New Zealand women got the vote in 1893; they got the right to stand for parliament a generation later in 1919. But there has never been a parliamentary party based on gender. That's because most women do not put being female first and foremost in their lives. Their gender is an accident of birth. So too most Maori do not put their ethnicity (as mixed as it is) first and foremost. That's a safe assumption based on the fact that most Maori do not vote for the Maori Party.
So why does it exist? The Maori Party is a movement. It's becoming more aggressive and radical in its expression. The leaders have to periodically outrage the majority to catch the attention of a malleable minority by using words like' holocaust' and 'genocide'. No matter that such mass acts never took place in this country. What really matters is garnering support. The means justify the end.
There is a sense now that the protest against the Treaty Principles bill, with its highly visible Maori Party branding, is turning into something else. It is an answer to the clarion call that 'Maori are under attack.'
They aren't. Maori are no more under attack than any other group affected by policy decisions taken to undo six years of profligate spending, reduce inflation, make housing more affordable and get the private sector producing. That's all of us. Down-sizing the bloated public service has meant job losses across the board - men, women, young and old, Maori and non-Maori.
It's true that when unemployment increases Maori are disproportionately affected. But so are Pacific people, the young and women. Other than Maori, is there a political party for any of these other distinct groups? No.
Yet there is the Maori Party. Just the word 'Maori', along with its rich symbolism, the haka, the sovereignty flag, must have a very profound effect on many people, as the recent hikoi demonstrated. Many non-Maori have jumped on board as if not doing so would make them part of the so-called attack.
But NZ Europeans do not need to virtue signal their empathy with Maori. They have physically signaled it since the two races met, by falling in love and marrying each other and making children together. Therein lies the uniqueness of New Zealand.
What NZ is currently experiencing isn't just a reaction to the Treaty Principles bill. It is the importation of critical race theory, the Black Lives Matter movement. Yet Maori share little in common with the American negro. Nor do they resemble other 'first peoples' such as Aboriginal Australians or Canadian Inuit who have also largely remained distinct unmixed groups. Much to the chagrin of people like Hone Harawira, Maori and non-Maori are thoroughly intertwined. More Maori partner with non-Maori than each other.
That's why as a country we have to find a way forward together. People can choose their own cultural practices and beliefs but a constitution that enshrines the same basic rights for all is utterly essential for a peaceful and prosperous future.
Lindsay Mitchell blogs here