NZ co-governance is a recipe for privilege by an inherited tribal elite

New Zealanders from all sides of politics are horrified that Jacinda Ardern is forcing tribal rule onto NZ, under the guise of implementing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

Jacinda Ardern speaks at the upper Treaty grounds Te Whare Runanga in Waitangi Picture: Getty Images.

In 2006, the former US President Barack Obama, then a Senator, used a speech at the University of Nairobi to rail against tribalism:

“Ethnic-based tribal politics has to stop. It is rooted in the bankrupt idea that the goal of politics or business is to funnel as much of the pie as possible to one’s family, tribe, or circle with little regard for the public good. It stifles innovation and fractures the fabric of the society. Instead of opening businesses and engaging in commerce, people come to rely on patronage and payback as a means of advancing. Instead of unifying the country to move forward on solving problems, it divides neighbour from neighbour.”

New Zealanders from all sides of the political spectrum have been horrified to find Jacinda Ardern – under the guise of implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – is forcing tribal rule onto our country, with virtually no openness nor transparency.

The path to tribal rule started with the public being blanketed with Maori language and culture, state employees being forced to undergo Treaty “retraining”, and media tapping into the government’s Public Interest Journalism Fund being required to promote Treaty propaganda.

However, things have taken a more sinister turn over recent months, with our Prime Minister now privatising – under the banner of 50:50 “co-governance” – essential services, including health care and water services, to the tribal elite – the iwi who run multi-million-dollar business development corporations.

As Victoria University’s Dr Bryce Edwards explains: “The co-governance model is a form of privatisation. The new companies will be half controlled by private organisations – iwi, which are increasingly highly corporate in their business operations.”

It is a scandalous situation – as Auckland University’s Professor Elizabeth Rata explains in an article in The Australian: “New Zealand’s constitution is currently undergoing a major heart and lung transplant via co-governance arrangements between Maori corporate tribes and the government … the Labour government is determined to embed racialised policies across a swathe of the nation’s laws and institutions.”

The national Maori flag flies during Waitangi Day celebrations.

Professor Rata describes those pushing this tribal takeover as “radical intellectuals of the corporate tribes”, ably assisted by “social justice warriors armed with an unassailable moral righteousness”.

Those “social justice warriors” in our universities, government agencies, and the media are spreading the disinformation that underpins Jacinda Ardern’s tribal rule agenda – namely that the authority for co-governance comes from a Treaty ‘partnership’ between Maori and the Crown. They allege this was affirmed by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Robin Cooke in the 1987 State-owned Enterprises case between the Maori Council and the Attorney General.

Former Judge and Law Lecturer Anthony Willy has examined the case, and, by exposing the ‘partnership’ claim as a gross fabrication, he reveals the deception being used to persuade New Zealanders to accept tribal control. Referring to a NZ Herald article about co-governance and “a ‘partnership’ between those with some Maori genes and the remainder of New Zealanders”, he wrote: “The writer concludes that such a unique constitutional arrangement results from the decision of the NZ Court of Appeal in NZ Maori Council.

“It is beyond question that nothing in the case suggests that the Treaty in any way creates a partnership between Maori and The Crown or brings into question the legitimacy of our democracy. To argue the contrary on the basis of this court case is either ignorant or wilfully dishonest.”

Traditional waka paddle down the Waitangi River on Waitangi Day. Picture: AAP.

By using the Treaty ‘partnership’ deception to justify giving control of essential services to the Maori elite, Jacinda Ardern is robbing New Zealanders of crucial democratic safeguards, placing them instead at the mercy of unelected and unaccountable iwi business leaders working in their own best interests, not in the public good.

The reality is that once co-governance is put in place, the opportunities for tribal enrichment will be endless, with contracts, fees, and other mechanisms able to be used to secure taxpayer funding.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta. Picture: Getty Images.

In fact, investigations have now found that a number of the family members of Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta – the member of Labour’s powerful Maori Caucus who has been leading the drive for co-governance – have been given government positions of significant influence.

The Herald reports that a company run by Ms Mahuta’s husband Gannin Ormsby was awarded contracts by the Ministry for the Environment for work described as “Maori expert ropu” (advice) during a period when she was the Associate Minister, while a second consultancy owned by Ormsby’s nephew Tamoko Ormsby and his wife Waimirirangi was paid $65,000, for work described as ‘support for Maori expert ropu’ over the same period.

Mahuta family members were also involved in the development of He Puapua, the UN Declaration plan for tribal rule.

Presumably Nanaia Mahuta saw no conflict or perceived conflict in any of this.

Doesn’t this raise questions about the legitimacy of the whole tribal rule agenda, since ‘co-governance’ could deliver significant ‘benefits’ to certain tribal groups?

Jacinda Ardern’s path to co-governance is already proving to be a recipe for Maori privilege by an inherited elite that will divide and weaken our society. Their end goal, of course – as outlined in He Puapua – is to ‘take the country back’ to tribal rule by 2040.

Are we really prepared to stand by and let this become the future for New Zealand?

Dr Muriel Newman is the founding director of the NZ Centre for Political Research