December 07, 2023
Cocked pistols blow up argument
New Zealand First minister Shane Jones says Te Pāti Māori needs to pull back from threats of armed insurrection.
He’s objecting to a graphic for Tuesday’s National Māori Day of Action featuring two colonial-era pistols.
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says that’s because Mr Jones is a political dinosaur who doesn’t understand Māori art, but he says it’s something that can be easily misconstrued.
“I think it is very dangerous to go down that American, Trump route of hinting at open insurrection if you don’t get what you want,” he says.
Mr Jones says the Māori Party is failing to come up with good ideas, and it needs to stop using words like terrorism, colonial oppression and genocide to describe the actions of government.