What does this Government have against Te Ao Māori?

Written By: - Date published: 10:24 am, August 11th, 2024 - 28 comments
Categories: Christopher Luxon, karen chhour, Maori Issues, national, paul goldsmith, Politics, same old national, sport - Tags:

Over in Paris Lisa Carrington is having an awestome time at the Olympics. She and her teammates won the K4 final and Caitlin Regal and her won the K2 500 final.

She has iwi afiliations to Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Ngāti Porou. She is New Zealand’s most successful Olympian, having won eight Olympic gold medals.

She has very Te Ao Māori inspired habits.

She pats her boat before and after every race to thank it.

She confided previously that connecting with her Māori heritage has helped her performance.

From One News:

“As I’ve got older and got more experienced, matured a bit. my ability to connect back to my heritage and my identity has been really important and helpful,” Carrington said.

“To know my ancestors and what they did and the challenges that they went through so I could be here now has been a really cool realisation.

“I am both Māori and pākehā – to acknowledge both sides is really important.”

Carrington’s parents Glynis and Pat said they were proud to watch her journey of self-discovery.

“She’s always had it in there, maybe she’s sharing it with everyone a little bit more,” her mum said.

“The whanaungatanga [kinship], manaakitanga [kindness] in the team – Lisa has been driving that, acting and bringing it all together, it’s been an important part of her development,” father Pat added.

While she’s reconnecting with her own culture, she’s enhancing the whakapapa of New Zealand sport not just by her record-breaking efforts – but her values too.

“It’s like the kumara – it never speaks of it’s sweetness,” Pat said.

Carrington named her boat Te Huia. She has acknowledged that she is on a journey in discovering her identity. I recommend you listen to this interview. She presents as a very thoughtful and intelligent person.

Watching the K4 team receive their medals brought a tear to my eye. I would swear that two of them were singing the te reo version of the national anthem.

There are generations in Aotearoa that have happily accepted and adopted Te Ao Māori as part of their culture. They realise that Te Ao Māori is something that is uniquely part of our country and defines and sets our contry apart from others.

And the number of us trying to learn even modest amounts of te reo continues to impress me. Last year it was estimated that 30% of us are able to speak more than a few words and phrases of te reo Māori and 8 percent speak it fairly well. 60 years ago there were concerns that te reo was dying.

Which is why the Government’s continued attack on Te Ao Māori is so upsetting to so many of us.

The attacks on Te Ao Māori have been relentless. It seems that every opportunity if there is an option which involves doing something racist then this Government will do it.

Just this week we have had news of Paul Goldsmith removing a greeting in Te Reo from a Matariki invitation sent to an Australian Minister.

Christopher Luxon’s ham fisted comment that it pays to be incredibly simple and clear when dealing with Australians made things even worse.

And the Government continues to smash through amendments to the Oranga Tamariki Act has met with spirited resistance from a diverse group of submitters who actually know what they are talking about. Chhour’s increasing isolation is because she is refusing to address those concerns. And Luxon’s lazy rhetoric around the issue has incensed many of us and make us wonder who is actually in control of the Government.

And to top things off it has been reported that the axe is hovering over the Office for Māori Crown Relations.

At one level I guess this is understandable. If you do not care about relations with Iwi then clearly there is no need to go to the expense of keeping the office open. Better to use the money on tax cuts for landlords instead.

Te Ao Māori forms an increasingly important part of our cultural identity. And most of us realise this and celebrate it. This Government’s stance is at odds with this strongly developing consensus.

And if this Government is thrown out at the next election its contempt for Te Ao Māori will be a significant reason. And it will be richly deserved.

28 comments on “What does this Government have against Te Ao Māori? ”

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  1. Barfly 1
    11 August 2024 at 11:23 am

    IMHO I feel this is focus group driven and analysis has determined that these racist actions are electorally profitable – there are more people who will reward the RW with their votes because of these actions than there are people whose votes they will lose.

    • James Simpson 1.1
      12 August 2024 at 10:19 am

      I agree with your observation and think this is very political and populist. They are driving this agenda as it appeals to their base. I don't think this Government’s stance is at odds with a developing consensus.

      They came to to power on a wave of anti co-governance sentiment – mainly around 3 waters. They did very well in convincing people that Maori names for government departments was somehow a bad thing.

      That doesn't make it right, but they know what won them the election and they are going to continue it.

  2. AB 2
    11 August 2024 at 11:56 am

    I believe they don't hate Te Ao Maori as such – so long as it remains a private matter for those individuals who identify as Maori. Once it ceases being a private matter and enters the public domain and potentially influences public policy, they resist it strongly. And the reason is that it introduces a set of values that isn't based on the rational, self-maximising individual and the perfection of markets. It's best to see the CoC as neoliberals first, and race-baiting opportunists second, with those two things working in lockstep.

    • TeWhareWhero 2.1
      11 August 2024 at 1:39 pm

      When I first came back to NZ at the turn of the millennium after having been overseas for most of my adult life, I was appalled at the casual racism towards Māori (and Asian people) that I encountered from some white people who assumed I thought the same as they did. I thought NZ would have moved on and indeed it had in some respects but racism, like misogyny, has very deep roots and unless you dig them right out, they will pop up again, possibly even more vigorous than before.

      Or – another analogy, racism is like dry rot attacking the fabric of society. You can cut it right out and rebuild in materials resistant to it and ensure it doesn’t get a grip in the social infrastructure again, or you can try to disguise it with a thick layer of gloss paint, thus allowing the rot to carry on spreading.

      If the primary focus of anti-racism has been on a fairly superficial level and relies too much on the creation of a class with a vested interest in the wider economic SQ, the chances of racism flaring again are much greater.

      The ideologues who guide the hands of rightwing legislatures are very adept at the politics of divide in order to continue to rule. There’s a substantial layer of people who have done very nicely out of hyper-capitalism and are fearful of losing their relative privilege; and there are others who have been reduced to states of economic precarity and/or social marginalisation, or at at risk of it and can be persuaded that the causes are Māori or some other minority.

  3. adam 3
    11 August 2024 at 1:40 pm

    I've come to a conclusion that I would have thought ridiculous only a few months ago.

    This country is more racists than South Africa or Australia.

    We had a white NZ policy for much longer than Australia had theirs, only we just didn't call it that. Māori and Pacific islanders have been used in race baiting politics in this country at one election or another, for as long as I've been alive. We have a main national newspaper, who since settlement, have been openly racists with editorials and content pushing race based arguments.

    We have had abuse in state care, which again have smashed Māori and Pacific islanders, yet we are constantly told we all equal. (can anyone else hear the crickets?)

    Māori and Pacific islanders health is crap, their education outcomes are crap, and their wages are crap.

    But go on kid yourself – your not a fubar racist who thinks Māori have some sort of privilege. That if only Māori shut up and did as they were told, their would be no race relation issues in this country.

    Let me repeat

    This country is more racists than South Africa or Australia.

  4. Karolyn_IS 4
    11 August 2024 at 3:59 pm

    I suspect Atlas network influence on ACT, basically, to enable predatory capitalists more access to NZ's natural resources. Te Tiriti rights tend to put a handbrake on such profiteering.

  5. roblogic 5
    12 August 2024 at 1:37 am

    They were elected on a platform of lies about Māori stealing water.

    They are mates with Hobson's pledge and Julian Batchelor.

    They keep talking about defining "treaty principles" without reference to decades of scholarship and legal opinions and respected work by the Waitangi Tribunal.

    They are planning a racist referendum like The Voice to Australia hoping to nullify Te Tiriti in NZ law.

    They have been going around wiping out Te Reo from government departments – in a certain snobbish part of Pakeha NZ, Te Reo Māori is the low-class language of "bottom feeders".

    They have an army of bots on X/twitter who lie constantly about history and smear Māori culture.

    They want to fast-track destructive projects and sell off the tāonga of all New Zealanders for thirty pieces of silver, but Māori claims under Te Tiriti get in the way of their plans to bulldoze our national parks.

    Every week is another chance to spread hate and fear against Tangata Whenua – last week a massive lie about the Foreshore and Seabed was plastered on the front page of our biggest newspaper. What's next?

    This looks like a long-running smear campaign to keep Kiwis divided and eventually sucker us in to a Brexit-type situation where people vote out of racism and spite, against their own long-term interest as the country becomes a playground for exploiting and polluting multinationals.

  6. Tiger Mountain 6
    12 August 2024 at 9:40 am

    Why is CoC anti Māori?

    • economically the Māori economy is strengthening, intellectual property regarding natural resources is a worry for neo liberal corporate cash flow and there is capacity building galore happening in Māori circles as evidenced during peak COVID

    • socially it is about straight out racism and settler supremacy, so many remain in denial about sitting on stolen or dubiously acquired land or profiting from it

    There is a fight coming and a number of us non Māori will be involved too.

    • James Simpson 6.1
      12 August 2024 at 10:24 am

      Can you elaborate on the fight you are talking about? I don't think that kind of talk does anything to advance this.

      Fighting is not the answer.

      • Tiger Mountain 6.1.1
        12 August 2024 at 11:07 am

        This country is still suffering from post colonial fall out if you look at the distribution of wealth and many other statistics, Māori local Govt. wards extended our democracy to people that largely did not participate but Winston and Incel Dave, and the likes of that fat bastard Kaipara Mayor want to eradicate them just as they were beginning to work.

        As Micky Savage alludes to, there is an attack on most things Māori at the moment–that is what will be resisted, and it will come down to direct action, mark my words.

        • David 6.1.1.1
          12 August 2024 at 11:31 am

          I’m not going to mince words. To me it sounds like you are advocating violence against your fellow citizens. This never ends well, it leads to death & destruction.

      • Res Publica 6.1.2
        12 August 2024 at 11:30 am

        Fighting is not the answer

        If the last 10 years should have taught the global left anything, it's that fighting absolutely is the answer. The right isn't concerned with maintaining norms. Or respecting the feelings and lived experience of the people whose lives they ruin with their policy prescription.

        And what have we done? Sat back and counselled cautious incrementalism while those fuckers burn our economy, civil society, and environment to the ground and slide us every closer to majoritarianism.

        Yeah, it may win us an election or two once every decade. But when we finally get power, we're too afraid of them to do anything about it.

        Why should we pander to their tender feelings? Sometimes to protect the state its necessary to punch a Nazi or two in the face (both metaphorically and literally) to pour encourager les autres

        • James Simpson 6.1.2.1
          12 August 2024 at 11:36 am

          Cool speech but what do you mean by fighting? Physical violence?

          • Res Publica 6.1.2.1.1
            12 August 2024 at 11:53 am

            If the right starts deploying political violence in the way they have in the likes of the US then yes.

            Otherwise entirely metaphorical. We spend so much time tying ourselves into knots about non-violence and worrying about preserving institutional norms the people we oppose don't care about.

            For example, we should absolutely and mercilessly mock Karen Chhour for being a fragile crybaby. If the boot was on the other foot and it was. Green Party MP talking about working conditions in Parliament, she'd be the first person to accuse them of being a snowflake.

            Being "respectful" or nice doesn't engender respect or further dialogue. It just cedes them more space and legitimises them and their ideas

            • Belladonna 6.1.2.1.1.1
              12 August 2024 at 12:10 pm

              For example, we should absolutely and mercilessly mock Karen Chhour for being a fragile crybaby.

              Being "respectful" or nice doesn't engender respect or further dialogue. It just cedes them more space and legitimises them and their ideas

              So, you're advocating an all out attack against a woman of colour in parliament, because you disagree with her policies.

              Way to go….. /sarc/

              Attack the policies all you please, don't attack her.

        • Belladonna 6.1.2.2
          12 August 2024 at 12:13 pm

          Why should we pander to their tender feelings? Sometimes to protect the state its necessary to punch a Nazi or two in the face (both metaphorically and literally) to pour encourager les autres

          Well, you can't then complain if they assault you back.

          Legitimizing violence in protest is never going to end well.

          NB: the most recent example of someone being punched in the face at a rally, was a young thug punching an elderly woman. I don’t find this meritorious in any way.

          • David 6.1.2.2.1
            12 August 2024 at 3:15 pm

            “Why should we pander to their tender feelings?”

            Well I guess it goes both ways doesn’t it?

            For the Billy Connolly fans…Glasgow football violence “Football violence will never end as long as they are shitting in our shoes, and we are pissing in their Bovril”

      • tWig 6.1.3
        13 August 2024 at 10:58 am

        Just semantics: replace 'fight' with 'struggle'.

        • James Simpson 6.1.3.1
          13 August 2024 at 11:17 am

          In the current environment it might be best to use words which are not open to interpretation.

  7. David 7
    12 August 2024 at 11:35 am

    Advocating violence is not acceptable. As for punching a Nazi in the face, who gets to determine that? As far as I know it can only be determined in court, which is where you will end up, should you punch people in the face.

    • Res Publica 7.1
      12 August 2024 at 11:46 am

      But advocating racism is?

      • David 7.1.1
        12 August 2024 at 12:28 pm

        I think you will find most New Zealanders will not tolerate violence committed against their fellow citizens, by politically motivated wannabe authoritarian thugs, because that’s what you will be. In other words you become what you believe you are fighting against. You win arguments on election day

  8. feijoa 8
    12 August 2024 at 4:21 pm

    The day is rapidly approaching where Pakeha must stand alongside Maori.

    Based on a pure numbers game, Maori will lose to these pillaging bastards, unless Pakeha resist too. This affects all of us.

    Te Tiriti is a contract as far as I'm concerned, and the Crown has to honour it.

    How this will all play out is anyone's guess.