No, the headline is not hyperbole nor exaggeration. New Zealand is heading in that direction, and the National Party, including its chief cheerleader Mark Hanley, either appears not to give a ‘F’ or just finds it too hard to deal with and is looking for the easy wins. I think both are quite likely.

I wrote about the seriousness of the situation more than two years ago when the Ellis decision came out. By way of reminder, I made this comment:

I cannot stress enough to readers how significant this case in terms of the social fabric of this country, the rule of law, and the legal and institutional framework of New Zealand moving forward.

I followed it up with a second post, where I said:

I’m going to hold any comment on whether this should form part of our legal system until the final post in this series.

I never got to write that third post. In summary though, the third post would have argued tikanga was not law, and should not form part of our legal system. It is not just me maintaining this: Maori scholars agree that it is not law as we know it – tikanga is merely customs and traditions.

Gary Judd KC agrees with me; Kyhlee Quince would not. Remember her? Yup, the Dean of AUT Law School who colloquially suggested that Mr Judd should just fuck off and die. As it turns out, Ms Quince is a keen advocate of a bi jural legal system. This is one involving the melding of the native customs with the laws imposed by the colonisers.

Matters have moved on though. Rapidly.

First, Gary Judd KC complained to the Regulations Review Committee about the introduction of tikanga as a compulsory (my necessary emphasis) subject in law schools. The Committee, that has a National Party majority on it (3/2) has just released its decision where it unanimously dismissed the complaint. The Committee did so in just one and a half pages. Unanimously.

In its report, the Committee referred to a speech given in 2021 by Khylee Quince’s good friend, and Supreme Court Justice, Joe Williams. His speech was entitled, “Decolonising the Law in Aotearoa: Can we start with law schools“? Justice Williams defined the goal of decolonisation as something that, “…ultimately requires the overturning of the colonial structure. It is not about tweaking the existing colonial system to make it more Indigenous-friendly or a little less oppressive. The existing system is fundamentally and irreparably flawed.”

Did I mention the Committee unanimously endorsed this view (it had to because it was in their report) and National Party MPs have a majority on the committee? Yes, I did mention that.

And then there’s Don Brash.

He’s still angry at his old party. He’s written a very good piece here about Chris Luxon and the National Party ignoring their supporters and returning the Treaty Principles Bill from the Justice Committee over a month early.

Quite frankly, the evidence is in. The National Party either don’t see any of this as a problem, OR the Nats just find it all too hard and would rather focus on their newly-established hotline focused on reporting excessive road cones across the motu.

I wholeheartedly believe this country is fucked if it continues down this route. There is no pushback against apartheid at a political level at all. Indeed, there is not only appeasement, but tacit endorsement from the only party that can do anything about it.

For that reason, I will maintain my positions of not voting in elections, and also giving dickheads like Mark Hanley as hard a time as possible.