It’s hard to keep up with our adroit Prime Minister who apparently doesn’t like answering questions, such as the one about where does life begin, put to her when she was enthusiastic about making abortion more readily available. We are still waiting.
And now, a not unexpected sequel to the extraordinary tractor protest, organised by Groundswell New Zealand, which saw thousands of farm vehicles travelling the length and breadth of the country. Through 55 towns and cities, farmers protested at ongoing interference from our hard-left government, including unworkable regulations and unjustified costs.
These protests took place in July from the bottom of the South Island to the top of the North, crossing through Auckland, from Southland to Kaitaia. The leader of the Green Party, James Shaw, disgracefully dismissed this extraordinary event at the time as ‘a group of Pakeha farmers down south.’ Yet an estimated 60,000 people were involved, hardly what Shaw dishonestly claimed. And why the disparaging ‘Pakeha’, long objected to by many New Zealanders?
We are used to politicians not telling the truth — which no doubt contributes to their being among the least respected sectors of the population. But any blatant misrepresentation of a fact rather gives the show away, bringing home to us how little we should trust those making statements they must know are untruthful, particularly if they do not want to face up to what is actually happening, or when their extremist policies are being challenged.
More slippery are the politicians who manage to simply avoid answering a question if they don’t think the answer will reflect well on them — or don’t want to acknowledge its implications. Ardern has shown herself adroit at such evasion, refusing to release information in relation to the farmer protest group. A complaint has now been made to the Office of the Ombudsman about her decision to withhold this information. Groundswell NZ’s co-founder, Bryce McKenzie, said the group has not heard from Ardern before or since the protests, but had requested a meeting with her while members were in Wellington to address the environment select committee.
‘We got an email back from her office saying she was busy,’ he said. “We have not heard from any Government ministers, only opposition MPs. It is disappointing, because we think an estimated 60,000 people deserve a response from the Government about the things they are concerned about.’
How extraordinary that Ardern, constantly preaching to New Zealanders to be kind to one another, is delivering such a snub to representatives of the farming community nationwide. She is too busy to listen to them — basically an insulting answer, given that she is apparently never too busy to listen to the small minority of dissident part-Maoris pushing for constitutional change to achieve not just co-governance, but a veto over decision-making by the majority of the country – as with the now signed-off health legislation. He Puapua, the document planning for this apartheid policy, had to be prised out of her government’s hands, originally heavily redacted. But then, our elusive PM claimed she had not read it – although her cabinet ministers were reportedly working to see how its provisions could be implemented.
Our determined Prime Minister must know very well New Zealanders don’t support racial separatism. It did not stop her passing legislation to implement two health systems — one for part-Maori New Zealanders — and one for all other New Zealanders. In spite of the definition of who can legitimately call themselves Maori conveniently removed some time back, the Maori Health Authority now has a veto over any decisions of the parallel health system representing the majority of New Zealanders.
She is also too seemingly too busy to explain why she inaccurately claims that the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi established a partnership between Maori and the Crown — which she uses to justify the divisive racist policies she is implementing. He Puapua shows Labour’s plan to establish two governments in New Zealand by 2040. By this time the hierarchies – i.e. the governing bodies of our most powerful and wealthy neo-tribes (as a result of the never-ending hundreds of millions of dollars diverted to them from taxpayers these recent decades) will preside over all aspects of New Zealand’s policy-making.
On Ardern goes, her coalition pushing her Three Waters Plan to confiscate water assets from local communities, and hand over all water management to four mega-authorities under joint council and neo-tribal control. While she is far too busy to meet with representatives of our farmers, there have been 60 consultation meetings with Maori groups over this Three Waters Plan – but little or no consultation with everybody else, in spite of provisions in the Local Government Act requiring councils to consult widely with all members of the public, not just part-Maoris -– (intermarriage was so successful that there are no longer full-blooded Maori). Needless to say, each of the proposed four new entities of would have a tribal veto hanging over their heads. Yet 40 of New Zealand’s 67 councils are against, or undecided about, this $120 billion plan. So taxpayers are now paying for infantilised cartoons on television to be persuaded it would be an excellent idea for local councils to be robbed of their assets.
I am reminded of Taki’s observation in a recent Spectator of how successful a country Switzerland is. Its people speak four different languages – German, French, Italian and Romansh, ‘with no animosity towards one another’ – and ‘that the tribalism that exacerbates and fuels mistrust in other countries does not exist here.’ He goes to the heart of the matter, when he points out that this is because the Swiss practise direct democracy, having no intention of being governed by agenda-driven autocrats.
Such a description can arguably be applied to Ardern, when her ministers have now been told to avoid answering questions about dumped Covid-19 documents. A leaked email, sent to Beehive staff, has directed them to issue only ‘brief written statements’ in response to media queries about the documents. ‘Do not put minister (sic) up for any interviews on this,’ it instructed. The directive stated that the Government, because of its overwhelming public support, has no need to respond, and should instead ‘lead the changing conversation’. The Prime Minister’s office has directed all ministers not to give interviews on this Covid-19 document dump, saying there is ‘no real need to defend’ themselves. So much for a government answerable to the people of the country.
What we are undergoing is a revolution by stealth. The Swiss would never tolerate an Ardern ordering her ministers to do as she says. Well aware that power corrupts, they would not have allowed her to preside for longer than one year, virtually ruling the country.
On the contrary, the President of the Swiss Confederation, elected for that year of office by the United Federal Assembly, is ‘primus inter pares’ – first among equals. Chairing the Federal Council meetings, and mediating in the case of disputes. in urgent situations, he/she can order precautionary measures.
Thanks to the damage that our dominating Prime Minister is inflicting upon New Zealand, including the shocking imposition of an apartheid system of racial preference, New Zealanders are perturbed about what is happening, including very probably the majority of part-Maori, no more supportive of racist agenda than the rest of the country.
Given a largely lacklustre National opposition led by an unpopular leader who shows no sign of stepping down for the sake of the party, but with dubious contenders ready to challenge, our outlook is bleak.
Without adopting the very successful controls that the Swiss people fought for, to determine their own directions – see www.100days.co.nz – we have very little hope of winning back this country. With them, it is an entirely different matter, as the most successful democracy in the world shows us.