By Dr Muriel Newman

In 1979 a group of Maori sovereignty activists visited Cuba and began collaborating with representatives of the Palestine Liberation Front. An adaptation of the PLF’s ‘Strategy for the Liberation of Palestine’ became a template for a radical agenda to gain political control of New Zealand.

Two strategies formed the basis of their blueprint.

Through biculturalism, which divided society along racial lines, they aimed to redesign the country’s institutions to prioritise Maori language and culture, by embedding activists within the government service to change the system from within, and over time they wanted all land returned to Maori.

Then, by reinterpreting the Treaty of Waitangi as a ‘partnership’, they set the scene for co-governance and Maori control of decision-making.

It is hard to believe just how effective their divisive plan has been.

One of the movement’s original leaders, who visited Cuba and was at the forefront of protest action, is now the Deputy Chairman of TVNZ.

Furthermore, it is now virtually impossible to escape the oppressive influence of tribalism in this country – whether at sporting events, cultural functions, or meetings, the sovereignty agenda dominates. Since any attempt to stop them dictating proceedings invokes accusations of racism, bullying, even threats of violence, almost everyone panders to their demands.

The Coalition Government, however, was elected with a mandate to turn things around – including ensuring State institutions return to using the English language first, with Maori second.

But a quick browse around public sector websites, shows many agencies have taken no notice of the Coalition’s directives.

The Council for Educational Research, which operates under the auspices of the Minister of Education, is a case in point. It still goes under the name Rangahau Matauranga o Aotearoa, it still uses pidgin English: “Whakatere tōmua is our mahi…”, and with “decolonising education” listed as one of its key priorities, there are concerns that this agency is still delivering He Puapua – the former Labour Government’s radical sovereignty agenda.

Or what about the Minister of Conservation Tama Potaka? How committed is he to Coalition goals when he not only prioritises Maori names and phrases in his communications, but is also proposing to strengthen Maori as ‘partners’ in managing the DOC estate – one of a series of initiatives that are presently undergoing public consultation HERE.

The reality is that blatant breaches of Coalition policy raise concerns about how committed they really are about unwinding the radicalisation of State institutions instigated by the Office of Maori Crown Relations – an agency established by the Ardern Government in collaboration with iwi leaders. By infiltrating the State sector with the requirement to “Actively promote the principles of Partnership, Participation and Active Protection under Te Tiriti o Waitangi acknowledging Māori as a Te Tiriti partner”, the framework was set for Maori sovereignty to flourish.

The Maori version of the Treaty – Te Tiriti o Waitangi – which has been redefined to suit their purpose, underpins their strategy.

That’s why the NZCPR distributed a million copies of Sir Apirana Ngata’s 1922 explanation of the original meaning of the Maori version of the Treaty to New Zealand households – and why we are currently sending out thousands more. We wanted the public to see for themselves that in spite of activist claims, the Maori version of the Treaty contains no reference to principles nor partnerships and is explicit about the fact that Maori ceded sovereignty to the Queen.

The embedding of the Treaty partnership concept did not stop at state agencies. The next target was organisations that rely on the Government for funding (like the media through the Public Interest Journalism Fund) and registration (like Real Estate Agents).

Now their focus is on 24,000 private sector incorporated societies. In 2022, Labour updated the Incorporated Societies Act, requiring all existing societies to re-register with a new constitution by April 2026. This is providing an opportunity for groups as diverse as the Blind Foundation to pétanque clubs to be infiltrated with Treaty clauses.

Thousands of organisations throughout the country are now being asked to authorise new constitutions that include “Te Tiriti o Waitangi” provisions, even though obligations regarding the Treaty are the sole responsibility of the Crown – not local government nor the private sector.

Unless the Coalition issues an instruction to societies explaining there is no requirement to include Treaty clauses in their constitution, there is a real risk that these organisations will become ‘captured’ by Maori sovereignty activists.

Back in 2010, Chris Trotter outlined what can happen to organisations that become ‘captured’. He described the fate of the once highly successful charity Corso, which had been established in New Zealand in 1944 to provide clothing and footwear to millions of people around the world:

“Throughout the 1980s Corso was steadily infiltrated and eventually taken over by radical Maori nationalists. Led by the Harawira family, the radicals insisted that Corso recognise and promote tino rangatiratanga – the Maori right to self-determination. To prove its bona fides to the cause of the tangata whenua, Corso was also required to devote two-thirds of its income to Maori projects. When Corso workers and supporters objected to this takeover they were subjected to withering criticism – it was much easier to leave than to fight. By 1990, the organisation was little more than a hollowed-out shell. New Zealand’s largest and most successful home-grown aid organisation had been destroyed: initially, by ideological extremism; and finally, by radical Maori nationalism.”

To avoid anything similar happening in the future, society members need to reject the inclusion of Treaty or partnership clauses in their new constitutions on the basis that there’s no official requirement for them to be included. All such references should be removed, and if sovereignty advocates oppose such a course of action, a ballot of all members should be requested.

The Rugby Union has shown only too graphically where Treaty clauses can lead. In their case, their constitution contains the provision: “NZRU acknowledges the status of Māori as tangata whenua in New Zealand and Te Tiriti ō Waitangi as the founding document of Aotearoa New Zealand.”

The recent controversy over a pre-match haka being used to support the radical activism of the Maori Party, signals a line has been crossed from sport into politics, with the All Blacks becoming a de-facto advocate for Parliament’s most radical party.

The Maori Party has, of course, revealed their strategy to gain the balance of power in Parliament: grow the number of Maori seats from 7 to 20, by encouraging Maori to sign onto the Maori electoral roll. This was the primary purpose of their “hikoi” – they not only gained a database of 200,000 from an online petition, but more than 3,000 voters also signed onto the Maori roll. This will likely result in the number of Maori seats in Parliament increasing from 7 to 8, with the number of list seats decreasing correspondingly.

Support for Maori sovereignty is also evident throughout the justice system, with judicial activism now apparent at the very highest levels of our courts.

This is the reason behind the need for amending legislation to the Marine and Coastal Area Act. While Parliament set a high bar for applicants seeking Customary Title to our coast – by requiring claimed areas to be held exclusively and continuously since 1840 – Judges ignored Parliament’s intentions and opened the door to Maori control of the entire coastline.

While the Coalition Government is now amending the law to reaffirm Parliament’s intention, the strengthened law only applies to those claims that have yet to be decided by the courts.

With most of the Customary Title awards under the old law still under appeal, the Government has left it to the Supreme Court to determine their fate.

During last month’s Supreme Court hearing, we argued that Parliament’s intention had always been clear, and that the lower Courts deliberately misrepresented the law. In order, therefore, to ensure that all claims under the Marine and Coastal Area Act are determined by exactly the same criteria, we recommended that all cases under appeal should now be returned to the High Court and retried under Parliament’s strengthened law.

The Supreme Court judgment is due to be released on Monday. If it dismisses our appeal and sides with the activist judges in the lower courts, then it too will be thumbing its nose at Parliament.

Should that be the case, the Coalition should introduce an amendment as a Supplementary Order Paper during the Committee Stages of the bill to send all claims under appeal back to the High Court to be retried under the amended law.

The importance of having an independent party acting in the public interest in the claims process cannot be overstated. Without it, no one would be challenging Maori groups claiming title, and no one would be challenging activist judges who are disrespecting Parliament by bending over backwards to give control of the coast to Maori. In particular, it is of crucial importance to be a participant in the first case under a new law, to ensure the Courts interpret it as Parliament intended.

It was only through our involvement in that first Edwards case under the old law that we were able to raise the alarm about the disaster that would have unfolded if the law hadn’t been changed.

We now believe it’s imperative that we repeat the exercise and join in the first case under the amended law to ensure it works as Parliament intends. To do this, however, we will require support – if you are able to assist us in this challenge, we would be very grateful: please click HERE to help.

The Treaty of Waitangi has been a point of contention for as long as it has existed. The problem now however is the degree to which young Maori in particular have been radicalised against the establishment and brainwashed into believing a litany of lies about the Treaty. That too was a long-term strategy of the 1979 Maori sovereignty activists – and they have well and truly achieved their goal.

This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator is Anthony Willy, a former Judge and Law Lecturer, who, through his comprehensive analysis of the sovereignty controversy, explains:

“It was not until the 1970s when the first stirrings among a group of closet Marxist inspired Maori activists, that a debate emerged concerning the of the meaning of the ‘Treaty’ – a document, which is not recognised at International Law as a treaty for the simple reason it was not made between sovereign states… It has since matured into the belated notion that somehow the 1840 document created a political system in New Zealand in which persons of Maori descent can claim that they ‘in partnership with the Crown’ have the right to exercise Sovereignty over all New Zealanders.

“The notion is bizarre… It defies thousands of years of human history, not to mention the clear provisions of our Constitution Act which provide that the Sovereign power in New Zealand is the British Monarch acting with the advice and consent of our democratically elected Parliament. Certainly, such a notion of shared governance cannot exist in the modern highly sophisticated society in which we all live and are bound by the laws by which we are all governed.”

What has become evident in this whole debate about Maori sovereignty, is that the strategy adapted from the Palestine Liberation Front revolutionaries has been very effective in laying the foundations for tribal rule here in New Zealand.

The former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Labour government made things much worse: through an act of the gross betrayal they implemented the secret He Puapua agenda of radicalised Maori, weaponising State institutions to deliver sovereignty goals.

And that’s the reality we now face – unless the Coalition steps up and forces the removal of Treaty clauses, not only in legislation but in constitutions and operational protocols throughout the State sector, the Maori sovereignty movement will continue to march on.

Dr Muriel Newman established the New Zealand Centre for Political Research as a public policy think tank in 2005 after nine years as a Member of Parliament. A former Chamber of Commerce President, her background is in business and education.

Originally published on NZCPR