Blowin’ in the wind

Written By: - Date published: 9:02 am, May 31st, 2023 - 36 comments
Categories: Maori Issues, maori party, national, racism, same old national - Tags:

I seem to have spent some time recently writing about National’s problems.  The reason is they are numerous and also I feel a deep sense of deja vu especially by their use of the racist dog whistle.

They tried the same tricks in 2005 and this really feels like a repeat.

Earlier this year they ruled out going into coalition with Te Pāti Māori and claimed they believed in “one person, one vote”.

As I said previously the dog whistle behind the “one person, one vote” message is that somehow Maori have preferential treatment because of the Maori electorate seats.  This is factually nonsense, in an MMP system the only vote that really matters is the party vote and Maori and Pakeha have the exact number of votes which is one.  Also in the MMP system it is actually “one person, two votes”.  Surely Luxon knows this.

But clearly this was not a one off event.

The latest episode of dog whistling occurred at a meeting at Birkenhead where Christopher Luxon was quizzed about all the “Maori nonsense” by a bunch of elderly North Shore residents.

From Te Ao Maori News:

National leader Christopher Luxon has revealed views on several Māori-related matters during question time at a public meeting on Auckland’s North Shore on Wednesday, a NZ Herald report says.

Luxon was speaking at the first in a nationwide series called “Get NZ Back on Track” at Birkenhead Bowling Club where about 250 people gathered to hear him deliver a half-hour speech on his three priorities – “fix the economy”, “restore law and order”, and “improve health and education outcomes”.

But most of the questions he received afterwards were expressed as complaints about other issues, especially race relations and the role of Māori in society, the NZ Herald says.

“Where do you stand on the fact that the Māori language is given priority?” asked a woman called Rita, who said she had emigrated from Britain 20 years ago. The audience applauded.

Luxon made it clear his party stood for “one person, one vote”. It would “scrap the Māori Health Authority” and say “no to co-governance and separate systems”.

“That is not to say you can’t have innovation within the system,” he added. He gave the example of charter schools, some of which had a clear Māori focus.

But on the language, the NZ Herald says, he told the largely elderly and overwhelmingly Pākehā audience: “I want to remind you that the average age in this country is 38. That means most of us came through school with some degree of familiarity with the use of te reo.”

However, with some Government agencies using Māori names, he said it could be “really difficult and really unfair when people don’t know who to contact”.

Then Simeon Brown leapt into the fray and displayed his inability to process up to four words at one time by complaining that Te Reo names on road signs would be too confusing.

Introducing te reo Māori to road signs will make them “more confusing” and they “should all be English”, says National’s transport spokesman.

Simeon Brown told a Bay of Plenty meeting about transport infrastructure that “we all speak English, they should all be English” when asked was asked his opinion on Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s proposal to introduce bilingual signs.

“My view is it will make signs more confusing,” he said, telling the transport agency to just “do your job”.

Last week the transport agency announced its He Tohu Huarahi Māori Bilingual Traffic Signs programme was going out for public consultation. If successful, it would result in destination signs, public and active transport signs, walking and cycling signs, general advisory and warning signs, plus motorway and expressway signs being replaced with bilingual versions.

“They should be spending their money filling potholes. Not coming up with new signage. How about not spending money on nice-to-haves, just do your job,” Brown said.

This caused some consternation in National’s ranks with Dr Shane Reti, Harete Hipango and Tama Potaka expressing varied levels of dismay.

Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi had the best response:

They assume the rest of New Zealand is as dumb as they are.”

So what was this all about?  Was National actually concerned about the implications for the pothole repair budget even though bi lingual signs would only be installed as part of the normal replacement process and the cost, essentially of a changed design, would be very small?

Nope this was National again dog whistling to its racist base.  It will take any chance to signpost its concern about woke nonsense such as preserving and enhancing Te Reo Māori.

Jo Moir has this very appropriate summary of the issue:

National is completely right to be holding the Government to account over its spending and its priorities.

The public rely on the Opposition and the media to do that.

But National’s falling into a habit of using race relations to make its point, often at public meetings where it’s easier to keep the audience on side than have a difficult exchange.

In an election year, choosing to take the easy path only further fractures society.

For the most part, New Zealanders have moved on from that kind of politics – even Luxon’s deputy Nicola Willis says she’s excited her children have ready access to te reo through what they see around them, saying most New Zealanders agree that’s a good thing.

With just over four months until the election, now would be a good time for some politicians to wake up to the real challenges facing New Zealanders – taking issue with our indigenous culture and language ain’t it.

This is lazy cynical politics.  And it is so negative and feeds into anger and resentment and fear.  I hope that National is punished for this at this year’s election.

36 comments on “Blowin’ in the wind ”

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  1. Corey 1
    31 May 2023 at 9:35 am

    Yep it's lazy but it's effective, let's not forget National nearly won 2005 and that Labour looked dead in the water until Helen Clark started bashing Maori too! Clark in 2004/2005 was to the right of where National is today in Maori issues. The shit she was saying you'd only hear from Peters today.

    National could have governed in 2005 if Brash could have got over himself and called NZ first, ironically the Maori party was willing to support National in 05. Can you imagine that…..we dodged a bullet by not having Brash as pm.

    While this politics is gross and lazy, the fact is many, many kiwis who would normally vote Labour are freaked out about what's going on with race in NZ ATM, whether theres enough of them to put National/ACT in the treasury benches remains to be seen, the main comment I hear is that the Maori translation for Govt agencies and signage is always first and larger than the English translation.

    Honestly, I wish the anger and passion the left shows whenever the right make dumb comments like this about signs or govt names or gender was shown to things that actually matter like the amount of New Zealanders living on the streets, in cars or in motels or on couches but whenever materiel hardship is brought up the left are either quiet, send good vibes or just defend the governments appalling laziness and devotion to neoliberalism on housing.

  2. Ngungukai 2
    31 May 2023 at 9:35 am

    Evidently Winston has got his knickers in a twist about it as well ?

    • Jack 2.1
      31 May 2023 at 9:41 am

      Has he? Wouldn’t surprise me.

      Only thing where I’ve seen his name mentioned in the past while is in relation to being the last person to face the privileges committee … with the Minister of Education being the most recent.

  3. Ngungukai 3
    31 May 2023 at 9:39 am

    Obviously Simeon has issues with his Surname ?

    • newsense 3.1
      31 May 2023 at 2:44 pm

      I already made the point that it’s his first name that is confusing- it’s Greek or Hebrew or Russian.

      Correctly anglicised it should be Simon, though I would take great delight in any journalists who wanted to call him Himiona as this is the correct transliteration of one of the official languages of New Zealand, and as established everything else is just confusing.

  4. Grey Area 4
    31 May 2023 at 10:03 am

    Brown normally uses the spray and walk away approach on his Facebook page so I don't know if he's reading feedback on his dog whistling in this case. But he's getting a lot more blowback than he normally does.

    Waka Kotahi are consulting until 30 June about the proposed changes and you can feed back here:

    https://www.nzta.govt.nz/about-us/consultations/he-tohu-huarahi-maori-bilingual-traffic-signs-consultation/consultation-materials-english/

    I fully support the new signs. I am making my way through some of the background material partly because I have some reservations about the language order. A quick read of an NZTA research note on the NZTA website Bilingual traffic signage – a research note International experiences and outcomes October 2021 seems to indicate to me that design elements are being used to mitigate potential safety issues (increased comprehension time mainly) from te reo having language primacy.

  5. Anne 5
    31 May 2023 at 10:14 am

    "National again dog whistling to its racist base."

    Their Focus teams have told them racism is on the rise in NZ and it certainly seems to be true. I put it down to a hard few years for everyone, and the desire by many to want to blame 'others'. The 'others' are Maori and Pacific Islanders of course.

    It's a sad indictment on this country when political parties bow to pressure and subject the populace to racist sentiments knowing that it is only going to fan the flames and make things worse.

    When the 'others' respond with violence and criminal behaviour, they then blame the Labour government for being soft on crime when in reality they are responsible for much of it by playing the racist game in the first place.

  6. LawfulN 6
    31 May 2023 at 10:55 am

    Maori have preferential treatment because of the Maori electorate seats.

    They do.

    Since the Māori seats always elect Māori representatives, it sets a lower limit for the number of Māori in the house depending on how many Māori choose the Māori roll. No other ethnicity has this (minor) advantage.

    But it's a separate question as to whether this is unfair. There are all sorts of good reasons to think it isn't, although it's not completely unreasonable to object to it.

  7. fender 7
    31 May 2023 at 12:34 pm

    "Get NZ Back on Track"

    Bit too close to MAGA for my liking, but no doubt their base will love the 'coincidence '.

  8. AB 8
    31 May 2023 at 12:38 pm

    To call it a racist dog whistle misses some nuance I suspect. Most NZers think of racism as an aspect of personal behaviour. If I am fair and decent to individual Maori people I'm not a racist. But if I regard their language and culture as primitive relics that don't really count for much and are not worthy of my attention, I'm not a racist. The latter was the underlying justification of colonial appropriation, so it's not surprising that it's still with us despite how non-racist personal behaviour is relatively settled and agreed. The invention of race as a definitive category when it really isn't one, is largely to do with the need to create justifications of the colonial-capitalist project.

  9. That_guy 9
    31 May 2023 at 1:24 pm

    I'm not normally one to defend the Nats but the research that NZTA has done (or rather the review of other people's research) is actually quite alarming.

    https://www.nzta.govt.nz/assets/resources/research/research-notes/005/005-bilingual-traffic-signage.pdf

    Table 2.2 is an eye-opener: there is at least some evidence that bilingual signs are negatively associated with signage comprehension time, following distance, driving acceleration and driving speed.

    And I think the authors of this piece make an important point:

    Proponents of bilingual signage can proactively address these safety implications as an effective strategy for addressing legitimate fears among road users for whom cultural factors are not so acute.

    I honestly cannot believe I am saying this, but safety is a factor and giving Simeon Brown shit for saying so is the opposite of "proactively address these safety implications".

    My brief read of this piece suggest that a good strategy for safety is to simply put the English names at the top.

    Whatever the eventual strategy, screaming "racist" at people with legitimate and evidence-based safety concerns is a shit strategy, especially when many of those people are probably like me: we want Te Reo signs, but done right.

    • Alan 9.1
      31 May 2023 at 2:57 pm

      well said

    • tWiggle 9.2
      31 May 2023 at 3:57 pm

      Or put one name in a second colour, as seen on mock signs illustrated.

      • That_guy 9.2.1
        31 May 2023 at 4:38 pm

        Yeah, I'm fine with the concept, I just hope it's done well.

        I just think it's a silly strategy to paint Simeon Brown as a racist, especially when it's so much more effective to paint him as a lazy incompetent who doesn't do his homework.

        I mean, I did about 10 minutes of research and came up with some pertinent facts from NZTA's own work that Simeon could have quoted, instead he just sprays ill-informed reckons in all directions.

        This is why the left needs to be able to critically evaluate our own policies. The right doesn't seem to be able to.

        • Incognito 9.2.1.1
          31 May 2023 at 4:54 pm

          The right doesn’t seem to be able to.

          The Right claims the right to be right, even when wrong. Luxon is the epitome of the unthinking Right who cannot think on their feet because they’re always stuck between the teeth.

          BTW, being [a] lazy incompetent doesn’t exclude other trademarks.

        • Mike the Lefty 9.2.1.2
          1 June 2023 at 7:52 am

          Simeon Brown is not a racist, but he is an opportunist that will play the race card for votes, and he isn't the only one in National, or other parties for that matter.

          The whole argument about bi-lingual signs is just a pathetic little National Party attempt to make non-Maori worried – the Maoris are going to take over NZ, you white people will become their servants…….. that is what they are actually saying underneath the carefully worded veneer of concern for road carnage.

          Bi-lingual road signs are not going to cause more accidents, bad driving causes accidents. It is rubbish, they know its rubbish but they are gambling that there are enough conspiracy theory wankers and plain dumbasses to believe it, and therefore get votes.

          Are National's and ACT's core policies so weak that they have to pander to petrol heads and speed freaks to get votes?

          • That_guy 9.2.1.2.1
            1 June 2023 at 9:47 am

            It's not "rubbish" to say that there are safety implications. There are perfectly legitimate reasons to think that bilingual road signs will absolutely cause more accidents if they are done wrong, according to NZTA's own research which I linked to above. And there are also ways to do it right, according to NZTA's own research which I linked to above. Saying that they definitely won't cause more accidents in any use-case is just as incorrect as saying that they definitely will cause more accidents. Nuance, please. This isn't a cheerleading squad or an echo chamber.

            The Nats aren't capable of critically analysing left-wing thought because they are lazy incompetents who shoot from the lip and don't do their homework. That doesn't mean we can't.

            I agree that they aren't really interested in road safety, and I agree that it's a dog whistle.

            • Grey Area 9.2.1.2.1.1
              1 June 2023 at 2:51 pm

              I also linked to the NZTA background material earlier. My reservation is about the primacy of te reo on the signs.

              The NZTA material indicates there are safety issues related to language primacy on bilingual signs.

              From what I've read the safest approach would be for English words to have primacy rather than Maori as proposed.

              I wonder if "someone" in NZTA has decided or been told that te reo is to have primacy on the signs (for reasons I can only guess at because they don't say) and so design elements will have to be used to mitigate the extra risk this clearly introduces.

              • That_guy …
                1 June 2023 at 3:28 pm

                From what I've read the safest approach would be for English words to have primacy rather than Maori as proposed.

                I came to the same conclusions. I want Te Reo on signs but I'm not going to ignore the research for ideological purposes.

                Thanks for the link BTW.

  10. That_guy 10
    31 May 2023 at 1:49 pm

    Further to this: IMHO the correct strategy isn't to call Simeon Brown "stupid" but to say:

    "Hasn't Simeon done well today? He's put on his big-boy pants and tried his best to talk about an important issue: safety and bilingual signs. We've been aware of this issue for some time and have done the mahi. We believe that bilingual road signs are safe if done right, and here is our research and evidence that underpins our belief."

  11. Ad 11
    31 May 2023 at 2:30 pm

    Every year they try it there's a decreasing sine curve of public affirmation and poll bump.

    Sure they get Whangaparoa again.

    But they always will.

    Labour trusts the people.

  12. tWiggle 12
    31 May 2023 at 3:55 pm

    The signs are to be changed 'as they come up for usual replacement'. Apart from a slight size increase, the cost to Waka Kotahi's budget will not be at the expense of pothole money.

  13. Mike the Lefty 13
    31 May 2023 at 6:56 pm

    I'm not surprised that Simeon Brown mentioned pot holes- I get (unwanted) feeds on Facebook from him all the time and just about always he is pictured in or near some fuel guzzling ute or sports car. Wouldn’t want any potholes denying him the right to travel at 120 km/hr plus whenever it suits, would we?

  14. Tiger Mountain 14
    1 June 2023 at 10:09 am

    Scary, two language signs…we will all get lost…on State Highway 30 there is a classic sign–“71km Tauranga–Rotorua 9km–77km Whakatane–Taupo 88km” hang your heads Natzos.

    Bilingualism is here already–there are many crossover Māori terms already in regular daily use by Pākehā, perhaps 50–100 at least and rising …

    https://www.maorilanguage.net/maori-words-phrases/50-maori-words-every-new-zealander-know/

    https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-language-week/100-maori-words

    • lebleaux 14.1
      1 June 2023 at 1:19 pm

      Yes your right but …… The English language is simply doing what it has done from the start, it is absorbing words from other languages and making them part of English. Just as I can ask for a slice of gateaux – but I am not speaking French – or order a Pizza – but I am not speaking Italian, I can describe someone as having great Mana, but no one would think I was speaking Maori.

      The word Pizza appears in the Oxford English Dictionary as is referenced as a 'borrowing' from Italian. Mana also appears as an entry. Putting Maori words on signs, or scattering them about in written English text wont preserve the language (if that is the goal), but it may well hasten the absorption of useful words into English.

      Up to you if you think this is a good thing or not.

      And for the record – I have no issue with road signs being deployed with both languages. however, I do believe that the predominate language – English – should be emphasised and at the top … it just feels safer that way.

    • Ad 14.2
      1 June 2023 at 1:40 pm

      Simeon will be hard placed looking for the sign to Pembroke, since it preferred the name Wanaka since 1940.

      Simeon might also want to check the number of place names that National has turned to dual names under all their Treaty settlements, over three decades.

      An enterprising staffer in the PM's office could prepare the list in reply to a Parliamentary question.

      Simeon has now made Matariki Day and Waitangi Day a very difficult place for Luxon.

  15. Hunter Thompson II 15
    1 June 2023 at 2:35 pm

    Keep the signs we already have, and put up separate signs in Maori for those who want them. Take the funds to do this from the Maori Affairs vote in the annual budget.

    Problem solved.

  16. That_guy 16
    1 June 2023 at 6:43 pm

    My major problem with Te Reo is that it seems to be going the way of Latin. Not a living language, just a set of phrases that upper-class people trot out to assert membership in a particular economic and social class.

    And that would be a tragedy.

      • That_guy 16.1.1
        1 June 2023 at 7:29 pm

        That is comforting, a bit, but statements like this:

        In the latest data, almost a quarter (23 percent) of Māori said they spoke te reo Māori as one of their first languages

        There is so much wiggle room in this statement that anyone who understands stats or how question phrasing can influence responses is going to be skeptical. They “say” they speak Māori? People say all sorts of things, especially when there is societal pressure to do so. “One” of your first languages? Do you speak it 95% of the time, 50% of the time, or 5% of the time?

        Thanks for the link though. I can’t help having an uneasy feeling that it’s closer to an ad than a study.

        • Incognito 16.1.1.1
          1 June 2023 at 8:23 pm

          You seem to be going out of your way of downplaying & doubting the info!? Does it not fit with your narrative?

          I can’t help having an uneasy feeling that it’s closer to an ad than a study.

          Maybe it is something you’ve eaten? The General Social Survey (GSS), formerly NZGSS, has been going since 2008 and Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa is New Zealand's official data agency and hardly into publishing ‘ads’. It measures a lot of things, not just te reo Māori proficiency.

        • Belladonna 16.1.1.2
          2 June 2023 at 8:49 am

          It's also in direct conflict with the data in the report that 7.9% speak te reo proficiently. A big gap to the 23% who claim it as a first language.

          The proportion of people able to speak te reo Māori at least fairly well also increased, from 6.1 percent in 2018 to 7.9 percent in 2021

          Tt seems …. unlikely … that someone who has a 'first language' of Te reo would be unable to speak it fairly proficiently.

          • Incognito 16.1.1.2.1
            2 June 2023 at 9:44 am

            That would indeed be a big gap if those stats figures referred to the same categories of people, which they don’t.

            The proportion of people able to speak te reo Māori at least fairly well also increased, from 6.1 percent in 2018 to 7.9 percent in 2021 […]

            […]

            In the latest data, almost a quarter (23 percent) of Māori said they spoke te reo Māori as one of their first languages, up from 17 percent in 2018. Māori were also significantly more likely than other ethnicities to speak te reo Māori well, with 34 percent able to speak te reo Māori at least fairly well, compared with 7.9 percent for the total population. [my italics]

            • Muttonbird 16.1.1.2.1.1
              2 June 2023 at 9:52 am

              Looks like Belladonna's natural assumption was that only Maori speak Te Reo.

              Interesting.

              • Belladonna …
                2 June 2023 at 10:02 am

                Apart from the odd outlier – that is almost certainly to be true. Fluent te reo is almost entirely within the Maori population.

                The problem in New Zealand, the researchers said, is too few people speak Māori, compared to Welsh – and the vast majority of them are Māori, with little chance for non-Māori to pick up the language outside of formalised education.

                https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/01/m-ori-language-likely-doomed-despite-recent-uptick-in-speakers-study.html

                • Incognito …
                  2 June 2023 at 10:18 am

                  Many (most, if not all?) stats were moving upwards in 2021-GSS for te reo Māori proficiency, so it’s not a static situation at all.

                  Secondly, assuming that Māori comprise 16% of the total population, they make up about 5.4% of the 7.9% of the total population in NZ able to speak te reo Māori at least fairly well. In other words, of 79 people, approx. 54 would be Māori and approx. 25 would be non-Māori.

                  Thirdly, what is the ‘odd outlier’?