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Disrespectful Nonsense:

Disrespectful Nonsense:

18 September 2022

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has passed away, and the people of New Zealand will mourn her passing.

She has after all been our Head of State for seventy years which is longer than some have the good fortune to live, and she was performing her royal duties virtually to the last day of her life.

At the age of 96 years we don’t so much mourn her death as we do her departure especially given that it was sudden. Since her coronation back in 1953 Queen Elizabeth has been seen as a caring thoughtful and pragmatic sovereign who has dedicated her life to her duties as Queen, and as such has been pretty much universally loved as a result of that.

But no matter that the vast majority have seen fit to show love and appreciation for her dedication to her role at the time of her passing, there are some in our country who would use the occasion to push their own political agendas which in my opinion says much more about the worth of their opinions and positions than it does about the Queen.

We currently have a government that is pushing a separatist agenda based on race which is totally against the principles which the Queen espoused. We have a Prime Minister who has a long history of following and supporting a socialist agenda who is leading our government down this path to separatism, we have party political leaders who are determined to use the occasion to further their own private political agendas to develop a race based system of so-called Co-Governance.

We saw the Co-Leader of the Green Party, Marama Davidson referring to the Monarchy as having a role in oppressing the power of others including in New Zealand and other countries around the world.

Rawiri Waititi, the Co-Leader of the Maori Party, stated that “we must always speak our authentic truth: saying that the British Empire and the power of its monarchy were built of stolen whenua, stolen resources, and stolen taonga”.

It seems from their comments that they believe that Maori in New Zealand would have been better off if the British had never colonised the country or if Queen Victoria had never agreed to the Treaty of Waitangi. This contention is not backed up by the facts.

The Maori life expectancy prior to the colonisation was approximately 30years and it is currently +70years. Cannibalism and Slavery were commonplace. The musket wars between the Maori tribes resulted in approximately 20,000 deaths and this was one of the main reasons that the tribes agreed to the Treaty of Waitangi.  

One hundred years after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, Sir Apirana Ngata, one of the greatest Maori leaders spoke about the Treaty a follows:

What remains of the Treaty of Waitangi?  What is there in the Treaty that the Maori can today celebrate whole-heartedly with you?  Let me say one thing: Clause 1 of the Treaty handed over the mana and the sovereignty of New Zealand to Queen Victoria and her descendants forever that is the outstanding fact today. That but for the shield of the sovereignty handed over to her majesty and her descendants I doubt whether there would be a free Maori race in New Zealand today…. I doubt whether any native race has been so well treated by a European people as the Maori of New Zealand.

New Zealand governments have recognised that there were wrongs that were done; and by setting up the Waitangi Tribunal they made an assessment of those wrongs, and consequently paid compensation where appropriate.

But, to believe that colonisation of New Zealand was generally disadvantageous to the Maori people is totally wrong. British settlers introduced the rule of law; brought the wheel, metal tools, written language, an end to slavery and cannibalism, sheep, cattle and horses, all of which were of enormous benefit to the Maori people.

As we mourn the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, we shouldn’t allow our elected members of parliament to promote a grossly misinformed and distorted history of New Zealand to support their own political agendas, whilst supposedly giving speeches in remembrance of an exceptional person and one of history’s greatest Monarchs.

It is hugely disrespectful to the memory of the Queen and reflects badly, internationally, on the reputation of New Zealand and its current government.