Two Of A Kind

TRANSCRIPT

Hello I’m Bryan Bruce on Monday the 24^th of March 2025.

Tauranga’s National MP Sam Uffindell and Act Leader David Seymour are two of a kind when it comes to wanting to curb Māori rights in the name of “equality”

Seymour argues that at the core of his Treaty Principles Bill is the idea that everyone is equal before the law and therefore giving Māori special rights and privileges, simply based on their ethnicity, is unfair and undemocratic.

Uffindell has a private members bill he calls the Equal Voting Rights Bill which he says would ensure equal voting rights in local and National government, and that Māori shouldn’t have special voting rights just because they are Māori

Well let’s start with their special rights complaint and get that out of the way because Māori do have special rights.

If you go to the Ministry of Justice website you will read that “ The Treaty promised to protect Māori culture and to enable Māori to continue to live in New Zealand as Māori. “

The trouble is, that for many years the Crown didn’t honour the Treaty. In some instances Māori land was taken by force, and in other cases by stealth, with the result that many generations of Māori families have suffered poverty and deprivation, and that wasn’t, and isn’t, fair.

Which brings me to the meaning of two words – Equality which Seymour and Uffindell use a lot and Equity, which they never seem to use.

By using word the Equality both politicians expect you to start nodding your head as the first as the step to getting you to agree to their spurious argument.

We all believe in equality of opportunity right? So what’s wrong with legislation that promotes it?

Well, a lot really , because of that similar sounding would you don’t hear them use – Equity.

The need to get themselves a dictionary

Because while Equality does refer to everyone having the same opportunities - Equity is the word that actually means fairness .

Equity is about justice in the way people are treated.

And when you start using the word Equity and not Equality you quickly see the need for Māori to exert their rights at every opportunity.

So when David Seymour says “every child growing up in New Zealand deserves the same respect and dignity, including equality before the law” I nod my head but then shake it. Because I know not every child starts life’s journey in our country with the same opportunities. Many start from behind ,because of generations of their family were forced into poverty and deprivation when the Crown reneged on it’s Treaty obligations.

So Uffindell and Seymour need to get over it.

The treaty recognised Māori as an indigenous entity who were promised particular rights, so they are entitled to special representation at national and local government level.

But before I go today, I invite you to think about why these two politicians are having a crack at The Treaty and Maori rights, because I think if you scratch the surface of their politics a just little, you’ll find that their real agenda is to try and disempower the Treaty because it’s been getting in the way of Big Business and Big Money and the plundering our nation’s resources.

And I’d also invite you to think about what Prime Minister Luxon really believes about the Treaty and Māori rights – when he can say on the one hand he won’t support Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill beyond the selected committee stage, while at the same time allowing one of his own MPs to undermine both the Treaty and Māori Rights with his Equal Voting Rights Bill.

Equality doesn’t means fairness.

Equity means fairness, and it’s time David Seymour and Sam Uffindell, learned the difference.

Please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $9 a month (including GST) to help me continue my public interest journalism- speaking truth to power and giving a voice to those who have none.Membership will also give you access to all my posts,allow you to comment and to join our chat group for discussions.

Please restack and share posts you think are worthwhile as it all helps to build readership and listenership

And to my paid subscibers - Thank you again for your support.