ACT paper on co-governance and democracy

Worth reading ACT’s paper on the choice between democracy and co-government. An extract:

• Māori language and culture have been decimated, from being totally dominant in 1840 to nearly disappearing completely, before recovering gradually over the past few decades.
• Māori New Zealanders are statistically worse off in practically every measure from incomes to incarceration, including education, health, and home ownership.
• The Treaty of Waitangi, which was supposed to protect Māori property rights, was breached many times. These breaches can only ever be partly compensated, as much former Māori land that might be subject to a claim is now in private ownership and therefore unavailable for settlements.
• New Zealanders, being fair-minded, caring people, want the above three problems solved. They want to see the Māori language and culture preserved, every child have genuinely equal opportunity, and any wrongs of the past put right.
• Due to a combination of confusion and some deliberate deception, New Zealanders are being told that constitutional change is necessary to. solve these problems. This is not only untrue, it is a dangerous development.

I like this summary. You can care greatly about fostering Maori language and culture, supporting Maori property rights and reducing the inequities in key outcomes, while rejecting abandoning equal suffrage democracy as the solution.

Any constitutional system that gives different people different political rights is incompatible with universal human rights. ACT believes that universal human rights are essential for peace and prosperity.
Whenever people are given different legal rights, they inevitably fight to regain their rights and dignity.

Political rights must be based on citizenship, not ancestry or race.