Message to Politicians from the Maori Authority Chair – end the race debate, get on with your jobs

Message to Politicians from the Maori Authority Chair – end the race debate, get on with your jobs

The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has called on politicians from across the Parliament to pull themselves back from a descent into racial divides that will do nothing but set Maori Crown relations back by many decades. Speaking today Tukaki was commenting on the brutal game of politics now unfolding that are seeing Maori being pushed into “like them or loathe them situation” and politicians brining on never before seen interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi:

“This descent into madness must stop. It serves race relations in this country no good and all it is now doing is pitting one race of people against another. And we all know where this ends. The racial divide in this country must heal and we must move forward. For all sides that must mean the realisation of true partnership which is what the foundation blocks of the Treaty of Waitangi set down” Tukaki said

“What is happening now is other ethnic groups are being pulled into the age old debate about what that Treaty partnership look likes – for example, the weaponization of our Pacific brothers and sisters to suit one sides political narrative does nothing more to seed further disharmony. And for non-Maori being set up to feel scared that all of a sudden partnership looks like some sort of segregationist playbook is again nothing more than politics weaponizing sectors of the community against each other.” Tukaki said

“The reality is there are things that have been happening in New Zealand for many years, spanning multiple Governments all with different colours and left, centre and right wing politics. The truth is racism does exist in our institutions, there are the brutality o the statistics of depravation and poverty, there is the sadness of the rates of suicide and then there is the housing crisis. The truth is that some in our community, and that number is growing, are going without food, don’t have homes and suffering great mental distress.” Tukaki said

“Our jobs as leaders in our respective communities is to fix those problems, find solutions and move together in their implementation. New Zealand – we have problems just like every other country on the face of the planet and we need to front up to them and fix them. Descent into dog whistle politics and pulling the race cards to divide us all is not going to get us where we need to be. Solutions will, ideas will, good policies will.” Tukaki said

“My message to all New Zealanders, to Maori, to our Pacific brothers and sisters, non-Maori and everyone – is turn to a contest of ideas. Turn your minds to how we can solve problems and not focus on creating new ones that do more to make us all suffer than to build each other up. And for the politicians – get on with your jobs and if you cannot do those jobs get out of the way.” Tukaki said