. Historical figures get remembered by a generation because of various things they did or stood for, not how virtuous they were. As the ages pass by, it is natural that their influence of the day, that was once considered important, tends to fade. There are exceptions (Julius Caesar and Napoleon come to mind), but for many their ‘specialness’ does fade. Maori (all of mixed DNA now) appear to have become obsessed with ethnicity and their sense of ‘being special’ in this country. This myth has been fanned by activism for some time now. In fact, and they tell us this by their own legends, their ancestors were early migrants to this land (all humans originally arrived here by sea-going vessel from other places), therefore Maori cannot claim to be ‘indigenous’. As some have suggested, there were strengths, weaknesses, bad culture and good culture all mixed up in our history, but I would suggest that the big historical ‘chip on the shoulder’ stems from the fact that the Maori society (Warriors) were defeated by another race/culture which had to resupply itself from the other side of the world, by sailing ship. Plenty of faults on both sides, but what’s new? Somehow we have to keep our heads cool, remember what our previous generations fought for (two world wars not so long ago) so we could keep our decent society, democracy, freedom of speech and all those privileges plus responsibilities. This message was engraved on a Viking’s gravestone: ‘To be wounded by words is to be weak’. Don’t let them get to you. | Barry |
| They are part of history to learn from and not forget what happened but move forward | Mary-Ann |
| This is PC gone mad. This is part of history, good or bad and should not be destroyed or changed because of a few agitators.. | Andrew |
| Get rid of Maori seats. Both parties have given into their demands as a need to gain their support to be the government | Bruce |
| It’s just a show of power by those with other agendas. | Andrew |
| This again is the silent majority having to bow down to the screeching minority. If it comes to that, well, lets have all statues removed, starting with those which depict warriors of the past, enslavers, cannibals, conquerers of other people, etc. I’m sure that would go down well, or doesn’t fairness go both ways? | Kevin |
| Write to your MP! Do it today. Tell them in clear direct language how you feel about this terrorism of our culture and heritage. We have gutless leaders (not all) but most, who are too afraid to speak out in order to protect their status. Let’s make a noise so our future leaders will act. This is shameful and our silence only gives empowerment to those who would destroy our society. | Robert |
| This paragraph says it all, and maori do not want to be reminded of it “Slavery, cannibalism, and infanticide were all practiced before colonisation, with some customs taking years to stamp out. In fact, it was two decades after the first missionaries arrived in New Zealand, that the genocide of the Moriori on the Chatham Islands took place, where hundreds of peace-loving inhabitants were slaughtered, eaten, and enslaved by Maori”. Maoris cannot erase history from peoples minds and It is the maori race creating and causing RACISM in NZ. Who pays for Maori welfare !! | ROD |
| just walking around some towns and city parks all you see are some grotesque carvings that a bunch of brown nosing idiots have agreed to put up to kow tow to the radical bunch of low life that control this govt and i dare say the opposition, because they want to get in this September and thats why the greedy bunch want 25% of the gdp which our commie pm will give with a big grin on her gob so she can sit in the beehive, which is the wrong name for a place full of no hopers that have destroyed this country. | Richard |
| Utter nonsense. Where will it end. The removal from history of the Roman era maybe? | Richard |
| History is history – something to be celebrated and also to learn from. | Alan |
| Moari are NOT the indigenous people of NZ. Their past history is no better than that of other countries, and in some cases worse. Cannibalism! Just how many nations practiced that? We have to learn from the past. “Lest We Forget”, | Michele |
| enough is enough started with Mt Egmont then Wanganui where will it end. People hide behind the treaty | Glyn |
| We do need to make a difference and expect our government to act accordingly. | Robert |
| Our country is sadly lacking in journalists telling the truth about the origins of the BLM movement | Richard |
| they have nothing to do with the present problems | Barry |
| This Marxist advancement needs a voice on YouTube, it is about time the true NZ history is pushed and outline the current situation..come on NZ grow a pair.. | Jeffrey |
| Hysterical opportunism and shows a very deep lack of understanding about how the world really works. | Henk |
| Be they good or bad, they remind us of history, as it was, not how it is rewritten in the current day | Lyn |
| the gov and police should grow some balls and deal to these perpetrators the same as we would be for similar offending, get into the gangs and get all there weaponry confiscated, you know all the fire arms which should have been handed in during the amnesty….YEH RIGHT!!..We need law and order for all restored…NOW!!! | Phill |
| Just about everything and anyone is deemed offensive by someone somewhere. As the old saying goes, “you can’t please everyone”. So eventually, everything would need to be removed which is a complete nonsense. | Bill |
| Absolutely disgusting! No right to destroy any ones history and they have much of this history in their ancestry as no one now is of a pure one race! | June |
| One cannot erase history but one can learn from it | richard |
| The removal of the Winston Churchill Statue in the UK would have to identify the global movement as Socialist pushing for a Socialist Democracy. NZ has many similarities. But let us be sure this is a path of self-destruction! | Frederick |
| The lack of political leadership in support of our western values and rule of law is astounding, no it’s frightening. The lack of spine of councilors to defend and consult with the tax paying community will be the downfall of our democracy. ONE thug has more power than any citizen. We the decent citizens have become irrelevant. New Zealand is in a very dark place in history. Politicians need to be held to account for driving racial separatism into law and privilege that the future will pay for. History will not be kind to them. Decent people will flee the growing apartheid divide. | Sam |
| They are part of our history, both races have dark pasts, learn from these & build a better country for our children to live in not a divided society. | Noel |
| We are letting the press and the internet opinions determine all of our outcomes. They even determine who our PM will be, by promoting her as a reincarnation of Mother Theresa, the problem with that is there are not enough voters with the intellect to sort the wheat from the chaff, and marketers, politicians and the media now all know this and they are influencing outcomes based on their making money through being popular. Western society is going to fail due to the elimination of survival of the fittest, as we progress to accepting weakness in every aspect of life. It%u2019s not OK to be useless, as that breeds what we are seeing everywhere! Let%u2019s get rid of People that are riding high on the ignorance of the majority – Jacinda is #1 on the list of those piss takers. | Luke |
| Time the government grew some balls and said enough is enough. | Tom |
| It’s part of our history rightly or wrongly. How far do we go? | Chris |
| Absolute BS | Dave |
| Learn from history, do not destroy it | Tom |
| If this is a genuine grievance here in NZ.Lets have a civilised discussion not a knee jerk reaction. | Marty |
| NO! NO! NO! | Martin |
| Definitely not!! History can’t be changed. | Bryan |
| Is it correct that a threat to destroy public property a form of terrorism? Then this person threatening to do such an act should be arrested like any other Terrorist? If he was someone of Muslim descent and threaten to destroy property I am sure the SIS would be investigating and monitoring him. Since he is a Maori it seems that he can do as he pleases with out fear of arrest. If it was a white men in a pointy white hat. I am sure the threat would be handled quite differently. | Alan |
| They all tell a story. Even the rogues should remain. It gives us a place to go and spit on them. I love to return to my old school and spit on the tree planted by the rogue principals who reigned in terror. Hero’s to some; but actually bullies, thieves and gamblers | Peter |
| I find the Haka racist and offensive. | Derekj |
| Colonisation of NZ was very successful for all citizens. | Roger |
| Of course not! Who in their right mind would? | Ronnie |
| I do not and nor does my wife ,part Maori, probably because we know what is going on. The attempted destruction of our society to advantage a few Godless hating individuals. | JOHN |
| You can’t change history by removing statues but you can learn from it not to repeat the mistakes of the past. | William |
| This has gone way too far | Alan |
| NO WAY | Pete |
| If Maori are going to pull statues down, then they must be prepared to have EVERYTHING Maori pulled down in NZ | Mike |
| We will never be able to reach historical purity/excellence/ – we have been and remain imperfect humans. Whose value system is going to be the basis for judgement? As best we can we need both sides of our history to be ‘on show’! | William |
| Absolutely not. Would they prefer statues of their own cannibals of earlier years? The worst racists in this county are the Maoris themselves. Always wanting special this and that (and sometimes getting it because everyone is afraid to say no). They are over-represented in the prisons because they commit the most crimes, simple. I am by no means a white supremacist, but if anything’s unfair, it’s that the Maoris always shout loudest and get their way. Including foreshore and blocking roads etc. Why do part-Maori identify with that, instead of the white half? Because they get more. | Sheila |
| We have to start a Movement called ALM, All Lives Matter, not just black, not just white, yellow, brown, pink……because this divisive action globally is pure separatism, divide & conquer. The gravity of this global movement has yet to be realised. Everyone, white Kiwis, maori, polynesian, chinese, immigrants, must to all take responsibility for themselves which is generated from the family unit, especially the Father to bring about a much better balanced society. RESPONSIBILITY can only be taught along with a POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDES instead of all this ridiculous blame game going on globally. | Bruza |
| Could easily be a statue of Hitler here if it wasn’t for English and allies. | Lew |
| All history must be looked at in context. | Merv |
| Before you can advance, you must always be aware of where you came from. Rewriting history does no-one any favours but makes it all a lie. Maori are the worst at this and are a minority – not a majority and so they should have no more say in the running of this country than the rest of us. Re – Read the Treaty – we are all equal. | Garry |
| I know in the past bad decisions were made but thats life in those days .It was rough for everyone . Move on . the people who want us to go backwards should be sent to pull down the Pyramids’ and the Roman Coliseum ! | Tony |
| It is ridiculous and immensely childish and foolish and reflects how easily brainwashed young (and not so young) can be! | Barbara |
| The past is the past.Live with it | john |
| This is part of history regardless who likes or dislikes them. We should not be removing them and giving in. In England if not for Winston Churchill we would have lost the war. We shouldn’t give in to demands or threats. | Kerin |
| It is part of our history maybe Iwi should look at funding some leading Maori leaders so our history can be reflected with them also | Barry |
| Definitely not. Weak governments, weak councils, weak law enforcement and weak parental guidance only encourages racist change and vandalism. Protect our history and heritage, learn from our mistakes and be proud of the present and the future. | Bonnie |
| I am afraid that Todd Muller does not appear to be the answer to the future of the National party ..unless the party wakes up and promotes Judith Collins to the role we are in for another nightmare period of Jacinda and her Socialist agenda and kowtowing to racist Maori’s agenda…the new Police Commisioner is not going to be of any help either. | Bill |
| Do not erase history | Allister |
| That will be the merest tip of the Iceberg. rest assured though; our communist leadership will be richly remunerated for their expertise and agrandise their palaces. All salute Comrade jacinda. | zoran |
| This is part of our history. Are the protesters trying to rewrite history to suit their agenda ? | Ross |
| Rightly or wrongly, this is our history. Are we to remove all Maori memorabilia to violent chiefs? | Heather |
| Best to remember history. Good or bad, we can learn from it and move on. | Paul |
| You cannot change the past – only learn from It! | Margaret |
| We must stand up and protect the statues ad history, good or bad. | Huria |
| NO! Every day I shrug! Sigh! or Scream! at developments in our country. They no longer shock but sadden. We have lost our backbone. We need to stand together to stop this PC bullshit from happening. Extraordinary than one 80 year old with his own axe to grind can so easily unite fellow fools in his campaign to re-write history and the nation just roll over and indulge. | Carol |
| Minorities cannot override the majority in a democracy. Governments cannot ignore the majority in their nation simply because they are threatened and intimidated by a minority. Civil disobedience, unlawful activity and rebellion against legitimate authority, IE., the law, must be dealt with Immediately and impartially. Authorities that are partial to civil disobedience for political gain, as our current ‘left wing’ NZ Labour Coalition and media patently apparently do, prove the old adage: ‘the lowest form of government is democracy.’ Democracy requires honesty and integrity and that results in true freedom. Democracy corrupted results in anarchy!! | Bruce |
| RaciaL Seperatism, anti democratic behaviour can not be tolerated in our country | Alan |
| Defiantly not. It is all our History | Mary |
| As so succinctly pointed out by Dr Newman and our Guest Commentator, Melanie Phillips, the demands being made by the more vocal of our citizens identifying only with their Maori forebears (and also identifying with Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA and the Islamist extremists of the UK), for the removal of those statues, named streets and cities commemorating those they perceive to be “white capitalist colonials” represent extreme racism in their actions and demands. The nation must respect their views and heros, but any consideration of the other 80% of the population’s heros are not to be given any recognition because they offend their minority view. How any political party who supports such views, namely the Greens and Labour, can be taken seriously is beyond my comprehension. Whilst our New National Leader says it is not the place of political leaders, he still supports discussion on the ,matter. He thus does not shut the door on stopping the rewriting of history in order to support the minority and racist view. A plague on all their houses! | Michael |
| The quoted ‘facts’ of the case for the removal of Hamilton’s statue, have been shown to be a fabrication! | Gary |
| Why are we as a Nation buying in to this nonsense. People need to live in the real world. Not the world of poor us we were hard done by back in the day. Move forward for our children | Laurel |
| If the principle is to pull down commemorative works because they portray people who were valued but also did bad things as judged under modern ethical codes, then surely we must pull down Maori carvings ‘guarding’ entrances to places, bridges etc and such things as the monument to Hone Heke in Kaikohe. Many of those installations celebrate the superstition and violence of tribes who kept slaves, practised infanticide of female babies, practised cannibalism and indulged in genocide of other tribes they waged war against. I don’t want to pull down Maori or European historical art installations but only highlight the duplicity of fashionable ‘wokeness’. | John |
| While we have an empty vessel like Ardern in charge, we will move further and further down the leftist road to socialism/communism. It’s frustrating that her adoring fans cannot see past the communicator/presenter/auto cue reader that is all she is, Her aim is to join us up with the UN One World Govt, where Will will live under a dictatorship, do as we are told, and will all be on a one level lifestyle where the losers will be as well off as those who have strived for a better and better life. If only the gullible public would wake up and vote her out in September. | Carolyn |
| racial rubbish | edward |
| Definitely not. | Liz |
| Offence is in the eye of the beholder | Philip |
| Historical revisionism driven by racist, separatist Maori anarchists will only ultimately achieve civil disturbance and bloodshed. It is time our spineless politicians put all race-based issues to the vote by referenda.. Maori are driving a hateful agenda that has to be stopped in the interests of the 96 other ethnicities who make up the NZ population | Tom |
| Don’t even change the name New Zealand and stop using Aotearoa…. | Anon |
| Yet another example of rewriting history to suit extreme political agendas | Frank |
| perhaps we should no longer tolerate many aspects Maori culture deemed to be offensive to non Maori. | Bruce |
| The increasingly violent liberal contagion now circling the globe is similar to what happened 100 years ago in Russia and Germany. Germany fended it off for awhile but Russia did not. Strong, fearless leadership is the answer to tyranny. Where is it? | Robert |
| History is history, whether in is good, bad, or indifferent. The past cannot be removed, only ignored, or learned from. | Simon |
| All very stupid . The statues are part of our history . Why pander to the vocal few . NZ has a lot more concerning problems right now | Gloria |
| Under the present conditions, I’m not going to give my feelings about the ‘human’s’ doing this. Angry. | Ian |
| It is our history | Brian |
| “If we open a quarrel between the Past and the Present, we shall find we have lost the Future” Winston Churchill. | Geoff |
| We should have more. Not less | Bill |
| Was it not what we call the ‘dark ages’ when books – that is history and thought – were burned. We could be entering a new ‘dark age’. | Catherine |
| Deleting our history won’t change the fact that NZ is a white racist country because in reality we aren’t. The racists are the radical left, both maori and others. These are the ones that need to be deleted from our country. | Chris |
| When oh when are ‘ordinary’ New Zealanders going to realise that to do nothing is tantamount to agreeing with these maori elitists? | Helen |
| They are a part of our history | Margaret |
| Not at all. I am getting tired of these idiots with no education or feeling for a society that feeds them. | frank |
| Its our history ,just like the tribes that were here long before the maori arrived and started enslaving and killing those that were here first | Francis |
| This BS has got to be stopped now.. | John |
| how would this be different from ancient statues being destroyed in Afghanistan. History is history! | Christine |
| Statues and monuments were erected with the agreement of all locals at the time of the erection. You do not hear of opposition at the time. It is evident that those protesting and wont them removed do not know the full story as to why they are celebrated. | Dennis |
| NZ is starting to cross the line and get dangerous. This ramping up of the of the “so-called maori” offensive against all other NZ’ers, has to be stopped. How, is the question. | John |
| Of course not. To do so is to remove any reference to our history. I think other agendas are at work with all this statue BS. If one watches the TV news (hopefully it’s not fake) the NZ protesters are predominantly white. I suspect most of them are only there for the destruction of history. Anarchists all of them. As for an inquiry about the whole business, this piece taken from the article, “should only include Pakeha statues and only consider Maori grievances, excluding any other ethnicity with gripes and any controversial Maori figures. This gives some idea where this heading. Unfortunately, sending the young warriors out to do battle while elders stay at home is a classic tactic of Maori from way back when. The radicals are the front line troops and they have also enlisted white radicals to aid their cause. This will not end well for any of us. | Ray |
| The statues are a mark of history. Would Maori be just as willing to remove all of their carvings, most of which depict a violent and barbaric history. Thought not. | Neil |
| There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs – partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. – Booker T. Washington 1911….and we are living that here and now in NZ | Tom |
| It’s openly racist let’s stick to the Brash statement we are all New Zealanders not different people | Myles |
| Western civilisation improved the living conditions of the Stone-Age Maori people. They should be grateful. | Patrick |
| the only thing removing statues achieves is that history is rewritten by those who remove the statues. | Sheila |
| New Zealand is not ONLY Maori. It is a soup of many peoples. And it is WHAT it is today because of the actions of many of those immortalised in bronze….good and bad. | Lionel |
| No way. Sadly the vocal minority rule. The white man cowers down and says sorry – for what? Whatever the radicals want. Sad days ahead for NZ if Jacinda’s Commo party get back in again. | Graeme |
| most definitely not – that would be giving in to racist anarchy and tyrranny | russell |
| The whole suggestion that we should abandon our past history good and bad and replace it with a minority groups version is totally absurd. | David |
| This is our heritage Lets not ever forget the Maoris were murdering innocent people in mass which was why the British army was called in to stop the murder | Ian |
| These are HISTORY and remind us of where we came from NOT where we are now. | Philip |
| it is about time Maori faced up they know the problems but will not address them in their own rite basically Maori have always been a warfare race even before Cook arrived and they attacked him even though he came in peace. | Graham |
| I am offended by the spineless actions of our supposed leaders and lawmakers. | John |
| Ridiculous efforts to change history. | Terry |
| I guess this is what the dear leader wants taught in schools as New Zealand history, a lie. | Hugh |
| They are our history and what New Zealand has been built on | sheryl |
| Definitely not. This world wide obsession to obliterate history is the most dangerous happening in my very long lifetime. We simply cannot to suit a very dangerous agenda change what has happened in the past. Why? because it actually happened and nothing can change that. I just hope and pray that political leaders in the west can grow some courage and stop this garbage right in its tracks. Failure to do so will have serious consequences. Perhaps our so called opposition should take note. | Jim |
| And will the forthcoming name change of New Zealand to Aoteoroa be carried out for the same reasons from a couple of complaints and one threat of violence. | John |
| No statue or monument should be removed or name changed without a poll. | Brian |
| No names have meaning. They represent people of the past, we can learn from them, either to take on board their ideas or reject them | Theo |
| NO _ NO _NO!!! Where is the respect from Maori to those early settlers who worked hard, sacrificed higher standards of living to develop in this nation as a good economic foundation. Maori had no part in starting good trading agreements with other nations. While newcomers to this country they were killing, sabotaging and stealing. This behaviour is the root cause of the hate building up from the sovereignty activists. The ultimate goal should be to pursue the road to equality, not dominance and supremacy and start with an apology from maori descendants of the first canoes to arrive here to the descendants of the murdered Mori Ori people who welcomed the first canoes onto this land. AND LEAVE OUR TOWNS, CITIES, AND PLACE NAMES ALONE. No one has ever suggested maori names should be removed and changed. MAORI ACTIVISTS – DO UNTO OTHERS AS THEY DO TO YOU!!! | ctm |
| No one forces you to take offence… it’s something you chose to take. No one should be forced to change the world just to suit your feelings! | Eb |
| I think that this Govt is all for it. To me this is despicable and should be stopped now. | Jan |
| Definitely Not, how pathetic. People should read the transcript from the diaries of Capt Cook and his officers about the early landings in NZ and decide then who were the agressors. | Arthur |
| I am appalled at whats happening-we need to acknowledge the past and move on-we cannot change our history, we need to acknowledge it whether good or bad | Colleen |
| No! Is there any other country in the world where the minority populace crave apartheid? | Bruce |
| Leave the statues alone put all the names in English | Mike |
| I completely endorse the statement made by Winston Peters on this question | Mary |
| ABSOLUTELY NOT — MANKIND HAS NO LONGTERM FUTURE UNDER SUCH POLICIES | JIM |
| Stop the brown bleaters, we have a history too. ! | Frank |
| Maori are very selective when it comes to NZ history and neglect their own genocidal acts. | Mark |
| Removal of colonial era statues and names is totally inane. We are one people – “the team of 5 million”! | Neil |
| It is time the general public of New Zealand woke up and took notice of what is happening in front of their noses and stop pandering to a few that is the 16% of our population MAORI they are slowly but surely ruining this great country of OURS | John |
| History, keep learning from it | Ralph |
| NO, If the National party were to stand up now and state that they will shunt the gravy train on to a siding and take the wheels off it, they would win the election with a seat or two to spare. | Athol |
| It is not right to want to judge what happened in another era with today’s values in order to rewrite history | Gerhard |
| to try and reconstruct history to suit a self serving agenda is rank stupidity and condemns future generations to continuing ignorance | Kerry |
| They serve to remind us of our history but not necessarily to repeat it. The country will achieve more by strengthening families and having fathers supporting the education of their children than by the pointless attempts at revising history. | Graham |
| Remember Hitler’s??????? | Avril |
| They represent history we shouldn’t allow activist to try to change it by selectively removing parts they don’t agree with | Bryan |
| Better to remove the offended people. | chris |
| read your history books – monuments are memories – names are relevant – get real who made this country work | Beth |
| Let us all become ‘Kiwis’ regardless of colour, race or religion. And consign the ‘Treaty’ to history where it belongs as it is no longer a ‘living document’. | Gerry |
| Should we also live in caves and wipe our bums with tussock? NZ history is stone age cannibalism. | Rob |
| This is a crime against decent society by a party of clowns, calling themselves maori. | norman |
| if it was not for colonialism the maori would be an endangered species. | cal |
| History is history, good or bad. Just what do replace it with? PC Liberal racist mistruths? | Peter |
| Absolutely disgraceful. Where is the rule of law | Dave |
| The rewriting of history by blind ignorant self scented and racist people must stop before New Zealanders start believing they are right. | Bruce |
| i HAVE TWO NEIGHBOURS WHO FLY THE UNOFFICIAL MAORI FLAG IN MY FACE WHICH I FIND OFFENSIVE, I WOULD LOVE TO CUT THEM DOWN, BUT I WOULD THEN BE DEEMED RACIST……. | ERIN |
| Racism is going berserk – racism by part-Maoris | Bruce |
| Why do we have to put with this stupid radical behaviour and kotow to them they never consider the advantages of our society so maybe they can go back to the pre European times where infantcide eating your enemies and murder was epidemic | Eric |
| It’s rubbish | David |
| Removal of those offended that deem them “offensive” would be an alternative. eg. To North Korea for example. | Alan |
| The history that Maori were peace loving gardeners was told student of Politecs in the 1990’s. It is not until Maori come to grips with, and acknowledge their true history of warfare etc they can move on. Skin color should not be judged. Behaviour should. | ido |
| DEFINITELY NO! Western civilisation and its history, the best yet and a little not so good, to be learned from and not to repeat, is under attack like never before. The short term solution may be painful for us whatever is decided. The long term solution is to progressively defund our state universities and schools. I can imagine the howls of protest but it must happen for there to be a return to any semblance of a just society. Political Correctness has neutered courage in the individual and by default has replaced it with fear. Any legislation that has enshrined p.c.ness must be wiped off our statute books if we are to return to reason, freedom and sanity. | Don |
| The History is OUR NZ history. right or wrong. | Peter |
| It is time to stop pussy footing around with these radical concepts and become one nation. | Robert |
| More idiocy from the Marxists. | Richard |
| Absolutely not. Where are we headed with such demands from the radical activists. I shudder to think and how the younger generation of today will cope with it in a few years time. | Joe |
| Destroying the ‘soul’ of New Zealand is a no-go destination….. | Chris |
| These statues and monuments are part of our history. The record of Maori pre-colonisation is far more offensive than anything these statues represent. Cannibalism and slavery were rife but this is conveniently forgotten by radical Maori. | Doug |
| We learn from history. In times gone by there were different values. Those values regulated our development. We must not forget history good, bad or unpopular. | stewart |
| “Just because you’re offended, doesn’t mean you’re right” – Winston Churchill. | Geoff |
| Dangerous ‘progressive’ nonsense | Peter |
| All Lives Matter and the police in america have a worst record of shooting whites than blacks so what is all this really about? | roger |
| This has gone too far! | Dayal |
| If we forget our history, we’re doomed to repeat it. | Jacky |
| ‘To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.’ We must retain monuments of history, both good and bad – to learn. | Aaron |
| I do not support anything which will destroy New Zealand and cause a separation between any races in this country., Destruction of our history, both good and bad, will be the death nell for peace in our country. | Diana |
| Will not be voting for Winston. but he has it right “Idiocy”. | Dick |
| Clawing for votes in the coming election has the Maori party issuing an avalanche of demands and threats made for removal of colonial statues and immediate name change for “offensive” titles, place names and documented historical colonial data. Tragically this resulted in the immediate caving by Hamilton’s City council in the, pretty much, instant removal of Hamilton’s founding father’s statue and a weak mute response of political leaders from both sides of the fence. Result: mass loud salivation by everybody, so disposed, to jump on the “Black Lives Matter” bandwagon to fan the flames of discontent and discord….When, actually, in most cases, it is the criminal element activity directly incurring the reactivity of the cops who, after all, are charged by society to quell this. | Marshal |
| To much been Given to the maori to keep them happy | Jimmy |
| History is not there for you to like or dislike. It is there for you to learn from. And if it offends you, even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. It%u2019s not yours to erase or destroy. It belongs to all of us! | Albert |
| Absolutely not – the world has been aghast at the vandalizing of monuments in other countries so why should ours be torn down. Its history. | Gillian |
| History learnings are vital for progression | Leanne |
| Nonsensical and misplaced PC attitudes have induced widespread madness among our non-reasoning masses. | Jim |
| I have read all the comments below and they are all saying the same thing, I have said before in this column, all these comments should be downloaded and published in ALL our national publications. WHY do our journalists not commenting on these issues? Are they threatened by publishing these comments? Or are they biased and want to keep their jobs. OUR country is heading fast toward a confrontation with a minority that wants to rule OUR country, | William |
| Its time the radical part maori/iwi of NZ sorted themselves out & stopped laying the blame for their misgivings on to other New Zealanders! | Donald |
| This is just absolutely ridiculous that we are even giving these matters our attention! Time to wake up NZ! | Bryce |
| An absolute resounding NO. The fact that the question even arises shows the threat the majority of NZ is under. TIME TO WAKE UP NZ | Bruce |
| Has this country lost it, where will all this stupidity end. !! | Rick |
| NO NO NO | paul |
| We are heading into dangerous times with these radical groups and our weak government officials in both regional and local are to gutless to challenge these groups and mainly Maori who want sole Government of their own. | ken |
| No No No The removal of these statues names etc is in itself a racist act and more importantly a denial of our history. Not all history is good not all history would stand up to modern criticism and not all history should be repeated BUT ALL HISTORY MUST BE KNOWN AND LEARNED FROM | Robin |
| No, this is a part of history, It shouldnt matter if it is right or wrong. it is part of our learning. | Richard |
| Colonials brought good things as well – a written language, rule of law, health knowledge, trade with locals.Better ways of doing things. | Marianne |
| I spoke with knew well the leader of the maori sovereignty movement in South Auckland. He told me their aim was to have separate Government Departments for maori. Including courts and Police. To do this they needed 50% of the tax take. He said that’s what treaty partnership means. Governments have disguised this under the words, JOINT MANAGEMENT. | Dene |
| We need to learn from history and the disfigurement of monuments is simply vandalism and needs to be punished. | Peter |
| Te Rauparaha (one of Maoridom’s most prolific and sadistic scorched-earth murderers) has a statue in Otaki, apparently on Maori land. This statue is considered too sacred to be pulled down. When will half a dozen men of a certain persuasion grow some cajones and deal to it? | Lesley |
| that is part of NZ history | graeme |
| Removing them is kow towing to the mob | Willy |
| If you go ahead and let these envious haters wrongfully destroy your monuments what will they demand next? Ask them whether Hamilton or (for heaven’s sake) Captain Cook slaughter hundreds and then cook and eat their opponents as Te Rauparaha did? Did the mainly-British early settlers in New Zealand slaughter, enslave and eat the Maori in the same way Maori slaughtered, enslaved and ate Moriori in the Chathams as well as parts of New Zealand? | Rob |
| For Maori and that is predominately Pacific Island Maori to make these requests is to ‘colour’ history. I could understand a genuine plea from an Indigenous people but, these Maori are not. To lie to gain advantage is part of their culture and we shouldn’t believe them. | David |
| History can’t be changed. Maoris do very well in this country – we can’t keep cow-towing to their every whim | John |
| Dr. Newman, once again tells the whole story as it is. History cannot be rewritten, much as Maoris would like to do just that. It is so sad that Maoris believe they can change everything just by making demands like a spoiled child and now that they have had some of these demands satisfied, it encourages them to make more and more extreme and threatening statements. As a parent and grandparent, we learned long ago that a spoiled child keeps trying till it finds the boundaries. Once those are set,, peace is restored. It is only during the last few years that Maoris have tried this on and now it is almost too late to set the boundaries. Now in my eighties there are few statues that I know the full background and history of the lives that they commemorate. I am sure other Europeans of any age are in similar situation. I would imagine that the Maori population would be the same or with less knowledge unless they have been indoctrinated by extremist agitators. Andrew Little is an obvious soft touch to Maoris. Winston Peters is trying to save his sinking ship by appealing to those who will otherwise vote the coalition out in September. It is too late for us to believe him and he cannot be trusted. It is so sad that these statues, works of art, are removed or destroyed. NZ will be the poorer for their loss. | Chris |
| NO ..More trouble whipped up by a small group of rabble rousers | kabe |
| It is a disgrace that everything, name and so on, is getting in maori. Dashes over letters, while nobody can find a different pronunciation. Just a waste of money. | peter |
| It is removal of history. | David |
| It’s a bit like the burning of books by past dictatorships. | Denis |
| regardless of race back then a lot of things were not right Maori’s should look at what happened that they themselves did before we became one national. The past is the past but we should remember it and learn | Cherryl |
| I’m a realist not a racist. | Jeff |
| something terribly wrong here in not educating our young people about our history with correct facts. | Terry |
| Statues are erected to remind us of history. To remove the statue does not rewrite history… good or bad | Robbie |
| Whilst Churchill will never be my hero, he is part of an, important era in the world where we were fighting for all men to be free. Leave his statue in peace. | Sonia |
| history is history to learn from, good or bad. | chris |
| Wake up NZ before it is entirely too late. | Helen |
| Emphatically NO | Peter |
| Such a patsy question. No person with an ounce of intelligence and patriotism for their country, would sanction the destruction of its history and monuments to its progress over the years. To propose action to obliterate historic symbols and history in general is perverted and subversive. There is no justifiable reason for doing so. Using the shrill hysteria of minorities for any reason is decidedly dangerous and ushers in opportunity for the lunatics to decide how the asylum is run. | Dianna |
| Total madness. Perhaps the covid virus has massively infected the brains of the world population. Changing the names of the towns and cities is what happens after the radicals take over. Think of the cost if nothing else. Think of the branding. The government should try to think before acting if it has anything left to think with. | Paloma |
| NO it is our history and culture | steven |
| Learn from history. If you are offended by it then don’t repeat it. But never destroy it as it is the road from which we came for better or worse. | Al |
| If we ignore or deny our history, we are doomed to repeat it. | Alan |
| Only if the statue of Te Rauparaha is removed as well. He epitomised Maori blood-thirstyness at its absolute worst! | Ron |
| The great pyramids were built by slaves under a hard, oppressive regime. Are the protesters/rioters suggesting they too should be removed? | Kris |
| Our elected representatives, both national and local, appear to have been infected by a ‘STUPID-20’ virus. The death, regrettable as it was, of an habitual criminal half a world away is being used as an excuse for civil unrest and violence by a committed group of rabble -rousers, using bored and unintelligent wastrels for their purposes. Our ‘leaders’ have lost all confidence in their ability to deal with this and prefer the easy way out of capitulation. If the decent people of this, and every other, country would just make as much noise as those with the subversive agendas, we may find that we would be listened to. Stand up now, New Zealand, or you will have someone’s knee on your neck,, forever! | TOBY |
| Maori were stone age cannibals and slave masters when the white man arrived. To follow today’s reasoning there should not be any statues of Maori personalities. | Denis |
| DEFINITELY NOT!!! It is the NZers “who identify as Maori” who are the racists. They don’t even understand that they are not indigenous to NZ – they may be indigenous to where they came from, but that is not NZ. They came here in boats in the same way as my ancestors. | Trevor |
| History is the ruler we measure our progress. Remove the ruler and you cannot see from where you have come. And unless you have this ruler similar mistakes will be made again and again. We also use history to measure the advancements made – and surely these far outweigh the negatives. | Martin |
| no never, history is history cannot be changed, if so then we must go the whole hog and get rid of ALL tribal cultural rubbish as well totem poles and other junk too | James |
| History is history and cannot be changed | Bill |
| They are important historic reminders | Tony |
| All our politicians are weak sops. They should be standing up to these scum and protecting our history. If Winston Peters had kept his promises at the last election we should be one people now instead of two and getting more divided by the day. My family have been in NZ since the 1860’s and I used to be proud of our nation, but proud no more. | Murray |
| It is ludicrous. To pretend certain parts of our history did not happen or should be erased from the record book of time as it cannot be changed. We should as a society learn from the past and make better for future generations. Perhaps we should mimic the Maori activists and demand that they to remove part of their history because it is offensive. There are plenty of examples to chose from but I suspect as usual they will hold double standards on such a suggestion. | chris |
| i think its absolutely insane, we cant rip out our history as if it never happened, as you say there are really dangerous agendas behind all this do the maoris really think they are blameless, they have fat egos, the overrepresentation off maori in prisons they call it racism don’t they do the crime,the history they want to teach in schools is totally biased they don’t accept there own terrible actions against the waitaha and mori or, people need to read the books song off waitaha and whispers off waitaha, our governments are are just puppets to these maori activists really don’t know where its all going to go i love this country but not the political crap that we have to put up with day after day here, hopefully one day sense will prevail | rodger |
| NO. I believe this is a resurrected communist One World Governance plot and push such as “The Weather Underground” or the more recent “Agenda 2030” movement. Just check out Jacinda Ardern’s address as President of The International Union of Socialist Youth – 2008 & 2009 in which she repeatedly addressing those present as “Comrades.” NZ is at a very precarious historical cross road just as other western countries, in which everyone needs to remain alert before NZ is dragged into the socialist abyss. Question: How come this ‘caring and sharing’ government who promoted their own wage reductions of 20% (?) at the start of this difficult time of austerity, FAILED to enact their own ‘promise’ as given to ALL New Zealanders. A great facard is before us – Divide and Conquer. Trumped up racism attacks inevitably appear before elections – mostly by those aggrieved. Then add to that historical grievances and monument destruction usually driven by those who have (nor care to have) little or no interest in any history even their own!. Why not chuck out the politically convenient Treaty of Waitangi too? Then we could become ONE NEW ZEALAND – and wow, live in harmony. How come many varieties of birds, animals, fish, insects, trees & bees etc all mingle together? Probably because, as yet, social engineering has not yet infiltrated and manipulated their minds! Judge not lest thee be judged! | Stuart |
| History is what it is. | Rick |
| It is sheer madness1 | cyril |
| NO but it will continue with people like jacinda & Andrew little in power.And unless Mueller gets some GUTS National will be no better,For the FIRST time in my 70 years I,m going to vote for the party vote for ACT as they seem like the ONLY party that has GUTS.I really hope MORE people will also vote in the PARTY VOTE for ACT so we can FINALLY have MP,s with GUTS to respect law & order & COMMON SENSE.Neither labour or national are going to look after us just read Mueller,s response. | Cindy |
| It is absurd and dangerous that such minority factions can so easily usurp the correct channels of justice and common sense, to achieve a worthless outcome. This sequence, will self propagate with escalating demands, which will ultimately, destroy the delicate fabric of our reasonable, ordered state. The loss of peace and law and order, will be the casualities. | Alan |
| So sad we have a few radical people leading the mulitudes the ones leading all this are in the back ground not seen like the hamas muslim brother hood so for NZ a few radical Maori should not be dictating what stays and what goes history is being so twisted that young ones have lost all direction as to what ever happened as Maori have all ways been an aggressive race on logical that more will commit crimes so to all the radical activist go and get lost | Russell |
| We owe too much to our western heritage and our JudeoChristian past to fail them by cowardly compromise and spineless acquiesence when a mjndless mob mentality seems to assume control. | Arthur |
| It is time that the part Maori’s ( there are no full blooded Maori’s left) were reminded in no small measure, of their atrocious past and that continuing with their current approach will see more of them in jail. Enough is enough. I feel sorry for the good Maori who just want to get on with their lives but are too afraid to speak up. | Tom |
| what is offensive is small minded people tying to change history to suit the own political agenda | John |
| History cannot be changed. It is currently being rewritten but cannot be changed. | Alf |
| History cannot just be obliterated at the whim of radicals . Removing and vandalising statues is a crime and should be treated as such. | Cee |
| Our history cannot be altered, We learn from history, We should not follow blindly . We able to think for ourselves and so we should we are not sheep. We do not want to follow this ignorance | George |
| tell all these woks to get stuffed | allan |
| You can’t rewrite history. | David |
| Utter stupidity. They are part of NZ history. If the Maori or anybody else takes offense use stoop and look at the historical contribution your own race. | Angela |
| The statues are a mark of history. Would Maori be just as willing to remove all of their carvings, most of which depict a violent and barbaric history. Thought not. | Neil |
| At best, mindless vandalism | Anon |
| where are the leaders with guts and not self interest to ask the hard questions | Brian |
| No, they should be cherished and maintained, as they remind us of what has gone before, whether good or bad. This is history, something that the protagonists want to eradicate. We are on an ever steepening, slippery slope. We need a saviour, NOW! | J J |
| Idiocy and ignorance… | Louise |
| What about Maori statues and buildings | Brian |
| Absolutely no. Please read the history of Captain Hamiltons murder by a 12 year old girl at Pyes Pa and you will understand the local Iwi are once again trying to re write history in their favour. Hope everybody witnessed the AM Show last Friday when Duncan Garner caught Paula Southgate, Mayor of Hamilton out lying on TV. No wonder she wanted the interview cut short feining a fainting event. Yeah right! | Chris |
| They wont be happy until they drive us out | Brian |
| Absolutely not, these are part of our history that some elements of us are hell bent on eradicating | David |
| Where is all this going to end, it is going to create massive racism in our great country, where has the one people one nation gone. | Alan |
| Every “win” for the separatists promotes and accelerates the creation of further divisive policies. Acquiesce at our collective peril | Richard |
| This is history like it or not !!!!! I see where Meng Foon wants to rewrite certain books now — why not just burn them like the Nazi’s did — this is the next scenario !!!! | Alan |
| it’s plain stupid! | Gerhard |
| This is the blackwashing of history. Absolutely appalling that political leaders either back this lunacy or stay silent. | Gavin |
| Our history is very important and we should not allow it to be squandered by these radicals. | Mika |
| Those who forget their history are condemned to repeat it | Rob |
| Those who want them removed are nothing more than bigots who never learned history at school. If anything, they want more statues erected of say Ronnie McDonald or the Colone Sanders who seem to represent a huge majority of the public who have never had to learn to cook, who grow fatter, Lazier, Die much earlier, suffer from associated mouth intake problems, then blame the white people for it all. Like all politicians, Tinkerbelles lot are “pursuing kindness” and at the same time suckhole-ing wherever they can to get re-elected to “pursue agenda.” | Ray |
| Of course not | Neil |
| it is our history – good or bad. we cannot change it | Colin |
| We are all kiwis so any removal of statues should include any references to Maori offensive intertribal slavery, cannibalism, and oppressive killing. | Paul |
| If we irradiate the past we loose the chance to teach future generations what not to do. Most people neither know nor care where Our street names come from. | Peter |
| I do not support the removal of statues or any other re-writing of history. What is important here is that, in one way or another, all of us today have been shaped by history. It is part of evolution, if you like. What is to be preferred? On the one hand we might have a statue of a military person who was important in shaping our history with all its rights and wrongs viewed from the perspective of either victor or vanquished, whichever way we want to interpret them. On the other hand, should we have a statue of a Maori warrior from one tribe killing and perhaps eating a vanquished warrior, or worse, from another tribe? Both options will be offensive to some people; however we ignore history at our peril. In my solitary view, there is nothing to be gained from re-writing history, changing or obliterating its artifacts because some people are now uncomfortable with them. Should the ruins of Coventry cathedral be torn down because of the offence that the consequences of war gives to many people? I say, be mature, learn from the past, respect life and remember that all lives matter. | Peter |
| This is part of New Zealands history, Maori were not here first! | Denise |
| We consider that those who support and promote movement have an agenda contrary to our natural order and culture. Those who support this are sick, mentally and culturally deficient. | Brian |
| The response to this madness supporting it by some politicians is sickening. These monuments must remain and be a basis for education and discussion. Activists must not be allowed to dictate our countries future. We are supposed to be democracy….by the people for the people. | Gail |
| black lives matter are racist ! | Gene |
| As per Barack Obama’s words. We must take responsibility for the out come of our children as parents, as familys. We cannot change the past but we can learn and must. Racisim is not the reason, attitudes and personal responsibility are. If you are arrested here in NZ for a crime it is because you did it not because you are of an ethnic persuasion. If we were all blind for a time would race be the driver or would the behaviour be the driver.? | Mark |
| Giving rise to radicalism and maori Activists. All races matter not just dark races. Have to learn to get on together like Singapore with respect for Law and Order | David |
| Where does it end ? Do we just get rid of history entirely.? It just looks like condoned vandalism to me. The only things that should be able to tarnish statues are the birds!! | Salve |
| Taliban is alive and well in N.Z. | Chris |
| More racist propaganda about time the white peoples fought back | Gareth |
| It’s part of our past and you can’t change that – to say it didn’t happen is ridiculous, Some one needs to tell the trendy lefties to go away and shutup. We need a government with the guts to say “we’re not going to put up with this subversion for a moment longer. | Don |
| This is cultural Marxism with a racist agenda to rewrite history. | John |
| Winston has said it all | Levonne |
| Our history is what we are as a nation and we should use it to go forward not backwards. I hope the same radicals will call for the removal of Maori statues and place names if they were leaders that pillaged and murdered | Peter |
| History is not there for us to like or dislike. It is there for us learn from. And if it offends you, even better. Because then you are less likely to repeat it. History is not yours to erase or rewrite. It belongs to us all. | Oliver |
| Congratulation Melanie Phillips a great and truth full article which should be sent to every politician and Judge in the country including Leading Maori . | Henry |
| Certainly not! Over publicised poppycock…Acceptable for 100 years. Leave them where they are..HISTORY | Robyn |
| It would be interesting to establish exactly who is behind these recent protests. I don’t believe that the likes of the Maori Party, with their racist agenda are thoughtful enough to come up with this as their political platform. Some other organisation is firing the bullets, and it could well be the Labour Party, after all it is they who have the most to loose followed closely by the Maori elite. | Barry |
| Its History leave it alone | lyn |
| Absolutely not. What a load of crap from the liberal left Marxists | Laurie |
| Absolutely not. Our history is just that – history and we can’t erase but we can learn from it. Where are our Leaders on this? The World seems to have gone mad. Times change and throughout history there have been many changes. The important thing is that we learn our true history and not some reinvented rubbish like we are hearing now. Also NZ is rapidly becoming an apartheid State and that must change. We need strong Leadership which will insist on treating us all the same with no special treatment based on race as is happening at the moment. | Helen |
| Sanitising history to only reflect the views of a Marxist minority, is the last straw before the imposition of a Communist lifestyle upon the people of NZ.. This unelected minority does not want any historical experience to be available to future generations, as a reference point for future decisions by a democratically elected governance; should we be allowed to have an democratic choice in the future | Bob |
| They are part of our country’s history | Shirley |
| We are a democracy, which should be Governed by reason and law, not pandering to the whims or wishes of any minority group . We can consider ideas, even changes, but the tail cannot be allowed to wag the dog | Harvey |
| I bet none of the maori statues or idols will be removed .Some of their cheifs were the worst murderers and cannibals this country has ever seen | David |
| These are symbols of what made us who we are. | Ian |
| It is time our so-called leaders got some guts. | Judith |
| Stupidity – supported by a few indoctrinated socialist Mayors and politicians – ideology being introduced into NEW ZEALAND by those wishing to destroy democracy and expel all examples of European influence. An effort to rewrite history for socialist political advancement. No one will gain from this ambition except a few well positioned political elite. | Bruce C |
| NOOOOOOO | Bill |
| These statues remind us of what wonderful forebears we had that built this wonderful country now being destroyed by weak power hungry politicians and greedy iwi who often have more European genes than Maori genes. N.Z. is no longer the wonderful country I was lucky enough to grow up in. I fear for the future for my children and grandchildren. | Kay |
| This is advocated by people who are incredibly ignorant of history and mostly by people who have an agenda. Ressist! | Roger |
| If we do we loose our heritage. | Brian |
| While we are at it, all the statues in Rome should be removed as they had slaves, oh then we should also remove all Maori carvings etc as they practiced slavery, cannibalism and infanticide! Some still do. | Bill |
| Let Maori recognise their own cultural negative history first before knocking our heads together. | Kevin |
| Maori are NOT indigenous to NZ Second here means nothing | Rick |
| History can not be changed by a handful of radicals , Destroying Statues does not change History. | Don |
| You can not change history. Everyone has benefited from introduced advances, despite some negative methods. Live and learn from it! | Kevin |
| Lest We Forget | Maddi |
| It’s our history !!! | Mark |
| What is offensive to some is not to most. Mostly those offended have no direct linkage to the so called offences committed by these figureheads. as for Captain Cook it is tome Maori acknowledged he was deeply concerned for their welfare, bring food so that they would not starve in his 2nd and 3rd visits. | Mike |
| Wilful vandalism that must be stopped. Our political leadership is a disgrace. | Lynn |
| It’s an absolute disgrace. All the symbols of western civilisation are being destroyed. Weak Europeans are aiding and abetting this slide into barbarism | Jenny |
| Emphatically NO | Robin |
| NO! The past is the past. Accept it. Learn by it. We are a multi-cultural society. Focus on the future but learn from the past which will often show the future. | Doug |
| Are we not meant to be one nation and one people? How does the removal of statues achieve this? | Brian |
| Absolutely not. There is a good amount of both Maori and English spelt names to satisfy all of us for streets and the statues are historical. | Murray |
| This i a further step in the Radical Tribal Elite propaganda machine to take back the Sovereignty [Kawanatanga] on New Zealand. Deniging we all became one people on 6th Feb.1840. | David |
| People are free to have an opinion about the statues and they are permitted to ignore the statues, but defacing them disrespects the intentions of the creators. | Kirke |
| We need to understand our history, remember it and learn from it but not try to obliterate it. Otherwise we are doomed to being overwhelmed by each new extreme faction. | John |
| History is so important to us it gives us something to look back upon to judge what we are doing now and decide not to do it again. Leave our statues as a reminder . | Andrew |
| We desperately need Elected politicians to show respect and guts to defend OUR history, good or bad, it all goes to make us what we are | Bryan |
| Otherwise we would need to remove other indicators of colonial ancestry like .. MacDonalds, cars, phones, air travel all those evil things… Or would restricting these to certain races be fair? – The left agenda is not consequent at all, it just entices hate… | Matt |
| Why are we always bowing down to the contentious demands and threats by radical maori and tribal interests? Maori have only got themselves to blame for the very poor statistics they have achieved. They are responsible for their people killing their babies and young children, no one else. Theirs is a shameful history and culture that is destroying our country, NEW ZEALAND! | Darryl |
| Better to add more statues offering alternate memories. | Maurice |
| I despair – the whole world seems to have gone mad, and the racists / extremists are taking advantage. They have no integrity or decency. | Roy |
| History should be for everyone. | roger |
| You can not re write history | Brian |
| The people supporting this statue removal crap are the most racist themselves and they treat Maori as if they are too useless to take part in the 21st century | Charles |
| When will our elected officials grow some balls and stop the elitist Maori power grab??? It’s getting so bad I don’t want to live here. | Mike |
| Not at all. They are part of our history. | James |
| NO!! That’s our bloody history, whether radicals like it or not. | Tony |
| These reflect our past whether it be good, bad or ugly. How is it one sector of our society can determine what is allowed to be on display. Is there not more than one culture in NZ. | Glenda |
| This is outright vandalism and should be punished by the law | Terry |
| If they want to go that far,how about we change the name of the Te Rauparaha Cultural Centre In Porirua. In the 1820’s The Nga Puhi travelled from the far Nth to Kawhia to meet Up with his Allies The Ngati Toa led By Te Rauparaha then headed Sth all the way down the coast on a plundering massacre of thousands of Maori men woman & children.Their food was on the hoof as not only were they eating their slaves they were gathering on the way.They ravaged the Kapiti Coast & Porirua & Wgton Tribes,crossed over through the Hutt Valley then carried on to the Wairarapa then back up the East coast continuing the slaughter.This took nearly two years & was probably the biggest cannibal feast in modern History. They say black lives matter! To Me the Te Rauparaha Cultural Centre is equal to having a Adolf Hitler Cultural Centre In Jerusalem. Our European Culture in N.Z. is very important. | Allen |
| This is total madness. | Allan |
| No no no History makes us what we are. | RICHard |
| As Winston put it, the statues are not in any way condoning racism but are a part of NZ’s history. The merit of these statues is in the beholder, if they choose to see the statues in the wrong light because of their twisted points of view then that is their problem. The majority of the population see the statues for what they are, a commemoration of some individuals who played a part in NZ’s history. Get a grip! Move on! Build a bridge! Show your children a world that is half full – not half empty! I see these vandalistic acts as ‘offensive’. I also see the huge rates of crime and family unrest in society as ‘offensive’ particularly amongst Maori. I cannot simply go and tear this down because I don’t like it, my family have to put up with it!!! | Larry |
| We used to be one people one country. We are fast becoming two people one country. Them and us. | Robert |
| absolute nonsense and creates more divisions in society | Jim |
| History is what makes us who we are. | Chris |
| Maori place names are in the majority already. That should not become more imbalanced. | Mark |
| But if this is going to happen the lets also remove the Maori statues and plagues as well. | Carl |
| Definitely not ! These are part of NZ’s history and must stay that way. I’m disappointed in Muller for his limp wristed comments on this issue and for not standing strongly against this nonsense. | Mark |
| It is our history, for better or for worse | Russ |
| II am part maori. Thoroughly ashamed of my brown ancestry who are being dishonored by this radical take over. | Tony |
| Get a life protesters. Its a damn sight better than in a lot of countries. | adrian |
| We are heartily sick of these part-cast maori and their hidden and unscrupulous agenda. This altering of history by hooking onto the histeria of the USA’s Afro American people is just illogical but dangerous | Roger |
| From today’s warped view of identity politics any historical figure would be judged racist, sexist, homophobic, let alone trans phobic, etc. However history and which is what statues are, exist to lioness what a person or persons did that was so note worthy to deserve the status, not the person(s) themselves, Winston Churchill lead Britain to stand alone against a truly evil, racist & homophobic in Adolf Hitler ! So its inane to see so many easily lead people, each with their own particular grudge against society, rioting, looting and vandalizing whilst Jacinda and her merry band of far left socialists endorse by their inaction this destruction of the egalitarian society of NZ where we were once all equal! I can only hope there is a sufficiently large Silent majority, that can see Labour and the Greens as the Anarchists they really are and save this country at the next election. Winston take note on which party you must side with if you love NZ as you say ! | John |
| Doesn’t this wee Letter to Editor in today’s NZ Herald brilliantly sum up all the hypocrisy and idiocy and lack of historical appreciation of New Zealand’s past from the never-knowers? Letter to Ed – On monuments ‘The Romans killed the Christians. Is the Collosseum safe?’ – P. Salvador, Hobsonville | Paul |
| No person or people should ever be judged on their race, colour of skin, religious belief or sexual orientation. To continue to move forward as one people we must firstly appreciate what modern society provides us all with the potential and opportunity to enjoy fully. However, it is up to each of us individually to make the most out of these opportunities for the betterment of ourselves and our communities as a whole. Greed is is single biggest unacceptable driver of all historical events. We must ensure that this does not dictate our future but instead helps each individual to always do the very best they can but not at the expense or total disregard of others. If we are all sensible, we can all thrive together but we all need to make the decision to move forward positively on this journey together, not step on others to achieve our own self centred and greed based agendas. We must acknowledge and our pasts and learn from our mistakes but we can not let this continue to rule and restrict our future to move forward in a civilised and continually improving way. | Dean |
| What can you expect, typical socialists, it’s always the other persons fault, when ever they don’t succeed , never bother to look in the mirror. Greed is another driver of these people, when you’ve had everything given to you on a platter without having to be responsible for where the money goes, why should they bother, the gravy train should HALT! Perhaps it’s time New Zealanders marched in their thousands and put a stop to all this, but they won’t, we’re getting weaker by the year. | Merryl |
| I PAY TAX TO GOVT FOR BENEFITS FOR MAORI..LET MAORI PAY FOR THEIR PEOPLES BENEFITS,..SEE HOW FAST THE TURN AROUND WOULD BE.! | JAN |
| Of course not. | Geoffrey |
| Just about anything can be deemed offensive by some one. Where does that lack of logic end? | Michael |
| Absolutely not! Once started there would be no end – every statue could offend someone. Learn from history, not try to change it. | Jack |
| history | Graeme |
| We are what our history shows. | Mike |
| dO NOT ERASE HISTORY | Pete |
| absolutely not it’s time for a stop to all this racial rubbish | Nigel |
| Only neanderthals would destroy our history. | Simon |
| yet another show by left voters ,of total disrespect . | Roy |
| We should not be surprised about what is happening here in NZ . The pace is accelerating and the groundwork for these events here has been laid a long time ago. Maori racist radicals will mobilize the army of disgruntled beneficiaries and , hand in hand with the rhetorical whip cracking of characters like M Davidson and her ilk, and set the mob against us . I would not be surprised if we will face a false flag op where alleged police violence will spark similar riots like we see in the US. We are sitting on a powder keg and the smallest spark will set it off. I see that coming to us soon. The worst part is that nobody in Parliament will stop all this from happening. | Michael |
| No I don’t but if Cook was a crook so was the Country that sent him. Britain was the conqueror, the oppressor, the maker of oppressive rules. So now is the time to remove the Union Jack from the NZ flag. | David |
| This is getting beyond ridiculous, we have to stand up for ourselves | Marinda |
| Migration of people has taken place through out time. They are part of our history/ | John |
| UTU! This is all about Utu, which equates to Revenge. Maori have a history of waiting centuries to avenge their grievances and they are doing it again now. They lost the Maori wars and don’t like it. And these power hungry liberal leaders make it worse by bowing to it. I cannot wait to get rid of Jacinda and Labour, who only EVER stand up for Maori, not the other 85% of us. | Joyce |
| Wisdom with hindsight is all very well. History is history. Good or bad. Trying to rewrite it is offensive and arrogant. | Greg |
| Our history – the right and the wrong of it is New Zealand’s history and must be preserved. These statues are a part of this and reminders of what has gone before. What does need to happen is that a more balanced view of the role these people played in our past should be with the statue so that all can learn from the errors and successes of the past. Modifying the text accompanying these statues are a fantastic opportunity to bring New Zealanders together and understand our past in a more compassionate and knowledgeable way than is current. | Alastair |
| Where are the voices to speak on our behalf? Where is the strong leader to say enough is enough? | Barbara |
| What about “offensive” edifices erected to represent other ethnicities??? | Kelvin |
| It is all history good or bad and we have to learn from it | Colin |
| What’s up with the gutless appeasing politicians we have who are completely unable to stand up and give this noisy minority the two finger salute they deserve | Phil |
| These were set up in agreement with communities AND iwi. A few zealots are destroying our national his and her Story | Alexandra |
| It is all part of our history. Sure mistakes were made but that is how we learn. | Marlene |
| The past is done. Nothing will change it. Learn from it and change today so that tomorrow is the society we can all be proud to showcase. | Martin |
| No – this is consistent with communist state control agendas – this is terrible! Our history is our history, it has been negatively portrayed for some decades now and we will stand to loose all our ancestors lived and died for if we allow ourselves to be redefined. This is not about race this is a global political agenda to remove identity to enable total state control. Sadly some civilians cannot see that and are buying into it, assisting the political agenda to seize our heritage history and religion – so that we can dominated into complete submission. | Hannah |
| Racism | Greg |
| It’s got beyond ridiculous, and it is to our shame that our government and politicians give in so readily to a militant few, jumping on the bandwagon to push their own ‘racist’ views. With history being rewritten, how will our young ones ever know the truth about our past, both good and bad, that has shaped our nation and learn life’s lessons from it. The far radical left are taking over and if we don’t protest and stand up against it, against the lies and propaganda then we can’t complain when we find our freedoms removed from us…all that our forefathers and mother’s, including all races, sacrificed so much for. | Robyn |
| Lunacy – Hamilton was killed the day he arrived in NZ and his only “offensive act” was to raise a sword and say charge, before being felled by a bullet to the head. | Collin |
| Have our leaders lost all credibility on this issue? I think so. Great article | Robin |
| These memorials are part of our history. We cannot rewrite that and would be stupid to attempt to do so. Let them remain undisturbed so we can all learn from the mistakes of the past and make sure that they are not repeated | John |
| History is a teacher and historic symbols must be retained to ensure learnings have continuity. Racial based demands for removal and obfuscation by political leaders is cowardice. | Stan |
| Without the input from these past people this country would not be as civilised as it is today. Without them some would still be living in grass huts | Kristene |
| We cannot erase history – of course we need to learn form it. | John B |
| Definitely not | Terry |
| N o No No No No , Maori are turning European New Zealanders into the latest ‘VICTIMS OF RACISM’ | George |
| A majority should rule. This as a referendum would spark months of needed debate. In the privacy of the booth I’m confident Kiwis would correctly decide that erasing history changes nothing. | Kerry |
| It’s very concerning | Liz |
| the statues are our history. Maybe a plaque (detailing the events) from both sides on the statue would help people understand both sides of the story | annette |
| Apartheid is alive and well in NZ by a very small minority. I greet Maori with Te Reo and white New Zealanders with english. | Hone |
| IF govt. supports the destruction of colonial representations then it MUST stop trading with the UK where colonial history came from. END of STORY | Bob |
| To do so, would destroy our history and heritage. I am a European New Zealander who believes that there is no superior race. We are all equal but there is a mad evil racist mob that is trying to rewrite history to their own choosing. | Carl |
| No, no, no! History should be left as it is – warts and all! Re-writing history is dangerous and must be opposed at every level. | Simon |
| It is those calling for the abolition of memorials to a past era who are racist and offensive. | George |
| These activists claiming to be offended by a statue need to get a grip. For goodness sake they should turn their energy to ensure their kids get a good education, and all of the important issues in life. Whether someone who lived in a different era was perfect by today’s standard is a ridiculous thing to worry about. | Bronwyn |
| I’m sick and tired of these sorts of demands by people who think they are better than the rest of us. | Ken |
| If councils are weak and give in to the activists, we should demand that decisions are made through a public referendum process. | Colin |