Reality Bites

By
Chris Trotter
-
172
4189

KELVIN DAVIS believes that Karen Chhour is looking at the world through a “vanilla lens”.

Racially-charged sentiments of this sort used to be reserved for embarrassing Pakeha uncles a little the worse for drink following a big Christmas Dinner. Family members winced at the old man’s reliance on “Māori blood” fractions to determine who was, and wasn’t, a “real Māori”. Equally embarrassing, however, is the spectacle of a Māori cabinet minister belittling an Act MP of Ngāpuhi descent for refusing to leave “her Pakeha world”. New Zealanders of all ethnicities now need to confront and deconstruct Davis’s objectionable ethnic dualism – because it is extremely dangerous.

Challenged in the House, by Chhour, to account for Oranga Tamariki’s treatment of vulnerable children, Davis, the responsible minister, responded: “What the Member needs to do is cross the bridge that is Te Tiriti o Waitangi from her Pākehā world into the Māori world and understand exactly why, how the Māori world operates.”

What, exactly, is the Minister trying to convey with these words?

Essentially, Davis was declaring the existence of two quite distinct realities – Māori and Pakeha. Viewed from the perspective of Pakeha reality, the behaviour of Oranga Tamariki may appear to be egregiously negligent – even cruel. But, viewed from Te Ao Māori, its behaviour may be construed in an entirely different way. The key to unlocking this profound ontological problem is Te Tiriti – or, at least, Te Tiriti as currently interpreted.

The contemporary interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi would have us believe that it set out to define the relationship between Māori, Pakeha, and their respective instruments of governance. That it was, indeed, a document intended to regulate the interaction of two very different realities. Two ethnic worlds, which were to remain separate but equal in perpetuity.

In 1840, such ethnic dualism made a certain kind of sense. When the Treaty was signed there were barely 2,000 Pakeha in the whole of New Zealand, and about 80,000 Māori. The world beyond New Zealand had a foothold on these islands, but not much more. For most Māori, their world was the only world – all contact with the islands to the north having been broken centuries before. The idea that, in the space of less than 30 years, the world of these strangers might overwhelm their own would have seemed preposterous to most of those present at the signing of the Treaty in February 1840.

Most – but not all. There were Māori at Waitangi who had crossed the Tasman to Sydney. Some had made it as far as Europe. They knew that this much larger world, hitherto oblivious to the existence of the Māori, was unlikely to leave their people in peace for very long. They had seen the ships of the Americans and the French anchored in their bays, and they were as aware as the British authorities that the New Zealand Company would soon be causing all kinds of trouble for iwi and hapu south of Lake Taupo.

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However prettily the Treaty expressed the fiction of kawanatanga and tino rangatiratanga accommodating each other’s needs in peace and harmony, the Māori world would not long survive its collision with the rest of Planet Earth.

And so it proved. Call it the inexorable march of “civilisation”; call it “colonisation; call it the making of the nation of New Zealand; call it what you will. Te Ao Māori soon ceased to be a description of reality and became, instead, a metaphor. And metaphors are poor armour against the real weapons of one’s foes. The Pai Marire faith may have reassured its warriors that a divine power would deflect the Pakeha bullets – or turn their soldiers to stone – but the imperial troopers cut them down regardless. In the end, there is only one world.

Kelvin Davis knows this as well as anyone. So why is he insisting on treating metaphors as if they were scientific facts? The only rational answer is that he, along with those controlling the increasingly powerful Māori corporations arising out of the Treaty Settlement Process, intends to alter the political reality of New Zealand in such a way that the Māori aristocracy, and the te Reo-speaking, tertiary-educated, professionals and managers of the Māori middle-class (the only Māori worth listening to?) will soon be wielding very real authority over the rest of New Zealand.

Including all those Māori without te Reo, without tertiary credentials, without six-figure salaries. Māori struggling to make it through the day in a world that has little sympathy for the poor. Māori without proper housing. Māori on the minimum wage. Māori lost to drugs and alcohol and crime. Māori whose kids suffer horribly for the sins of their fathers and mothers. Māori with backgrounds identical to Karen Chhour.

Chhour was demanding to know what Davis was doing for these, the most vulnerable inhabitants of her world, the real world, the only world. And all he could offer, by way of an answer, was a metaphorical bridge to a world that disappeared 250 years ago. A world which certainly cannot be conjured back into existence by a Minister of the Crown who does not care to be questioned by Māori who, all-too-clearly, see him struggling to do his job.

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172 COMMENTS

  2. Chris
    Let’s not muck around. This govt is ruled by the maori caucus and they are running rings around the so-called ‘brilliant leader’ boss. In fact we don’t have a ‘boss of the country’. If we had a boss of the country, Kelvin Davis would be out on his arse now for bring Labour into disrepute. What he did is far worse than ANYTHING what Sharma ever did. Talk about Labour and a bullying culture – there it is right there. It’s nasty shit.

    • Karen wants to bully the poor and the workers by cutting their wages/benefits, cutting their healthcare, and making them work longer hours in what amounts to sweatshop conditions.

      ACT is more an enemy of Maori than Kelvin ever will be.

      • ACT want to make life worse for 99% of New Zealanders. Let’s suppose that 10% of the 1% that they care about are Maori…. that would mean that ACT want to make life worse for about 14.9% of Maori, but in a ‘colour blind’ way, while a New Zealand chapter of the KKK might want to make life worse for 15% of Maori.

        When we’re talking .1%, I don’t really think there’s much difference in outcomes.

        • There seems to be something wrong with your figures.
          should it not be (by your calculations) that ACT want to mke life worse for 99% of Maori. You should also make it clear that the “.1%” refers to .1% of the whole population, both Maori and non Maori.

    • Agree, Cabbage, but let’s not assume that Jacinda Ardern is not very comfortable with what is playing out, and the way that it’s playing out, it may suit her just fine. That’s what I think.

      • Yeah right. She really needs Davis to confirm his status as a drongo. You may need a technician, I think you are stuck in a spin cycle

        • if the PM does not want to come across as a drongo they can send kelvin davies packing.
          If they don’t then they are ok with that sort of behaviour and it will reflect on them. Badly.

          • What used to be considered racist is no longer confirmed by the Labour Government’s endorsement of Kelvin Davis’s statements in parliament.

        • Wheel I am not saying that Ardern “ needs Davis to confirm his status as a drongo,” or that Davis is or is not a drongo.

    • Like Uffindell, Davis has formally apologized, so you should be okay with that, right?
      So if National had a boss, a so-called brilliant leader, Uffindell would be out on his arse now for bringing National into disrepute? No, you’d be wrong.
      Davis made silly disparaging remarks( words) what Uffindell did (physical assault) is far worse than ANYTHING Davis said.
      Talk about National and a bullying culture – there it is right there. It’s nasty shit.

      • So you never had a fight when you were a teenager and then lived to regret your action as you matured into a man.
        I have found often words can hurt more than physical hurt it often goes deeper.

      • Uffindel wasn’t a minister when he stuffed up?
        And one person’s error was racist, the other’s wasn’t?
        One was a mature adult, sober.
        The other was a kid or drunk?

      • National are s . It’s stretching things comparing a young immature male’s behaviour with that of a significantly older male behaving badly, and publicly.

        Both were horrible bullies, but Davis’s behaviour also has a sexist element, with the effrontery to assume that he knew the thought processes of a much younger woman, and then proceeding to admonish her about them. That’s chilling. It’s mind control, and a slimey way of avoiding answering a question put to him. Uffindell was less complicated.

        It’s learned behaviour, a specific technique, and wherever Davis picked it up, he’s an idiot using it so clumsily in public. Unfortunately it also reveals his racism, and Uffindell has never seemed overtly racist.

        None of us know the stress or the psychological or emotional impact of Davis’ behaviour upon his lady victim, so comparisons are impossible and irrelevant.

        Once again, at the bottom of the heap lie our vulnerable children, and day by day the Labour government gives us more reason to loathe them for the way in which they are treated.

        • spot on SW! But our esteemed author of this Blog continues with his delusional view of both Davis and the rest of Ardern’s racist cabinet. Seems to suit their world view.

    • Really Sour Kraut? Kelvin Davis is a dick granted, but is it all about the Māori caucus running rings around Ardern? Would you have said it was Māori influence persuading Key and English to present us with that train wreck of a minister that was Paula Bennett? The reality is there are members from every party that are muppets. Some just happen not to be pakeha.

      • Bennett due to ethnic influence? I doubt it. Bennett was just easier for those two to handle than somebody like eg Amy Adams, an intelligent well educated professional woman with a bit of class.

  3. Racists gonna be racist.

    Not sure why we expect more from Labour/Greens/Maori Party.

    The Maori Party websites states: “It is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others”. It’s eugenics to make a Nazi proud.

    Wokism/identity politics is just the new racism. Once our concern was hooded hillbillies burning crosses, now its the racism of the new Progressives. It’s anti-Maori and anti-White in almost equal measure.

    I saw it with the “not a proper Maori” racism of commentary on the broad Maori involvement in mandate protests and the bigotry of low expectations for Maori who need a special system for every interaction in society because they are so infeebled. “Woke Racism” by John McWhorter sums it up better than I can.

    It’s got a virtual institutional hold in New Zealand.

    A racist with a smiley face and frowny care is still a racist.

    • Dennis Please don’t throw racist mud pies around. If Labour was doing right in a politically left way, it would bring Maori conditions in health, education, skills training and housing up to the general pakeha level. That would be recognising race as being likely to have disadvantage going along with it.

      So looking at that situation from a racist point of view they would give Maori first opportunity on courses that would be paid for. But then looking at the other races, there would be placements for low- income pakeha and other races to perhaps 25% of numbers on the course. We can see we are different races, and we know that often there is disadvantage in some more than others. So acting to get better balance would be appropriate to tilt the scales on these special courses,.

      • Greywarbler “ They would give Maori first opportunity on courses that would be paid for.” They do. They long have. Maori have preferential category entry to law and medicine faculties at universities throughout New Zealand. They used to have more funding than non-Maori through the Maori Education Foundation, but I don’t know where funding comes from now. Maori and Pacifica, including Micronesian non-citizens, also have preferential advancement and promotion opportunities in some, if not all government departments. At the bottom of Bowen Street, a commercial enterprise called The Ministry of Food, provided the meeting place for government sponsored free drinks on Friday nights for employees ‘ born on a Pacific island ‘, but, according to a PSA delegate, not for melanin-lacking ones.

      • Greywarbler.
        Maori conditions in health, education, skills training are solely the result of Maori making personal lifestyle decisions.

        • I was replying to Dennis about racism; that it is not a bad word and using racist policies can have hugely beneficial effects for people in receipt of such special consideration which has a trickle down effect on society that works well for society.

          You Andrew are putting ion your snappy judgmental cap too fast in demeaning Maori personal decisions. We all get bent by our experiences as we grow up. What made you such a snappy, snippy person Andrew? How did you learn to be that way? Do you think you will be able to change to a more understanding POV after trying to retrain yourself over time?

          • Because there’s a thing called reality Greywarbler.

            Claiming racism in relation to poor health outcomes for Maori is a bit like changing your car’s spark plugs to remedy a lack of fuel in the tank. It’s both pointless and divisive; a distraction from the real issue: Individuals taking responsibility for their own decisions instead of expecting nanny state to bail them out at every turn. We all live in a wonderful country where both health and education are essentially free. All they have to do is avail themselves of what’s on offer.

        • Were you born with Fetal alcohol syndrome Andrew? That’s just an example of someone who doesn’t choose that lifestyle.

          Do you think a Maori child suffering debilitating breathing difficulties in a damp cold home “chooses” their life. Was it their decision? Sure the parents may have made bad decisions, yet the child grows up in an environment unlike you could ever imagine.

          You live a simple uncomplicated life and believe everyone else has the same opportunity. You are so naive.

        • Andrew I’ll go out on a limb, and say individuals are more likely to make good lifestyle decisions if they have the random good fortune to grow up under the care of two well-educated parents in a stable relationship, who aren’t under acute financial stress, have sober habits and take an active interest in their kids’ schooling. Unfortunately, all too many Maori don’t have the good fortune to be born into situations like that.

          • Bert & Pope P, you both made several excellent points there.

            All the evidence gathered from several western nations including ours, shows that kids born to solo mums on long term welfare are pretty much screwed the day they’re born. More than Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, meth babies, live in boyfriends who bash them, nutritional deficiencies and all manner of deprivations. The list of abuse for these poor kids is endless. It is an intergeneration problem that is caused by what exactly? And how do we begin to dig ourselves out of it? This topic is worth a thread all on its own.

            “You cannot subsidize irresponsibility and expect people to become more responsible.” – Thomas Sowell

            • The evidence is clear that – on average – kids born to solo Mums are at a disadvantage in life. There are of course incredible solo Mums who raise healthy and well-adjusted kids who go on to live fulfilling lives. But the grim stats should make our governments think hard about the welfare system, and also the education system. I think men should be held responsible for partly supporting the children they sire, and boys should be told at school that this is expected of them. Governments might also think about limitations on the number of kids that a woman can have on the DPB – the stats show it’s not a lifestyle to be encouraged, and it was initially intended to ease women out of a tight spot.

            • Andrew, working in the field as aforementioned, I ask the question regularly, how do we break the cycle?
              I never get an answer, despite money from Governments through the ages trying to tackle the problem.

              I would be a trillionaire if I had the answer. What’s yours?

    • Dennis anyone that subscribes to neo-conservatives like ‘John McWhorter’ who get a shit load of money spewing rhetoric that racism doesn’t exist towards black americans or POC is WOKE themselves! And your Idol ‘Sean Plonkett’ on the Platform keeps harping on about the Maori pati website as racist doesn’t check his comment sections where mainly Pakeha people start calling maori people cannibals and every other bigoted shit they can muster.

      • I don’t give a flying hoot for Sean Plunkent. Nor does the fact some dick is being bigoted on YouTube negate the racism of the new identarian Left. I believe they are worse because they now hold such political, cultural, and institutional power to play out their sick racism on NZ when no one really listens to Bill from Hokitika ranting on Rumble.

        You haven’t actually refuted any argument except throw slander and irrelevant, straw-man arguments.

        Explain to me how saying Maori are genetically superior nothing because Nazism of the new Left? Or race boundary-marking nothing but straight up racism?

        Race essentialism, stereotyping, race boundary-marking, denying agency, race separation, and low expectations are all hallmarks of the racism of the new, indentarian Left…..and the old KKK right.

        You might be right about many other things – I don’t know – but it’s clear you have your fist so far up your political tribalist ass you can’t see straight on this.

        • Well said Dennis. Don’t feel unduly maligned because you will find that Stephen never refutes anyone’s arguments he just says anyone to the right of his siloed thinking doesn’t understand the definition of racism.

        • Dennis pakeha are the racist in NZ they have a majority they own nearly everything and Pakeha seem to believe that they’re victims to Maori oppression buhahahahaha!! You’re fucken kidding throwing around the label racism and using neo- conservatives like John Mc Whorten and Sowell to put your point across is just BS

      • ACT and Seymour have repeated the racist card. it’s what they do.
        As for Davis, it seems ACTS “free speech” propaganda doesn’t include Davis.

        • Can you please come up with an actual argument? Please. I would love to see an actual cogent argument refute the points I made. All you ever do is throw in [Woke Leftist boogie-man].

          No one (Act included) said Delvis had no right to racist speech – I firmly believe he does. But as the new Left continually beat on and on and on and on about – with speech comes consequences. Or is that only consequences for the “non-approved” racism? The hypocrisy is unbelievable and corrupt.

          So go on, yell about Jordan Peterson or Winston Peters or who the hell you want. Maybe accuse me of being a facist? Or maybe assert I’m a QAnon? Throw another dead cat on the table, because you’re losing here.

          • Dennis. Yes, Davis, Davidson, Act, and everybody else has the right to free speech, and must continue to have that right. Even accepting the fact that most politicians are liars, the things that people say are an indication of how they think, and labour’s assault on freedom of speech interferes with that crucial dynamic and is unwarranted censorship. Existing laws already cover the bad practitioners. The silencing of the Commissioner for Children is a parallel repressive move.

          • Hang on Dennis, it’s either free speech or it isn’t?
            Or do those promoting free speech get to be arbitrator over who has the right?
            Who is Delvis?

      • Plunkett and Seymour complaining that Te Maori party website shows that Maori genetically are the superior race was misogynistic at best, racist at worst. To make matters worse, they both sounded drunk whilst doing it.
        There is a reason that Plunkett had to create his own ” Platform” and it wasn’t a good one.

    • “It is a known fact that Māori genetic makeup is stronger than others”.

      Taking that statement from a Brenton Tarrent/white supremacist view point,,, could mean ‘once a race traitor fucks the white out’ (has mixed race children) ,,, then it’s almost impossible ( takes generations & generations) to try and fuck it back in..

      White pedigree ‘gene’s’ are quite weak in this matter.

      However I think the Maori party were more likely clumsily trying to make a point about Maori over representation in certain sports that Nz excels at …. .

      But it’s rather stupid writing from them,,, which they should clarify,,,,, otherwise the true harbingers of fascism and enemy of the poor ,,,, ACT ,,,,, will make hay.

      • and what is ‘stronger genetic make-up?’ mixed race kids more likely to be dark? or propensity for violence(the discredited ‘warrior gene) or resistance genetic conditions? (numbers please)

        if a caucasian had spout such ignorant crap they’d rightly be pilloried.

  4. I dont care what anyone says, Karen Chlour is a women who supports economic and social policies that would plunge a good deal of Maori (and indeed Pasifika and Pakeha!) into complete and utter economic hardship.

    She supports slashing wages, benefits, getting rid of state housing, as well as allowing employers to impose sweatshop conditions.

    Kelvin is/was right.

    People who want downward pressure on living standards in this country, need to be called out as the evil they are.

  5. All he could offer was a bigoted slur. Some hillbilly racist trash talk. God help any MP who swapped the word “Pakeha” for “Maori” in the same sentence. Out on their ear!

    Davis is not worthy of our respect let alone the time of day. And I note our spineless PM does nothing but psuedo endorse it.

      • Well Millsy, there is no defending Acts policy of cutting wages. Absolutely not.
        Voters are left with poor choices. An ethnic nationalist govt dominated by ideology and right think who have been sneaky and dishonest about their policy agenda (and have made the country worse in terms of housing, health, education and race relations). Or a party who is honest about what they are going to do, but it’s going to be tough for the poor

      • Well we’ve handed out more and more welfare to prevent poverty, and poverty keeps increasing.

        Something about doing the same thing and expecting the different result???

        • something to do with people too dumb to roll on a condom or take a pill(?even the morning after variety bg
          too many kids is a guarantee of future poverty for the parents and the kids

    • There is an AWFUL lot of claptrap that comes out of our media and the political left about Mana Wahine.

      Yet here we have a particularly dimwitted male making a racist slur against a Maori woman who has been through the system and come out the other side of it, making her way into parliament without the benefit of hereditary privilege and what to do we hear from all these other wonderful, brave Mana Wahine? Crickets.

      The notable exception being Newshub’s Oriini Kaipara, who clearly has more class than all the women in Labour and the Greens combined, Ardern showing her true colours by not giving Davis the the verbal flogging he deserved.

    • Racism on the scale used by Davis has taken us to an all time low.
      A level endorsed by Ardern and her Cabinet.

    • He’s a racist with zero life experience outside of NZ. Typical of Northland Maori with a little status and a fat salary. An arrogant in effect underachiever. Fuck him!
      Piss weak response from Ardern as usual. This was racism . And she is too gutless to, mention the fucking great useless toxic elephant in her government.

      • What about Chlour’s desire to slash welfare and force single mothers into low paid shit jobs with shit conditions?

        • Can you point out the policies that will “slash welfare” because I have read most of Acts policies and can only see reference to indexing benefit increases to the CPI instead of average wage. I am genuinely interested. I had a friend who spent a long time on a benefit, she didn’t see the value in a low paying job – better off on the benefit. I explained to her that the low paying job was a stepping stone to higher pay. Eventually she took on a lowly paid job, worked terrible hours and spent a fortune on parking, but eventually she got a better job, them she started an apprenticeship. Sadly she passed away before she could complete it but she was incredibly proud that she no longer relied on the benefit, she had pride and self confidence and aspiration for the future. She had none of it on the benefit as a 30 year old woman.

          • Raf You make the point that we should all note, help people by encouraging them, giving short education courses. There should be no reason for people to have severe hardship while learning a new skill or trade, or doing short-term seasonal work or whatever they can cope with. It is the lack of assistance to do the training, and fit it into their needs, ie for transport or their support for some other vulnerable person.

            Working with the person, not oppressing, deriding, sneering or patronising which is often the case. It saps your hope and energy, and the authorities try to cut back on everything if they give something. If they gave a six months period where people could study and work and get transport to where they needed to go and earn what they could in that 6 months with no cutback and no layoff period and then review achievements, people would have got off their butts in the main. Some would need more intensive training but probably third-two thirds – the majority would be much better. Possibly planning then to do an apprenticeship or longer course with useful work at the end of it – not just PR jobs as many now aspire to. But it needs more a push in the back over a cliff which is how many in gummint or their ajencies treat it now.

          • But here’s the thing Stephen Chhour is Maori, just obviously not your type of Maori. And you cant see the bigotry in your own heart.

            • Fantail you clearly are mentioning something that I haven’t said!! Your idol Karen Chouury an opportunist and will use her Maori heritage to get votes from the majority this isn’t rocket science how do you think Winston was so successful in being re-elected?

            • Fantail she claiming Maori heritage but has nothing to do with Maori!! Is she at Marae? Does she help at tangi’s? Does she champion maori aspirations? Does she attend hui’s to help develop Maori children? She may have polynesian DNA but her policies that she’s advocating for are going to hurt the vulnerable and a lot of those vulnerable bodies are from the culture that she’s apart of!! That my problem with figures like her!! Just listen to ‘Winston Peters’, or her leader ‘David Seymour’ they do the same shit because it has political capital and Pakeha society likes these types of figures that put the boot into their own culture its been here since Pakeha arrived!!

              • I am of French heritage but don’t like escargot of frogs legs.
                Does that mean I’ve turned my back on my heritage?
                For interests sake Stephen do you have any European heritage?

      • Shona. “ This was racism “. Yes it was racism. And respect for your great grandparents, and mine too; hard working pioneers undeserving of being branded colonialists, land thieves etc by effete politicians who manage to feather their own nests while contributing little, if anything at all, to the good of the community.

  8. Kelvin Davis epitomises the new breed of state sponsored racists and bigots that are morphing into our society at a frightening pace.
    And those within the realms of power are doing sweet FA about calling out these antics.

    • Mark Bowie ‘September 29, 2022 at 6:19 pm
      Kelvin Davis epitomises the new breed of state sponsored racists and bigots that are morphing into our society at a frightening pace.’

      Got proof?

    • Both Natonal and their ACT spawn helped Labours Kelvin Davis get elected ,,,, literally instructing their voters to vote for Davis ,,,,

      All to only just, but successfully, unseat Hone Hariwira.

      The greens were the only party not in on that coordinated cross-party dirty politics skull-skulduggery ….

      I’ve never liked Davis for this reason.

  9. This will get tough I think, if you don’t accept the “Te Ao Maori” as interpreted by the aristocrats of certain Maori tribes, then you are not a real Maori.

  11. What Davis is in fact doing is suggesting that only Maori children are vulnerable children, which is simply not true. Or he might be saying that non- Maori children don’t matter. Or he ‘s still smarting about what allegedly happened to his Pomare ancestors over 100 years ago so to hell with everybody else. He’s not the brightest, and nor is Marama Davidson who may have a similar ethno-centric approach to her portfolio for sexual and family abuse and violence. I think that she was sent back to the drawing board with the first working plan which she produced as it was too Maori, and apart from flapping around with a photo op about te Reo chocolate, she seems to have done little to ameliorate the lot of victims of all ethnicities living lives of ongoing hell, or dying, or being irreparably damaged by those lives.

    Davis has previously stood in Parliament and proclaimed all opposition politicians privileged descendants of land thieves which is a downright lie, and deluded. It’s part of the divide and rule dialectic which may now be on the wane globally, but I assume that it suits PM Ardern with her and Sepuloni’s shocking kneecapping of the Commissioner for Children for self- protective political purposes, and powerless needy children once again the victims.

    Davis should be put in the naughty corner for using cliched adolescent terminology, but chances are some adolescent wrote it anyway.

    Shame that the Treaty’s stopping vulnerable children receiving optimum care, a crying shame, and well done Act, speaking up for them. Don’t stop.

  14. Chris Trotter our country isn’t 250 years old, it’s only 182 years old and contrary to popular misconception, after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, NZ was not magically transformed into a colony ruled from Britain. Actually little had changed in many districts. Outside a few small coastal European settlements, Crown rule remained for much of a period prior to the 1860s a matter of negotiation with Maori communities.

    Iwi in many regions continued to manage their own affairs. but what the treaty did do was signal the start of a period of mass migration to NZ that would see Maori reduced to a minority in their own country within two decades. And many of those new settlers were not willing (and there still is a significant number) to defer to a bunch of people they dismissively called ‘natives’. Victorian white supremacist assumptions of racial superiority, brought to these shores by many of the immigrants, contributed further to the decline in relationships with Maori. Maori may have hope and expected to enter into a partnership based on goodwill. But Pakeha expected to be in charge.

    As settlers started to sense the balance of power shifting in their favour, the old order, based on a kind of middle ground’ where both parties parties mostly managed to rub along each other most of the time gave way to a new darker phase in relations. Personally I have no time for the Labour lead govt who have only enriched the already wealthy, and Kelvin Davis should shut his fucken trap as he has shown on many occasions his ability to put his foot in his foul mouth and is a waste of fucken space!!

    • Interesting historical analysis there Stephen. My great great great grandfather arrived here from England 190 years ago. He was 13 years old. He traveled here with his brother who was 16 years old. He then spent 50 years working his guts out . Working in both NZ and Australia.Not stealing land or colonising anyone. Just working and raising his five sons with his wife. Furthering his education wherever he could. Like our PM you seem to have missed a bloody great chunk of the history of settlement in this country by Europeans.

      • Shona your fable family historic story comes without credential or put it bluntly ‘FACTS’ I personally would prefer to leave my family out of online discussions because they’re difficult to prove if the writer is lying or not?

        I’ve provided a snippet of historic facts I’ll even leave a link to prove my point! You’ve just wrote something that can’t be verified. The point I was making is our country isn’t 250 years old that Chris Trotter insinuated because he’s claiming it from when the second lot of Europeans arrive to our shores on the 6 October 1769 and didn’t stay long. I merely pointed out that Europeans (Pakeha) derived their laws and legitimacy from the ‘Treaty of Waitangi’ the irony is that a significant amount of pakeha now want to get rid of this document or remain historically illiterate.

        http://www.enzb.auckland.ac.nz/

        • Stephen your reference is to correspondence written in English thought you didn’t support anything pakeha wrote about history?
          I think Shona’s account of her history is less fabled than many others.

      • Why has Ardern “missed” your grandfather? Trying to address wrong doings by the CROWN like taking land, killing the language, or conveniently not teaching NZ history at all is nothing to do with missing out your grandfather.

        • Wheel. Ardern missed Shona’s g grandfather because she doesn’t read books, but she intended reading one last Christmas. None of them know their history, I think Marama’s worse; however scanty school curriculums may have been, it’s no excuse for ignorant politicians.

    • I didn’t say New Zealand was 250 years old, Stephen, I said the Maori world, pristine and unsullied, ended 250 (253 if we’re being precise) years ago when Cook and his crew arrived off the North Island’s East Coast in 1769.

      Nor would I dispute you description of the relationships between Maori and Pakeha communities between 1840 and 1860.

      My principal argument still stands, however, because, once annexed by the British, these islands could never have avoided the profound changes that followed.

      Te Ao Maori is a metaphor – not a place. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not a bridge, it is a highly contentious political document.

      • And further point. The French and others were breathing down the Brits neck as they established themselves as the hegemonic group. I think the Brits were going through a period where they were aiming at integrity in their dealings with other lands, different races.
        To brush up on our recorded history that tries to be factual:
        https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/treaty-timeline/treaty-events-1800-1849

        https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/background-to-the-treaty/british-policy
        Protecting Māori, regulating land transactions, controlling the activities of settlers and dealing with the influx of New Zealand Company migrants underpinned British policy in 1839. Other nations watched with interest. French and American whalers used New Zealand waters and ports. The United States had appointed the English trader James Clendon as its consul to New Zealand in 1839, and a shipload of French colonists was heading for New Zealand. The manner in which Britain annexed the country would be crucial to the kind of nation New Zealand became, and especially to the relationship between its British and Māori citizens.

        What did the French do in the Pacific? ‘The history of the Society Island groups is virtually that of Tahiti, which was made a French protectorate in 1842 and a colony in 1880.’ It became a French Overseas Territory in 1957 with the official name French Polynesia. ‘[It] is a parliamentary democracy, with a 57-seat Assembly and an executive headed by a President (akin to the Speaker), elected by a simple majority vote within the Assembly for a five-year term.’ There are native Kanaks trying to regain identity in Melanesia. ‘French Polynesia is a semi-autonomous territory of France with its own assembly, president, budget and laws.’ ‘The UN refers to it as a ‘Non-Self-Governing Territory’.
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanak_people

  17. I think Kelvin Davis has done us a service to baldly refer to ‘the Maori way’. Tribalism – the fundamental way of life of all human societies – back in the mists of time. Only some of us have been thinking we are ‘one people’, and trying (imperfectly) to make laws to meet the needs of a wide range of differences. Others know that the right way to behave is to do what you have to, to look after your own. Of course you get contracts for your family – nepotism is normal – hey there’s no word for nepotism in te reo. It’s how we have always survived. If there’s a pile of money acquired for one purpose, but we need it now – what fools we’d be not to use it. Of course there are crooks in all cultures, but it seems ‘ the Maori way’, when it’s to benefit your own tribe is a positive virtue. Even though many people carry much more DNA from outside these islands, I guess a culture built on centuries of isolation from the rest of humanity and a pressing need to make war on tribes who continually threaten one’s safety have been powerful determinants. Colonialism! they cry. Well – tribalism is only another facet of colonialism – or do I mean the other way round? Anyway I’m beginning to regret I started this, but we’re pretty sick of all this racism Kelvin and Nanaia and Willie et al. Goodness sake let’s get real for the world of today.

  19. Forget about Trotter, read ACT manifesto. They hate Brown people especially Maori. This woman will look bad if Luxon and Seymour get into Power.

      • Agree with Barry and Bert. A cursory look at ACT policy is quite clear–they are a party of Māori bashers.

        Kelvin is not my cup of, but he was pointing out the rather obvious. A Māori woman like Karen who has had a hard life is surely in the wrong place with Mr Seymour & co.

        • Tiger mountain, Karen is free to be where and think how she likes.

          I am not sure if I d call what Davis said racist. For me it showed the arrogance of people who believe that everyone must share their “right think”. I abhore this

        • Tiger mountain, Karen is free to be where and think how she likes.

          I am not sure if I d call what Davis said racist. For me it showed the arrogance of people who believe that everyone must share their “right think”. I abhore this

        • Tiger mountain, Karen is free to be where and think how she likes.

          I am not sure if I d call what Davis said racist. For me it showed the arrogance of people who believe that everyone must share their “right think”. I abhore this

    • Where exactly in ACTs manifesto does it show they hate Maaori? ACT labours under the delusion that the private sector does nearly everything better than the state – that, not racism, is the problem with ACT.

      • Agree Pope, although with the staggering incompetence/arrogance/self interest of the public sector seen now, the private sector doing more seems a fair consideration.

        • matron, when has privatising public sector functions to the private sector ever
          a-saved money
          b-provided a better service
          c-provided a cheaper service

          and as a supplemental question…provided a helpline that works

          just one example will be fine

  22. North America.Canada,Alaska, almost five odd Percent of loss, of syberior land mass. Tourist, eh , new zealand, Small place,no hinterland massive.

  24. I am with Millsy upthread. ACT is a party of Māori bashers. Chhour is in the wrongest of wrong parties like Donna Awatere was all those years ago. In fact any ACT MP is either consciously bad or needs a good therapist and support.

    If you have a class left perspective it is never wrong to expose and attack ACT, the filthiest of Roger Douglas legacies, and a proxy for where NZ National really stands, as evidenced by their Epsom Electorate gift every election.

    • Thank you. The people posting on here leave me at a loss.

      Thankfully, my ban on The Standard will be lifted in a month, and I can go back to commenting among more likeminded people.

      • It seems that you people are wandering off the point about Oranga Tamariki’s behaviour. Getting stuck with party attitudes and personalities is for another time and place.

        Kelvin Davis deflected the criticism in Parliament with a racial excuse and that is worrying. We want human caring and responsibility, not reference to the Treaty when there is a hard question to answer, an egregious fault being found. This from Labour’s Deputy Prime Minister FGS.

        This is what happened, from the post above:
        Challenged in the House, by Chhour, to account for Oranga Tamariki’s treatment of vulnerable children, Davis, the responsible minister, responded: “What the Member needs to do is cross the bridge that is Te Tiriti o Waitangi from her Pākehā world into the Māori world and understand exactly why, how the Māori world operates.”

        • I was incorrect. Kelvin Davis is not Labour’s Deputy PM. He’s Deputy of the Labour Party I think correctly, but 3rd in line of power in the government. I think that I’ve got it right now – looked it up and noted it on the other Post about Davis and his unconcern about Oranga Tamariki. That is what I am truly concerned about myself in this case.

    • Well Trevor this Kelvin Davis kerfuffle has racist remarks as being ok.
      Endorsed by Jacinda Ardern and her cabinet.
      Kelvin has opened the flood gates now that racism is acceptable.

  27. Karen Chhour should be apologising to the Maori people, and to all of us in Aotearoa/NZ, for belonging to the ACT Party. Their policies are appalling and if ever implemented would be as bad if not worse than the Tories in Britain, in fact, would be a form of neoliberal fascism as we are seeing in Italy and elsewhere. Why is nobody saying this? Kelvin Davis is right and has nothing to apologise for.

    • Well put Paul Judge. Kelvin is no sophisticated political thinker, but he knows instinctively what he sees in Karen Chhour & ACT.

    • Paul Judge my thoughts exactly. She uses her Maori DNA as a political tool classic pandering to the majority white voters. She wants to repeal the treaty-based provisions specific only to tamariki Māori who come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki and Maori children make up 2/3rds of clients to this agency. Since the release of the 1988 report ‘Puao-te-ata-Tu’, the hopes and aspirations held by whānau, hapū and iwi for their tamariki remain unmet.

      She was brought up by her loving Maori grandmother but wasn’t allowed to continue looking after her because of her age. If this provision was around when she was young then her grandmother and whanau would of been allowed to raise her and her life wouldn’t of been so traumatic being moved everywhere.

      She clearly a sham using her Maori DNA as a political tool is fucken digusting but she’s not the first. Names like Winston Peters, David Seymour, Paula Bennett, Simon Bridges etc… then they pull the ladder up after they’ve climb it.

  28. I hear it all the time, the bits from here: “Māori aristocracy, and the te Reo-speaking, tertiary-educated, professionals and managers of the Māori middle-class (the only Māori worth listening to?) will soon be wielding very real authority.”

    Usually it’s in the context around the ‘uppity Māori are being given all the loot and it’s going to a handful who are taking over the country.’

    From people who didn’t mind a cabal like the ilk of Fay & Richwhite doing the same thing.

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