G News - Non-discrimination and minority rights

Measures taken in good faith for the purpose of assisting or advancing persons or groups of persons disadvantaged because of discrimination that is unlawful by virtue of Part 2 of the Human Rights Act 1993 do not constitute discrimination.

"This means a policy might not be discriminatory if it intends to assist people who have been socially, culturally or financially disadvantaged by discrimination, if it intends to diminish or eliminate conditions that might cause or help discrimination continue, or if it advances affirmative measures for one minority group or group that has been discriminated against but not for other such groups." - Department of Justice.

This is something Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters and David Seymour should understand as lawmakers because it is enshrined in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 ( Section 19 clause 2 ).

However when all three of the above named politicians have behaved as if they are ignorant of Section 19(2) when it comes to a designated area for Māori and Pasifika Students at Auckland University - perhaps it is time to ask what is really going on here?

First let me summarise their reactions :

1.) Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he hasn’t seen “the detail” of the segregated sections but at first glance, he said they looked “Totally inappropriate. There is no place for discrimination or segregation in New Zealand. Universities should be places of inclusion, not exclusion,” Luxon said demonstrating his utter ignorance of our Bill of Rights.

2.) David Seymour said he found it “somewhat distasteful”, and “the fact that something’s been done for a long time is not actually a justification for it”. A statement that avoids "why" it has been done for a long time, which is a justification for it.

3.) Winston Peters made headlines again in the NZ Herald which read, " University’s designated areas for Māori and Pasifika students ‘comparable to Ku Klux Klan’, says Winston Peters"

"Some of our Universities have become a haven of 'woke cultural brainwashing' – where they teach, and clearly actively participate in, dangerous rhetoric and demonstrable race-based practices. They try to justify their actions by attributing it to some sort of ‘moral cultural crusade’ and wilfully ignore the direct comparisons to the KKK and the apartheid way of thinking where we are divided by race." wrote Peters on X at 1.27PM Wednesday 27 March.

As you can see either all three are thick as a brick or more likely all three are entering a co-ordinated political attack like a pack of wolves seeking to provoke and raise up a reaction from a targeted constituency.

The first thing I considered was taking a step back here and looking at the wider context - what else is playing out on the playing field?

Provocation. Lots of it. Prepping and shaping a Culture war.

We've heard Sir Bob Jones and Sean Plunket trying to get a rise out of Maori on The Platform by slagging off at them. Plunket raises race issues over Te Tiriti about four or five times a week and is also frequently outraged about the Posie Parker event.

We've heard Winston and Shane Jones openly insulting and mocking Maori and the Greens in Parliament while Gerry allows it to pass.

We've heard the fast track consenting bill will trample all our environmental protections and put extraordinary powers in the hands of a single Minister like Shane Jones.

Jones has been delighting in provoking and gloating over "bye bye Freddy" which means killing endangered wildlife to make way for coal mines etc.

We've seen Brian Tamaki lashing out at Rainbow folk - painting over crossings and performing illegal proactive acts of protest - intimidating people and shutting down a Library reading event while Seymour, Luxon and Peters look the other way..

We had someone swearing at Ginny Andersen over Trans Rights in a Select Committee and Luxon remained silent.

We had Seymour attacking free lunches for poor hungry kids in schools - who are mostly Maori or Pasifika.

Last week we had Winston make International headlines about how Co-Governance was likened to Nazi Germany - a blatant attack on TPM and Maori in order to bring about a culture war.

Luxon initially played Dumb ( eg. I have not heard that comment ) and eventually suggested he privately smacked Winston's hand with a wet shoelace but Winston carried on knowing Luxon is not in charge. However Luxon took a swipe at TPM and Labour in a false equivalence.

Before that David Seymour's "Treaty Principles Bill" sought to side step and rewrite the principles of Te Tiriti - where Seymour sells "equality and Universal Human Rights" as a wedge to an uneducated majority who do not understand NZ Treaty History. Seymour intends to remove the legal standing of Te Tiriti in something like 50 statutes that may stand in the way of greedy powerful interests eg. The Atlas Network and affiliates.

This is essentially a deep provocation and we've got Shane Jones talking about getting rid of the Waitangi Tribunal.

Before that Seymour joked about "blowing up" the Ministry for Pasific Peoples with references to Guy Fawkes and brushed it off.

These are all hostile provocations and it's remarkable that under such a sustained evil attack by this Government and it's allies - that the wolves in sheep's clothing have not managed to make anyone violent or get them to take the bait.

Notably the University has so far remained tight lipped about the positive affirmation designated areas - which are clearly not discriminatory in the same way indigenous rights are not discriminatory on prohibited grounds - when there is a justified disadvantage to a minority group involved.

Clearly Winston, Seymour and Luxon are 100% aware of this but are proceeding using the Trump Playbook to divide New Zealanders in order to tear down our cohesiveness as a society.

For these reasons I suggest we remain calm and speak out loudly with great solidarity about our Bill of Rights and how these designated areas are fully justified.

They are not going to be able to incite their planned culture war if we do not let them.

I think Chippy was right when he said this morning - he did not want to see protests become illegal protests.

All that provocation is an attempt to get that going.

Shame on the Coalition Government.

"Measures taken in good faith for the purpose of assisting or advancing persons or groups of persons disadvantaged because of discrimination that is unlawful by virtue of Part 2 of the Human Rights Act 1993 do not constitute discrimination."

I say let the students have their designated area - it's not discrimination.

It's a good thing.

G News - Non-discrimination and minority rights

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