The steady stream of revisionist gibberish coming out of Māori Party rhetoric these days is eye-watering. They never miss an opportunity to bamboozle ordinary folks with silly word salads, half of which are spoken in a tongue only 4% of New Zealanders can even understand.
Take this for example:
In a recent interview with Jack Tame on Q+A, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer claimed—yet again—that “Māori never ceded sovereignty” and that at the time the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, “there were two sovereigns: the Crown and the sovereign of the hapū and iwi. The hour, the minute, the second before our natural development was interfered with, what we had was Māori determining their self-determination, and we had those who arrived, who weren’t doing well, who actually had to be looked after by their own sovereign.”
When gently pressed by Tame, Packer admitted that, as Māori, she has “more rights” than the rest of us—“indigenous rights”—though she tried to pass off that disgraceful admission as “more obligations to protect Aotearoa.” When Tame framed his next question around New Zealand moving forward in a modern world with equal standards of citizenship, Packer doubled down, stating, “We have different expectations and different rights, absolutely.”
So, there it is: racial apartheid is the single-minded goal of Te Pāti Māori.
This reply from Packer reminded me starkly of Jacinda Ardern during her spectacularly morbid COVID lockdowns. When asked by a journalist if she saw what she was doing as forming “two different classes of people, vaccinated and unvaccinated—where the vaccinated have all these rights,” Jacinda interrupted, grinning smugly: “That is what it is. Yup, yup.”
I’m old enough to remember a time when pushing for apartheid—racial or medical—was a shameful position, a divisive stance that nobody wanted to admit for fear of being judged a fascist. Yet, politics in New Zealand over the last few years seems to be smoking these types out of the hut. Maybe that’s a good thing. At least destructive political agendas are now being stated openly. Jacinda tore this country asunder with her divisive policies, and Packer would do the same if given half a chance.
Let’s just cut through the BS: far from being united under a single sovereign, as Packer imagines, Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) were engaged in relentless internecine warfare. Colonisers and settlers from Britain eventually put a stop to the savagery. The chiefs ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria via the Treaty of Waitangi in exchange for protection from other European powers, who might not have been as genteel. Packer’s notion that “there were two sovereigns” is comic fiction.
The British had outlawed slavery in 1833 in all their colonies with the Slavery Abolition Act—years before the Treaty was signed. The only people to practice slavery in these islands were Māori, until colonisation ended it.
When Packer claims “before our natural development was interfered with,” she conveniently ignores that Māori were not naturally developing at all. What spurred Māori development was colonisation. By 1867, all Māori males over 21 could vote, and dedicated Māori parliamentary seats ensured representation as equal citizens under the Crown.
From the way Packer and her activist ilk talk, you’d think Māori were subjected to 184 years of ruthless barbarity. I assure you, they were not. The welfare state, not colonisation, has been the true thief of Māori potential—as it has been for many Europeans. Generational dependence on government handouts destroys ambition and fosters entitlement. It’s a curse no matter your race.
There are many extraordinarily successful Māori who reject this toxic fixation on the past. They know that success comes from values and choices, not endless grievance. They must find Packer’s rhetoric about their race deeply embarrassing and patronising.
If Māori want progress—and most do—they must reject these divisive narratives. The only way forward for all of us is to embrace timeless virtues: responsibility, resilience, and a strong work ethic.
Olivia Pierson blogs here. This piece was first published on the The Good Oil