Waatea News Column: What does Luxon as Leader mean for Māori Politically?

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It’s important at the beginning of his leadership to clearly define what Luxon is not by way of direct comparison to Judith Collins time as leader.

Judith’s leadership was highly antagonistic towards Maori. Her definition of co-governance as ‘separatism was straight out of the Don Brash playbook, indeed she openly asked him to help her attack Maori in a desperate plea for white populism that only managed to entrench the public’s negative view of Collins as a race-baiter.

Luxon’s leadership will not be that openly crass.

Luxon’s wealth however does promise the type of elitism that has kept Maori outside the decision making rooms since this country was formed.

His hiring of a Mercedes to cross the road, his promotion of an aspiration many simply can’t afford and his immediate defence of the properties class all point to a leader who can hold up clean hands to declare they aren’t racist while allowing the lifestyle price of their values to keep a tighter stranglehold on cultural and economic segregation in a way a 1000 Judith Collins never could.

Meet the new colonizer, same as the old colonizer.

First published on Waatea News.

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61 COMMENTS

  1. I want to know what Luxon is going to do for the 10% of left handed people out there!! Oh I thought we were putting people into groups, because that’s the way of the world now.

  2. In fairness the Maori tribal elite have done more damage this year than Collins, Key and Uncle Fester could do in a term as PM.

    There is a simmering ‘us versus them’ powderkeg. Iwi checkpoints might very well be the fuse.

    Nzers will accept Police on checkpoints – Hone and his mates. Yeah nah.

    • You could be right Frank. The Brown elite will cut a deal with any party that entrenches them further in the food chain as the owners and administrators of whanau and hapu assets. That is the disconnect.
      The brown elite is no different from the white elite. Entrenched privilege.

      Meanwhile, the $50b Brown juggernaut leaks less than 1.5% down the inside of their inner leg to the real owners of these assets, the whanau and the hapu who have been lied to, time and time again with the doctrine of its about the future bs dummy!

      New Boss. Same as the Old Boss.

      • After a year or two of reading this blog thats the first time I agree with you. It also goes to show why throwing more and more money at Maori will never improve the lives of ordinary Maori. It’s like throwing coins in a funnel. All of the money gets concentrated in a small heap that only the “leaders” have access too. New BMW’s for you and you and you.. No, no housing help for you, we have no money….

        • There is a large backlash building. Along with law and order will be bigger issues in 2023 than many think.

            • Snow White
              Represent shepresent. There way too much ‘representing’ in stead of doing. Clasic Jacinda Govt modus operandi. It’s abput time people in this country are properly managed, full stop. In other words, you do this, this is your job, and you do this job, and this is the task, so let’s get on with it. Just like at home: you take out the trash, you mow the lawn and you clean your room. In the Jacinda’s Labour House everyone just sits on the sofa and does fuck all.

              • Kraut. You need to get out more. From what I see, most folk do take out their trash and mow their lawns. Not being a peeping Tom I don’t have a clue about who cleans their rooms, but it can occur inadvertently when trying to match up socks, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.

                Thing about government is it’s elected to act on behalf of the people who pay them, they’re our servants, and I’ve not being paying taxes just to have some tight-suited dude think that he’s Frank Sinatra singing “ My Way “ . Your mum can sing that to you, and you’d better front up because you can’t elect another mother, but a politician who thinks that leadership is just a matter of managing people, is in the wrong job.

          • My comment isn’t a right/left issue. Both sides are guilty of being captured by tribal elite. There is no accountability and the moment someone tries they scream racism. They need to shut down all of the “so called” Maori NGO’s and fold them into existing Govt dept’s. let them have their own sections within dept’s but keep accountability oversight. Like everyone else has too have.

            • Kim. If any government tries to shut down NGO’s, then democracy is stuffed. Some of them do effective altruistic work for the common good, and shutting down Maori NGO’s, while allowing Pakeha or Muslim, or Indian or Catholic or Chinese or others to flourish, is discriminatory.

              Many people who support NGO’s could withdraw that support if the alternative was supporting a government department, and it is NGO’s relative independence of government which gives some a voice. Can you imagine Caritas or Child Poverty or Presbyterian Social Services or Mary Potter Hospices or the Salvation Army being run by public servants ?

              If NGO’s stimulate public discourse or controversy, that’s ok.
              The big issue is the widening gap between the have’s and the have-nots, and diverting our concern about this onto NGO’s is divisive and playing into politicians’ hands and would suit them just fine.

            • the iwi-ocracy is just another capitalist criminal cabal, they can’t be defended on any grounds particularly with the cry of racism…..who is stealing assets from their own people, who are enriching themselves at the peoples expense, not ‘whitey this time round is it?
              Just because the crown preferred to deal with the unelected hereditary monarchs of the Maori ruling elite doesn’t mean the Maori people have to put up with the leeches

    • at least Hone (for whom I usually have little time) is trying to do the best he can for his people, which is more than any nat ever has.

  3. “What does Luxon as Leader mean for Māori Politically?”

    Well that might depend on the political priorities and general worldview of individual Māori. A Māori friend of mine used to be a fan of Luxon, though he’s since become disillusioned with the Nats in general.

    Here’s an idea -why doesn’t Waatea interview Professor Garth Cooper? As well as asking his views on “What does Luxon as Leader mean for Māori Politically?”, they could also cover some much more interesting material, like science and mātauranga. Prof. Cooper is a distinguished Māori scientist who committed the heresy of stating that mātauranga isn’t science. As a result, the Royal Society of NZ is now considering revoking his fellowship of the society, egged on by those famous bleeding-heart white liberals, Siouxsie Wiles and Sean Hendy.
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/447898/university-academics-claim-matauranga-maori-not-science-sparks-controversy
    https://www.nzcpr.com/maori-professor-under-investigation-for-views-on-matauranga-maori/

    Now that would be an interesting column.

    As for calling Collins a race-baiter, what about the so-called “Māori Party”? They’re in a league of their own when it comes to race-baiting.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/11/maori-party-warns-reopening-new-zealand-amid-covid-outbreak-would-be-modern-genocide
    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/03/m-ori-party-mp-rawiri-waititi-s-tweet-about-p-keh-being-archaic-species-was-made-by-someone-else.html

    • Yes RD, True Blue came through loud and clear on Q&A this morning. I wish Jack Tame had asked if he had any thoughts about a CGT, but sadly no mention. Luxon was having none of Jim Bolger’s reshaping of capitalism for a more equitable society.

    • Richard. Dahlberg – That black Mercedes was pathetic – he’s no blue blood. I’ll wager a bet that he grew up on the east side of Christchurch and has been desperately trying to compensate since. Vulgar – the Nats are, time and time again, male and female, whatever, and the ultimate flag bearers for materialism – hence wee John Key salivating for a new flag just to suit himself. Moron.

      • Never any mention in Luxon biographies of the high school he attended. Usually a reasonable indication of political leanings (though not infallible – Hoskings attended Linwood High).
        Does anyone know?

        • Tony Veitch. I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that Luxon attended St Bede’s College, which was the traditionally conservative Catholic boys’ secondary school in northern Christchurch; the other main ChCh Catholic boys’ secondary school was Xavier College down by the railway yards, and I think now called Cathedral
          College, and maybe coed. I don’t know quite what Saint Thomas of Canterbury was/is, but thought it a Catholic boys’ school in Riccarton.

            • Col. – John Key was raised in Bryndwr/ Bishpdale and attended Burnside High School. Luxon too ?

              Bishopdale ? Oh my. I feel that I should look for the St Bede’s reference, but I probably won’t – it’s a relief though as St Bede’s had good rugby players and athletes and academic results, and I don’t think it would have tolerated nouveau riche vulgarian types – the original boarders were hard working farming stock with decent sort of values, I would have thought – shame to tarnish its reputation.

            • Col. Luxon’s Wikipedia entry now says that he attended Christchurch Boys High School in Christchurch, after being at a couple of Auckland Schools. No mention of Burnside High, or St Bede’s, or any ChCh suburb.

  4. As the housing crisis worsens, which really is what is at the root of so many societal problems that directly affect those in lower to middle socio-economic zone, what is Jacinda or Labour doing? Sweet bugger all.

    Or to put it another way and without doubt, exactly what Luxon would do. Ensure the haves, have it all. And the rest, who identify themselves, are dumped in motels.

  5. He’s is nothing different and is from the same stable of pale male rich folks ‘farm’ of nothing new to see here.

    He will make Jacinda a perfect anchor in the next coalition government between labour & national who will want to keep Act out.
    They will bring a balance to both parties extremes and hopefully the end result will be some kind of moderation.

    The 2 to 3 years of global data collection under the guise of covid. People have coughed up their biological information and personal and private data, all to be traced and tracked digitally!

    Who holds data, controls the data is king!

    • WHO ANALYSES THE DATA SUCCESSFULLY is king.

      ..data overload clogs the system to a halt…..too much raw data is next to useless…ask any incompetent western spook

  6. Yes Martyn, nothing in Luxon’s leadership for Maori. For Q&A he had obviously been schooled in the title for each Article of the Treaty, but admitted no depth of understanding; but against this lack of understanding was prepared to criticise the proposed Maori health authority.

  7. Here’s a re-wording specially for Bg:

    What is Luxon going to do to facilitate the ongoing process of rebalancing and redress, for those who have suffered generations of institutionalised, targeted discrimination and segregation here in Aotearoa/ NZ?

    • Also, this report just out:
      Poverty rates for Maori and Pasifika children slammed

      “More than 25 percent of Pasifika children face material hardship – living in a household that can’t afford six or more essentials including having enough to eat, fresh vegetables, and warm clothes.

      Twenty percent of Maori and disabled children live in poverty and 11 percent of all children in New Zealand are experiencing material hardship.”

      • Kheala. Thanks for highlighting this terrible situation. It’s good to see that they got out and spoke with the persons most affected, i.e. the children. It is horrific though that such a high percentage of children are receiving a message that in the eyes of government, they don’t matter. Some of their lives will be forever stunted, through absolutely no fault of their own, which is inexcusable.

        • Yes, and for children to be going hungry, – any children, – in a country that produces some of the best quality food in world, really is an ugly crime. Via the GST on foods, those at the top, including all MPs, are feeding off the poor. Again, the gst on fruit and veggies in particular, needs to be removed, – not just in the supermarkets but right down the line. By the time a child looks hungrily at a piece of fruit, even if it was grown nearby, the govt has been grabbing $$$$s out of that item multiple times. Greed, greed, greed and more greed, at the expense of our children!!! Shame on them!!!

          • Kheala. Yes GST off all foodstuffs, and children’s clothing, just as the Brits do – and much of the kids’ clothing here is made in China crap, no longer good quality garments which can be passed down through the family, or recycled into quilts and rugs.

            The high cost of fresh produce is impacting more than just children. An elderly volunteer at the Sallies lamented the cost of buying a pork chop to me, and then he died.

            Store bought fruit and vegetables are perhaps double what they cost in the UK and Australia. Buying and eating food in the UK is cheaper than in New Zealand, in spite of much of it having incurred the extra costs of being processed (and less nutritious ), or imported.

            It’s a huge challenge for mothers trying to provide for children on very little money, and it is a debilitating ongoing strain, which I doubt any politician even begins to understand, or cares about.

  8. Good to see someone to fire bombs at the commies in Labour. Fuck their police state and pandering to a tiny minority- all who forget 50 – 90% of their heritage is European.

  9. What I have noticed is the sycophantic mainstream NZ media is giving Luxon a publicity stunt to the point of being OTT.
    And as a result I have switched off more so than ever before bothering with the NZ media who are quite obviously so deep into the NZ National Party pocket to no longer see daylight but MUST obey their Master John Key.
    Whilst I felt National needed a younger team at the helm the choice of Luxon and Willis is coming across as a John Key choice that may as well be referred to like a soap opera of The Bald and the Bobble-head. Reason for this thinking on my part is Luxon has the stench of John Key in his aura and arrogance and Willis nods her head like a Bobble=headed toy dog whilst holding a PanAm Smile that just doesn’t DO IT for National.
    What Team Luxon and Willis do for National is something we just have to wait and see. But deep down I still feel National needs a young team but with no links to John Key.
    Meanwhile who knows but John Key may well be weighing in in his own ponytail pulling way to be the president of National. It will be the ONLY time in his abysmal and selfish ridden life time that Key would be addressed as a president albeit of the political party he so well ruined in his “greed is good” mantra that Mike Hosking so adored.

    • Just me – I think that besmitten Willis is out of John Key’s office too, just like that spy woman was, and although it’s not necessarily a “ young “ team that the Nat’s need, it looks as if too many of the dirty politics brigade are wielding power there, and if they’ve got the media again, then pity New Zealand.

  10. Yes but have we haven’t been treated like Pakeha. Listening to Luxon was really just another version of John when asked how often he talks to John his face went a bit red it seems he didn’t expect to be asked that question. Based on his interview with Jack he offers nothing new just the same old ideas. Telling us to diversify yet the biggest component of his own investment is housing. He referred to Matariki as matarangi this says a lot about how little he thinks of us and our culture. Jack didn’t really ask him the hard questions and almost all of this comments were vague. He has a lot of work to do, stating with cleaning up his parties shit.

  11. The thing Luxon has going for him is how strong his psychological defences are. In comparison to Muller who couldn’t withstand the attacks and quickly destabilized.

    The second coming of Key is the trojan horse Luxon is using to enter, the problem is beyond the corporate jargon we don’t know who he really is or what he is capable of. In regards to his lack of knowledge around indigenous issues we get insight into his callousness and disconnection.

    • There’s not much political value in trying to buy the Maori vote, they’ve already been bought (at great expense) and their voter turnout is below 10% of eligible voters. Probably best to just ignore them.
      FWIW, if what I’m hearing is a reasonable reflection of opinion; people – European, Asian and many Maori believe the current lot have gone way too far with their OTT acquiescence to separatist Maori policy.

  12. All you lefties here who love your identity politics. You all are such good judge’s of character. Look at how you could tell that Jacinda would make NZ great again when she campaigned to be elected both times. You don’t mind if I don’t take your opinions too seriously. As usual here politicians are labeled before they have a chance to prove their worth. I don’t see Luxon being too different from key but he deserves a chance. If he’s all shit then get stuck into him. It must be a slow news week.

    • To be balanced, I’m very eager to see how he progresses. Clearly he articulates his messages well. The other plus, he has clearly seen the underperformers and the stain on National by demoting Collins, Woodhouse, Bayley etc. I do like what I’ve seen in Erica Stanford and given she is a protégé of Nikki Kaye, that is a big tick. Nicola Willis is a little screechy/whiney however, so a little less of her would be nice.

      • Good points Bert although I watched Nicola Willis at question time and thought she did well. Labour and National say different things but the results of them being in office looks much the same. The opposition now and who that might be after the next election, needs to keep the sitting Government honest and hold them to account. That’s not happening but I think will happen with Luxon pulling strings. Interesting times Bert, I’m sure we’ll cross swords and compare notes. Very difficult for the government at present but a good part of it is of their own making. As for question time in parliament. It’s how good the speakers are. Nothing to do with getting anything done. The format needs tweaking otherwise it’s just play acting.

        • As for question time in parliament. It’s how good the speakers are. Nothing to do with getting anything done. The format needs tweaking otherwise it’s just play acting.

          Yes!! Well said.
          They need to keep it real, not just treat it like a game of scoring points. It’s our lives they are talking about.

  13. @ TDB? What’s with the wacky layout in ‘comments’ that means that text diminishes into a single letter snake-column as can be seen above ?

  14. S.F.A………..Luxon will be hoping the Maori Party will support National again in 2023. I’m confident the Maori Party will never forget what voters did to them in 2017 for propping up the Key Government.

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