October 18, 2022
Peters takes aim at “reverse racism”
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says he’s sick of politicians and bureaucrats telling Māori what they need.
With the election a year away and his party needing to win the support over 5 percent of voters to get back into parliament, he’s come out swinging against what he calls the Government planting the seeds of apartheid.
While the term was coined to describe a legally-enforced system of racial separation in South Africa, Mr Peters is applying it to co-governance regimes which involve iwi in the management of natural resources, and even the trend of people calling their country Aotearoa.
“What you’ve got here are people in the Government and civil service who are saying straight to the Maori people in this country, ‘without us helping you up you’re not capable of getting any of these positions by yourself.’ That is straight out inverse racism. It’s like telling Portal Woodman ‘don’t tackle me too hard because I’m a Maori,'” Mr Peters says
He’d rather see investment in things Maori need like health or education so Maori don’t leave school without qualifications.