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# "Colonial Confetti: How Shane Jones Wants to Shred Hapū Sovereignty" - 23 June 2025
- URL: https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/colonial-confetti-how-shane-jones/
- Published: 2025-06-23T10:52:15.000Z
- Updated: 2025-06-23T10:52:15.000Z
- Description: "The Māori Green Lantern Exposes Shane Jones' Colonial Power Play"
- Author: Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn
- Tags: Newsletter, #substack, #substack-type-newsletter, #substack-access-everyone, #Import 2026-02-18 20:13

Kia ora whānau (Greetings family).

The colonial machine never sleeps, and Shane Jones has just handed it another weapon. NZ First's proposed legislation to force a single Ngāpuhi Treaty settlement represents a breathtaking act of Indigenous suppression wrapped in the false rhetoric of economic pragmatism \\\[1\]. This bill strips hapū of their fundamental right to self-determination while serving the Crown's desperate need to maintain control over the largest iwi in Aotearoa \\\[2\]. Jones, despite being Māori himself, has become the perfect colonial collaborator – using his Indigenous identity to legitimise policies that would make even the most hardened white supremacist proud.

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Background: Understanding Ngāpuhi's Traditional Structure

The Confederation Reality

Ngāpuhi has never been a single, unified entity but rather a confederation of over 150 hapū with 55 marae, each maintaining their own mana and authority \\\[3\]. This traditional structure is built around five natural regional groupings or "rohe potae": Hokianga, Waimate-Taiamai ki Kaikohe, Whangaroa, Te Pewhairangi and Whangarei ki Mangakahia \\\[4\]. These groupings evolved as confederations of hapū united in common interests while remaining distinct, self-governing entities \\\[4\]\\\[5\]. The name "Ngāpuhi" itself derives from the confederation of puhi lines, with each hapū group having a puhi line that creates the hapū and demonstrates their whakapapa to the original Ariki \\\[5\].

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/public/images/8a5c531d-06c0-42d5-aa50-1f7df857dc7c_1024x1792.png)

The Mandate Controversy

The current crisis stems from the deeply flawed mandating of Tūhoronuku Independent Mandated Authority, which was established despite massive opposition from hapū across the confederation \\\[6\]\\\[7\]. Over 70 hapū rejected this mandate, viewing it as an illegitimate Crown-backed structure that usurped their sovereignty \\\[8\]\\\[7\]. The controversy exposed fundamental questions about whether Ngāpuhi could or should be treated as a single entity when its traditional governance operates through hapū autonomy \\\[9\].

Jones' Legislative Assault on Hapū Rights

The Proposed Bill

Shane Jones is drafting member's legislation that would legally mandate a single settlement for all Ngāpuhi, effectively making it illegal for individual hapū to negotiate their own settlements \\\[1\]\\\[10\]. Jones argues that allowing hapū to settle individually would reduce the country's largest iwi to "confetti," claiming that fragmented structures lack the economic muscle to create meaningful change \\\[1\]\\\[10\]. The bill will explicitly state there is "no separate Ngāpuhi hapū sovereignty" and shows "zero tolerance for any suggestion that there is separate hapū sovereignty" \\\[1\].

The Sovereignty Flashpoint

This legislation comes in direct response to the previous Labour Government's inclusion of "agree-to-disagree" clauses in Treaty settlements, which acknowledged that iwi never ceded sovereignty when signing Te Tiriti \\\[11\]\\\[12\]. The Coalition Government has declared it will never progress settlements that dispute Crown sovereignty, prompting Ngāti Hine leader Pita Tipene to rule out any settlement under this Government \\\[11\]\\\[13\]. Tipene stated that accepting Crown sovereignty is "totally unacceptable" to his people \\\[13\].

Economic Coercion as Colonial Strategy

Jones frames his intervention as economic necessity, pointing to the North's dire social statistics \\\[1\]\\\[10\]. He argues that a hapū-centric approach has failed for 20 years and will fail for another 20, claiming that only a "powerful economic endowment" through unified settlement can address systemic problems \\\[1\]. This classic neoliberal framing reduces Indigenous sovereignty to economic calculations while ignoring the fundamental issue of self-determination \\\[14\].

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/public/images/264ae1c4-9635-4730-9cbd-a5ed645f2f13_1024x1792.png)

Analysis: Deconstructing the Colonial Violence

White Supremacist Logic in Indigenous Clothing

Jones' rhetoric employs classic white supremacist talking points about Indigenous peoples being incapable of governing themselves effectively \\\[15\]\\\[16\]. His dismissal of hapū as "economically insignificant" and "too small to be economically relevant" mirrors colonial arguments used to justify the destruction of traditional governance structures \\\[1\]. The language of "confetti" dehumanises hapū authority, reducing complex political entities with centuries of governance experience to worthless fragments \\\[1\].

This represents what critical race theorists call "internalised colonisation" – where colonised peoples adopt and promote the oppressor's worldview \\\[17\]. Jones has become the perfect neoliberal subject, measuring Indigenous worth solely through economic output while erasing the cultural and political values that define Māori existence \\\[14\].

Neoliberal Violence Disguised as Pragmatism

The proposed legislation represents pure neoliberal ideology in action – the reduction of all social relations to market calculations \\\[14\]. Jones' argument that economic efficiency justifies the destruction of traditional governance structures directly parallels the Rogernomics revolution that devastated Māori communities in the 1980s \\\[14\]. Just as Douglas and Richardson used "quantum leaps" to dismantle social protections, Jones proposes legislative violence to eliminate hapū autonomy \\\[14\].

This neoliberal framework deliberately ignores the systemic racism and colonial dispossession that created Northland's socioeconomic crisis \\\[17\]\\\[18\]. Rather than addressing the structural violence of capitalism and colonialism, Jones offers more capitalism as the solution – a classic bait-and-switch that protects white supremacist power structures \\\[15\].

The Sovereignty Denial Machine

Jones' rejection of sovereignty discussions reveals the deep colonial anxiety about Indigenous self-determination \\\[2\]\\\[9\]. The 2014 Waitangi Tribunal finding that northern chiefs never ceded sovereignty when signing Te Tiriti represents an existential threat to Crown legitimacy \\\[2\]\\\[19\]. By legislatively prohibiting sovereignty discussions, Jones seeks to bury this inconvenient truth beneath economic rhetoric \\\[1\].

This sovereignty denial connects directly to broader white supremacist campaigns against co-governance and Māori rights \\\[15\]\\\[20\]. The "Stop Co-Governance" movement and similar far-right groups have spent years promoting the fiction that Māori sovereignty threatens "one law for all" \\\[20\]. Jones' bill provides legislative backing for these white supremacist narratives \\\[13\].

Statistical Reality vs. Colonial Mythology

The devastating statistics Jones cites to justify his intervention are themselves products of colonial violence, not evidence for its continuation \\\[18\]\\\[21\]. Northland suffers from unemployment rates of 9.7% (highest in the country), with Māori unemployment reaching 17.4% and youth unemployment hitting 30.7% \\\[22\]\\\[23\]. Median incomes sit at just \\$21,700 compared to the national average of \\$28,500 \\\[23\]. Fifty-seven percent of Northland's population lives in deprivation compared to 40% nationally \\\[18\].

These statistics reflect 180 years of systematic land theft, cultural destruction, and economic marginalisation \\\[17\]\\\[24\]. By 1908, less than 20% of the North remained in Māori control, with most remaining land being isolated and economically marginal \\\[25\]. The Crown's aggressive purchasing policy left Māori with inadequate land for their needs while enriching Pākehā settlers \\\[25\]\\\[24\].

The False Binary of Unity vs. Fragmentation

Jones presents a fabricated choice between "unified" economic power and "fragmented" political weakness \\\[1\]\\\[10\]. This binary erases the sophisticated governance systems that allowed Ngāpuhi to maintain political autonomy while cooperating on common interests for centuries \\\[4\]\\\[5\]. Traditional rohe potae structures provided both local autonomy and confederation-level coordination without requiring the destruction of hapū mana \\\[4\].

The real choice is between Indigenous self-determination and colonial control. Jones' bill eliminates this choice by legally mandating Crown-preferred structures while criminalising traditional governance \\\[1\]. This represents legislative colonisation – using law to complete what military force and economic pressure began \\\[24\].

Implications: The Broader Colonial Project

Template for Indigenous Suppression

If successful, Jones' legislation would provide a template for destroying Indigenous governance structures across the Pacific and beyond \\\[26\]. The precedent of legally mandating settlement structures according to Crown preferences, rather than Indigenous political organisation, represents a new form of legislative colonisation \\\[1\]. Other settler states watching this experiment will note how effectively Indigenous politicians can be used to legitimise colonial violence \\\[27\].

Reinforcing White Supremacist Narratives

The bill strengthens far-right narratives about Māori being incapable of effective self-governance \\\[15\]\\\[20\]. By framing hapū autonomy as economic inefficiency, Jones provides academic cover for white supremacist arguments that Indigenous peoples need colonial management \\\[16\]. This feeds directly into "Stop Co-Governance" campaigns and similar racist movements \\\[20\].

Economic Colonisation

Jones' focus on creating a "powerful economic endowment" reveals the neoliberal obsession with turning everything into a commodity \\\[14\]\\\[28\]. Rather than addressing the structural racism that creates poverty, this approach seeks to make Māori more efficient participants in the capitalist system that oppresses them \\\[17\]. The success of some iwi in accumulating capital (the combined wealth of 75 iwi groups reaching \\$9 billion) becomes the model for all Indigenous development \\\[28\].

This economic colonisation destroys the values of whakatōhea, manaakitanga, and whakapapa that define Māori existence in favour of profit maximisation \\\[5\]. It represents the final stage of colonisation – the capture of Indigenous minds and values by capitalist logic \\\[14\].

Implications for Māori Communities

The proposed legislation would catastrophically undermine hapū tino rangatiratanga across Ngāpuhi \\\[9\]\\\[5\]. By legally prohibiting separate hapū settlements, Jones seeks to destroy the traditional governance structures that have maintained Māori political identity for over 600 years \\\[3\]\\\[29\]. This represents cultural genocide disguised as economic efficiency \\\[1\].

The bill would also establish a dangerous precedent for other iwi, showing that the Crown can simply legislate away Indigenous political structures that prove inconvenient \\\[26\]. If Ngāpuhi hapū can be legally forced into artificial unity, what prevents similar attacks on other iwi confederation structures? \\\[3\]

For Māori tamariki and rangatahi, this legislation sends the message that traditional governance is worthless compared to economic accumulation \\\[14\]. It teaches that being Māori means accepting colonial definitions of success rather than asserting Indigenous values \\\[5\]. This represents intergenerational violence against Māori political identity \\\[17\].

Resisting Colonial Violence

Shane Jones' proposed legislation represents everything wrong with contemporary colonialism – the use of Indigenous politicians to legitimise white supremacist policies, the reduction of complex political relationships to economic calculations, and the legislative destruction of traditional governance \\\[1\]\\\[14\]. This bill must be recognised for what it is: an act of colonial violence designed to complete the dispossession that began in 1840 \\\[24\].

The defence of hapū sovereignty is not about economics – it is about the fundamental right of Indigenous peoples to exist on their own terms \\\[9\]\\\[5\]. The 2014 Waitangi Tribunal finding that northern chiefs never ceded sovereignty remains a legal and moral reality that no amount of legislative violence can erase \\\[2\]\\\[19\]. Pita Tipene and other hapū leaders who refuse to compromise on sovereignty represent the true spirit of resistance \\\[13\].

Ngāpuhi whānau must reject this colonial temptation and stand firm in defence of hapū tino rangatiratanga \\\[9\]. The economic arguments are seductive, but they mask the deeper violence of forcing Indigenous peoples to organise according to Crown preferences rather than traditional governance \\\[1\]\\\[4\]. True decolonisation requires rejecting the neoliberal logic that reduces everything to economic efficiency \\\[14\].

The real solution to Northland's problems lies not in more efficient colonisation but in genuine decolonisation – the return of stolen land, the restoration of traditional governance, and the dismantling of racist economic structures \\\[24\]\\\[17\]. Shane Jones offers the false choice between colonial unity and colonial fragmentation when the real choice is between colonisation and liberation \\\[1\].

He whakatōhea, he rangatiratanga Māori (Stand firm, Māori sovereignty endures).

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/public/images/f22a522d-e722-44c8-955f-848aeec2e8f4_1024x1024.png)

[Ivor Jones - The Māori Green Lantern](https://themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)

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