A "disgusting" and "disgraceful" petition dropped in letterboxes in Rotorua has been slammed by locals.
The letter, which has an unknown sender, "demand[s] our democratic rights and democracy back" and has a petition attached calling on the Government to legislate several anti-Treaty of Waitangi policies.
"Enclosed is a petition compiled by a group of very concerned citizens as to the profoundly serious issues relating to the trashing of NZ democracy which is taking place right now," it says.
"The 85 percent majority of New Zealanders (the irrelevant majority) are rapidly being brushed aside from their rights as citizens in their own country which is sliding into a state of apartheid."
The letter expresses opposition to Māori wards in local councils and co-governance between the Crown and Māori.
The petition calls on the Government and Parliament to do four things:
- declare the terms "principles of the Treaty of Waitangi" and "partnership between Māori and the Crown" as "invalid and of no effect"
- ensure New Zealand has "one sovereignty, one people (of many origins), and one law with no discriminatory or preferential entitlements allocated based on race, ancestry, ethnicity, creed, or identity"
- that no Treaty-based constitution be enacted
- that the official name of New Zealand be confirmed as that and the "1890s mythical fabricated name of Aotearoa" be declared a "nullity".
One Rotorua resident, who has asked not to be named, says she and her husband were appalled to receive the letter.
"I was just shocked, we both were as it's disgusting," says the woman, who is Māori.
"[I'm] guessing they've picked and chosen where they think they will get support."
It is currently unknown how widely the petition was circulated and how many households received it.
Newshub has contacted the petitioners for comment.
Matthew Tukaki, the executive director of the Māori Council, says the letter is a "disgrace".
"It incites more people to racism. That's the brutal honesty here," he tells Newshub.
"And consider for a minute that most of these people are grown adults and as they spout this stuff others hear these words and all of a sudden it becomes normalised in a home, in a workplace, and in some communities. Kids who hear this sort of nonsense end up spouting the same words at school."
The letter also cites points in New Zealand's history in the 1840s, particularly around specific details in the Treaty of Waitangi and a Royal Charter issued in 1840.
The information given in the letter isn't factually correct, Tukaki says, and it is instead spin that comes from organisations who wage anti-Māori campaigns.
"The weaponisation of history in this way deflects from what actually occurred in history and it also indicates just how little they know about that history and the facts," he says.
"The letter quite frankly is a disgrace, but what has emerged in the last few weeks is that these people are emboldened - they are emboldened because we have politicians who are creating the opportunity for these people to creep from those dark corners and out into the open.
"Politicians who race-bait must be held accountable - as do the very people who continue to lambast Māori, to denigrate and demonise us."
National Party leader Judith Collins has recently been accused of race-baiting, using terms such as segregation and racist separatism to describe the new proposed Māori Health Authority.
The owner of a Canterbury brewery has also faced backlash for racist comments after calling Māori the "scourge of New Zealand" and appearing to call for their mass imprisonment.
