Atlas Network: The trojan horse infecting New Zealand

Decades ago, a young David Seymour – before he became Leader of the A.C.T. Party – and two ideological heroes of his attended a forum in Canada. One was former Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson, most notorious for her Mother of All Budgets in 1991 which essentially declared war on the welfare state. The other was Roger Douglas, whose “Rogernomics” deregulatory philosophy enabled some extremely painful – though somewhat necessary – liberalisation of how the economy ran.

They were there to learn about Atlas Network, and – indeed – become a part of it. Atlas Network is a global network of lobby groups. Their aim is to encourage Governments to do away with regulation, both good and bad, loosen environmental, social and ethical safeguards and essentially get out of peoples lives.

There are people who will say that Atlas Network are good. These people may believe so for several reasons:

• They are disenchanted with the mainstream politics of New Zealand
• Have not received any education about critical thinking, and may not be able to spot red flags when they are visible
• They have been party to lobby groups in the past

It is not helpful that at least some of the people who work for mainstream media, have backgrounds working for lobby groups. Luke Malpass, a contributor to Stuff News, used to work for the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

The Free Speech Union, which – per its name – advocates for absolute freedom of speech is one example of one of these lobby groups. It has campaigned on the abolition of limitations on speech, which include offensive, inflammatory and degrading commentary. Examples of how their work has impacted New Zealand, can be seen in comments by Mr Seymour about blowing up the Ministry of Pacific Affairs. He claimed it was a joke taken out of context. Other examples include the hugely vitriolic abuse directed at media, M.P.’s such as former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and academics like Dr Siouxsie Wiles. The F.S.U. campaign would enable more such abuse to flood social media. Its board include commentator Ani O’Brien and Screenwriter Dane Giraud

Another one is the Taxpayers Union. This has been one of the most high profile groups, with its Chief Executive Jordan Williams, plus former Minister of Finance Ruth Richardson, former A.C.T. M.P. John Boscawen and blogger David Farrar. The T.P.U. has actively attacked all government policy that has not actively promoted minimalist government and taxes. It has promoted the abolition of Government departments, the loss of thousands of public service jobs in Wellington, with complete indifference to the socio-economic damage being caused by it.

A third, and possibly the most damaging to New Zealand, is Hobsons Pledge. This group, which New Zealand First M.P. and Minister of the Crown Casey Costello is/was a founding member of, has the goal of completely derailing the Treaty of Waitangi. To them, Te Tiriti o Waitangi is an aberration, a gravy train that sucks billions of dollars out of the Government coffers, for people that their most virulent members believe to be savages.

Why do I oppose Atlas Network?

Simple. They are a trojan horse that has infiltrated into New Zealand through astroturf organizations such as the ones I described above. They promote the culture wars that New Zealand First, A.C.T. and National are actively stoking. These wars are essential to their cause because they act as a smoke screen. People get distracted and irritated by the smoke screen and fail to notice the more serious actions going on in the background. This includes the disestablishment of the Ministry for Environment, the attempt to undermine decades of hard won progress on Treaty of Waitangi redress. More recently it is why New Zealand First has introduced a controversial Bill of Parliament to define what a woman is. New Zealand First, and in particular Winston has been aggressively anti-transgender people, which is a major departure from a party that used respect the L.G.B.T. community.

New Zealand does not need to play into the dodgy hands of Atlas Network. No one in New Zealand except the lobby groups, and A.C.T. will win from playing this dumb game.

One of the reasons I actively support The Opportunity Party at the moment is because the party sees the culture wars for what they are: a smokescreen for dodgy political and corporate behaviour in the background. It understands that the idea of the N.Z.F. Bill of Parliament, the behaviour of Hobsons Pledge and the virulence of the Free Speech Union is to inflame social tensions in New Zealand and divide New Zealanders.