As the tenure of Winston Peters as Deputy Prime Minister draws to a close, the A.C.T. Party are gathering for a celebration of their leader the Hon. David Seymour becoming Deputy Prime Minister on 31 May. But as Mr Peters prepares to stand down from the Deputy Prime Ministers job, questions must arise of whether Mr Seymour is fit for the job.
The question might seem redundant given that Mr Seymour will invariably take over the role of Deputy Prime Minister at the end of 31 May 2025. And yet, it is one that needs to be asked because, for all the noises government makes about the need to work for all New Zealanders, it is pretty obvious that A.C.T. have an agenda supported by foreign actors.
Atlas Network, which David Seymour collaborated with before he became a Member of Parliament is a network of so-called astroturf organizations who are actually rightwing lobby groups – Taxpayers Union, Free Speech Union, Hobsons Pledge, the New Zealand Institute and others are just a few of these groups. Worldwide there are more than 500, and all have a minimalist government/free speech/free property rights/minimal tax agenda.
At the meetings that Mr Seymour attended there were also former Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson whose 1991 “Mother of All Budgets”, where wholesale cuts were made across the board to social welfare also earnt her philosophy the dubious term “Ruthenasia”. Roger Douglas, whose market reforms in the late 1980s set New Zealand on the current neoliberal path, is another one to have taken an interest in Atlas Network.
Whilst Mr Seymour has been a Minister of the Crown, he has actively espoused freedom of speech in New Zealand. It might seem non-threatening to the uninformed, but these calls have been seized upon by the Free Speech Union, which has defended the right of far right activists to exercise hate speech, which has turned the race relations narrative toxic, and emboldened various activists. Nonetheless Mr Seymour persists.
But perhaps the most dangerous aspect of Mr Seymours politics, has been the radicalisation of A.C.T.’s anti-Maori agenda. One might say that this is double speak given that he has a Maori M.P., Karen Chhour, in his caucus. Ms Chhour has actively attacked the work of Oranga Tamariki, deliberately setting out to undermine its work. He ignores, as does Ms Chhour to the reasons for O.T. being established – namely to provide alternative care for Maori children alienated by the State, undermining its role as the Ministry for Children. The attacks on Oranga Tamariki and more recently the politicisation by another A.C.T. Member of Parliament Dr Parmjeet Parmar of assessment schedules at University of Auckland, are part of a broader campaign to “remove race based policies and support”.
The whole reason for such things in the first place, has NOTHING to do with race. It is an acknowledgment that Maori have been historically discriminated by the State through its institutions, its policies, its staff. It is an acknowledgement that Maori care for tamariki has been discriminated against to the point that learning te reo Maori was openly frowned upon; Maori were not listened to – and still are not in many cases – by non-Maori medical specialists, social workers, teachers, the Police, Courts and so forth. The subsequent breakdown in mutual trust between Maori and a system that is inherently biased against them subsequently led to them now having a life expectancy of 10 years less than other New Zealanders; lower literacy, and other academic performance indicators.
Measures like Oranga Tamariki, Maori Electorates and institutional practices such as having test exams are an attempt to assist Maori and also Pasifika peoples in getting around these matters.
Get ready for the next 18 months. They could be the rockiest 18 months of New Zealand politics since the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. All because the man who is about to become Deputy Prime Minister is in cahoots with a very shadowy network of lobby groups who do not have New Zealand’s best interests at heart.
Leftist Kiwi Writes 