New Zealand First leader Winston Peters made the claim that Māori are “not indigenous” while speaking at a public meeting in Nelson on Sunday.
“Here’s the rub if you are Māori. We’re not indigenous,” Peters told his supporters.
“We come from Hawai-iki. Where’s our Hawai-iki? We think it is in the Cook Islands. We think it’s in Rarotonga ... but we’re not from here. And you go back 5000 years, we came with our DNA from China. Not like 55,000 years in Australia.”
Asked after the meeting by Stuff if he could see that that view might be upsetting to some, Peters referred to it as “the truth”.
“Excuse me, I am from that background ... we know we’re not indigenous, and we don’t believe in bulldust.
‘54,000 years in Australia might do but not 800′
“And if defending bulldust should upset someone, then I am sorry. But nobody in the Māori world who understands anything about that could make a statement out of that, apart from the ludicrously obtuse, [and] ignorant.
“54,000 years in Australia might do, but not 800, 900 years in New Zealand.”
Asked how his whānau would react to hearing his comments, Peters said they “actually believed in truths, and not myths”.
Peters told the crowd the National Party with the Māori Party in 2010 signed up for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
The UNDRIP declaration is a comprehensive agreement, which emphasises the rights of indigenous peoples to live in dignity, to maintain and strengthen their own institutions, cultures and traditions and to pursue their self-determination development, in keeping with their own needs and aspirations.
He then went on to take aim at the “two hospital systems”.
Maori elite ‘ramming it down our throats’
“One is Māori, which has been a massive failure, and the other one is a total failure as well. Te Whatu Ora, excuse me, I don’t want to speak the Māori language when I go to hospital. I want to be fixed up whether I am European or Māori.”
One man asked if water filters at home could be a response to the Three Waters reforms.
Peters said Three Waters was a programme designed “to transfer the water ownership from the heavens to one race in this country – Māori.”
Peters said no “ordinary Māori” believed that water belonged to them. Instead it was a “Māori elite” that was “ramming this down our throats”.
The “one people, one country” line was also trotted out by Peters.
“I have not got any time for those people in this country who want to recognise one part of their DNA and spend all their time dumping down the other side.
“Most unusual election in my long career’
“Kowtowing to the latest drivel that’s being taught at universities ... the latest antisocial engineering programmes at university preaching this myth and tissue of lies about the Treaty of Waitangi ... making it all up as they go along, absolute rubbish, and costing this country a fortune on misinformation and misdesigned policy, all happening right in front of your face.”
Attended by about 300 people, the Trafalgar Centre event was also the venue of a Freedoms New Zealand protest, with the party’s supporters chanting and waving signs.
The group left at about 1.45pm. Asked his opinion on the protest, Peters said it was a surprise.
“About eight months ago they wanted me to join them,” he said. “It’s the most unusual election in my long career.”
A member of the audience at the meeting said the Freedoms NZ protest was off-putting.
“It’s a bit aggressive. You don’t see National or Labour doing that.” Another woman on the same row described the protest as “rude”.
One man said it was “ironic” the Freedoms New Zealand protesters were there, as the New Zealand First Party was all about freedom.
However, he was unfazed.
“It’s fine provided it’s something peaceful.”