New Zealand risks permanent stagnation by clinging to grievance narratives instead of delivering measurable progress for Māori and clarity for all citizens.
I understand there are more Maori MP's in parliament now than ever before. Among them must be at least one who is prepared to stand up and lead Maori who are dissatisfied with endless welfare dependency, victimhood, drug addiction and crime. Sir Apirana Ngata was such a man, as was the late Dr Monty Paewai of Kaikohe. If such a leader can't be found in Parliament, then may be the sports field offers hope...
When the system pays mediocrity's benefit, but rewards jesters' grievance-trading based on non-existent principles, secret handshakes behind closed doors- the status quo never changes, but heads of authorities do. We are witnessing the quiet establishment by the political elite of a silent chieftainship with potential to discharge equity to the down-trodden, but which is only enacted to those who kowtow and never measured on its outcomes. We see the performative ritual of lip-service to perpetually compensate settlements, laws blossoming race references and cultural treatment, public consultation selectively ignored, misuse of public funds for political parties, is it any wonder the ordinary citizen has been disenfranchised. Change must happen at leadership, and from the community's homegrown tall poppies; and honesty must be celebrated or the whole utopian aspiration is a lie to maintain the cattle classes in their place.
“Freedom demands responsibility”. That’s a nice quote and apposite for NZ.
I liked your article & it was well articulated. However, and not to diminish your great piece, are we not ignoring the elephant/moa in the room? The easiest, most effective solution to fix so-called ‘Maori problems’ is to stop the identity game of ‘Maori’. It is a complete nonsense. We mostly identify geographically on planet Earth (for resource allocation purposes), ergo we are all New Zealanders. There is no land of Maori. Perpetuating the ‘they are so different’ myth is not helping them one iota. ‘Their’ salvation will come via inclusion. Via normalising expectancy (of responsibility AND opportunity) for all citizens. This does not stop fractional Maori descendants recognising their historical connections, nor enjoying cultural aspects, but the only thing that is really used to identify ‘Maori’ is skin colour. Rather stupid would we not say? Seymour is seen as European, Peters is seen as Maori. There’s no real difference other than melanin levels.
Kiwis with Maori ancestry would thrive when they move on from their victimhood narrative and those who need help, will receive it based on, well, on need. Imagine that.
First of all, there is something absurd about trying to divide the New Zealand population into two groups, i.e. Māori and Pākehā, given our proud history of intermarriage. Gandhi referred to a similar practice in India as "the vivisection of a nation". But leaving that aside, the tragedy here is that we are overlooking the good news. Take, for example, life expectancy, where the gaps between those who identify as Māori and those who don't are narrowing consistently with every census. Or take employment, where an MBIE report in 2023 showed that 46% of those who identify as Māori are now in high-skilled jobs as compared to 37% as recently as 2018. While Māori rates of home ownership lag behind non-Māori, here, too, there has been a 4.5% improvement since 2018. All the evidence, then, suggests that the historic disparities are gradually disappearing, a fact that we could all be very happy about (if it were more widely known).
I understand there are more Maori MP's in parliament now than ever before. Among them must be at least one who is prepared to stand up and lead Maori who are dissatisfied with endless welfare dependency, victimhood, drug addiction and crime. Sir Apirana Ngata was such a man, as was the late Dr Monty Paewai of Kaikohe. If such a leader can't be found in Parliament, then may be the sports field offers hope...
When the system pays mediocrity's benefit, but rewards jesters' grievance-trading based on non-existent principles, secret handshakes behind closed doors- the status quo never changes, but heads of authorities do. We are witnessing the quiet establishment by the political elite of a silent chieftainship with potential to discharge equity to the down-trodden, but which is only enacted to those who kowtow and never measured on its outcomes. We see the performative ritual of lip-service to perpetually compensate settlements, laws blossoming race references and cultural treatment, public consultation selectively ignored, misuse of public funds for political parties, is it any wonder the ordinary citizen has been disenfranchised. Change must happen at leadership, and from the community's homegrown tall poppies; and honesty must be celebrated or the whole utopian aspiration is a lie to maintain the cattle classes in their place.
“Freedom demands responsibility”. That’s a nice quote and apposite for NZ.
I liked your article & it was well articulated. However, and not to diminish your great piece, are we not ignoring the elephant/moa in the room? The easiest, most effective solution to fix so-called ‘Maori problems’ is to stop the identity game of ‘Maori’. It is a complete nonsense. We mostly identify geographically on planet Earth (for resource allocation purposes), ergo we are all New Zealanders. There is no land of Maori. Perpetuating the ‘they are so different’ myth is not helping them one iota. ‘Their’ salvation will come via inclusion. Via normalising expectancy (of responsibility AND opportunity) for all citizens. This does not stop fractional Maori descendants recognising their historical connections, nor enjoying cultural aspects, but the only thing that is really used to identify ‘Maori’ is skin colour. Rather stupid would we not say? Seymour is seen as European, Peters is seen as Maori. There’s no real difference other than melanin levels.
Kiwis with Maori ancestry would thrive when they move on from their victimhood narrative and those who need help, will receive it based on, well, on need. Imagine that.
First of all, there is something absurd about trying to divide the New Zealand population into two groups, i.e. Māori and Pākehā, given our proud history of intermarriage. Gandhi referred to a similar practice in India as "the vivisection of a nation". But leaving that aside, the tragedy here is that we are overlooking the good news. Take, for example, life expectancy, where the gaps between those who identify as Māori and those who don't are narrowing consistently with every census. Or take employment, where an MBIE report in 2023 showed that 46% of those who identify as Māori are now in high-skilled jobs as compared to 37% as recently as 2018. While Māori rates of home ownership lag behind non-Māori, here, too, there has been a 4.5% improvement since 2018. All the evidence, then, suggests that the historic disparities are gradually disappearing, a fact that we could all be very happy about (if it were more widely known).