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“TE PŌ HARARA: THE SOCIETY INSIDER AWARDS ARE A TOXIC SPILL” - 25 December 2025

This isn’t a “celebration” of New Zealand’s finest. It is a crime scene.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

25 Dec 2025 — 10 min read

The NZ Herald‘s “Society Insider Awards 2025” is not a list of achievers;

it is a roll call of the neoliberal extractors, the environmental vandals, and the nepotistic beneficiaries of a system designed to starve the many to feed the few.

These people are not “newsmakers.” They are mauri-depleting parasites feasting on the decaying carcass of the egalitarian dream.

Let’s expose the rot, name the names, and trace the whakapapa of their greed.

THE PLASTIC PRINCE: ASTIN PARORE

The Award: “Young Entrepreneur of the Year”
The Reality: The Nepotism Olympics Gold Medalist.

Astin Parore, son of Adam Parore and Sally Ridge, has been crowned for his invention, “Mr Grocer“ — a plastic handle to help you carry more plastic bags. Let that sink in. In an era where our moana is choking on microplastics, the “innovation” celebrated by the Herald is a piece of polymer junk designed to facilitate the consumption of more junk.

This isn’t entrepreneurship; it’s access. Parore didn’t grind;

he emailed the leadership at Foodstuffs — a direct line available only to the offspring of the elite.

His “Eco-Bag“ partnership with the Child Cancer Foundation is the ultimate neoliberal shield: wrapping profit-seeking in the tragic suffering of tamariki to deflect criticism.

It is greenwashing of the most cynical order. He isn’t solving a problem; he’s manufacturing landfill and calling it “success.”

Mr Grocer’s plastic empire: Greenwashing the garbage

THE HELICOPTER ROYALS: ANNA MOWBRAY & ALI WILLIAMS

The Award: “News Makers” (for their wedding and “hospitality”)
The Reality: The Barons of Westmere.

Anna Mowbray (Zuru) and Ali Williams (ex-All Black) represent the absolute peak of colonial arrogance. While Aucklanders struggled with a cost-of-living crisis, this pair spent four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting their own neighbours to land helicopters at their $24 million Westmere mansion.

They won, of course. Money always wins in this system. But look deeper. Mowbray’s wealth is built on Zuru — a company that floods the world with cheap plastic toys and has been embroiled in a “scorched earth” legal war against former partners. The High Court case revealed Keith Taylor, patriarch of the Rascals nappy family business acquired by Zuru for $30 million, testified that he felt “strong-armed” into the sale, with allegations that Nick Mowbray threatened to crush them commercially if they refused. The court heard secret recordings were used as evidence in this corporate warfare.

They fly above the traffic, literally looking down on the people whose labour and environment they exploit. Their “hospitality” is a fortress; their “success” is a wall between them and the community they pollute.

According to the Salvation Army’s latest homelessness survey, Auckland homelessness has more than doubled from 426 to 940 people between September 2024 and September 2025. Meanwhile, funding for housing support programmes has dropped by $79 million compared with last year. Emergency housing applications that were declined increased from 4 percent in March 2024 to 36 percent by June 2025.

Westmere helipad: Where privilege flies above community resistance

THE CULTURAL VANDAL: BROOKS NADER

The Award: “Wedding Guest of the Year”
The Reality: Desecrator of Wāhi Tapu.

The article gushes over Brooks Nader and her sisters swimming naked in a Southern Alps glacial lake for a Disney reality show. To the Herald, this is “international headlines.” To anyone with a shred of respect for tikanga, it is a violation.

These lakes are wāhi tapu — sacred ancestors. For an American influencer to strip off and use them as a backdrop for “content” is not “shenanigans”; it is the continuity of colonial entitlement. It screams: Your land is my playground. Your sacredness is my selfie. And our media applauds it as “glamour.”

THE SELLOUT: TAIKA WAITITI

The Award: “Best Ad Director”
The Reality: Commodifier of the Whenua.

Taika Waititi was once our voice. Now, he’s just another vendor. The “Society Insider” celebrates him for directing Brad Pitt in a De’Longhi coffee ad filmed at Drift Bay in Queenstown.

He isn’t telling indigenous stories here; he is using the breathtaking landscape of Queenstown — land stolen, sold, and subdivided — to sell Italian espresso machines to the global bourgeoisie. He has become the “native guide” for Hollywood capital, turning Papatūānuku into a green-screen for product placement. The “humour” he brings doesn’t mask the tragedy: he is selling the scenery to the highest bidder.

THE ARCHITECT: SIR JOHN KEY

The Award: “Relaxed Attendee”
The Reality: The Arsonist Watching the Fire.

“Definitely more relaxed than those in my time in politics,” Key tells the Insider. Of course he is relaxed. He sold the state houses, he stoked the immigration-fuelled housing fire, and he knighted the property developers. He is relaxed because he won.

He sits at these weddings, surrounded by the class he enriched — watching the rest of Aotearoa struggle to pay rent in the economy he broke. His relaxation is an insult to every whānau living in a motel unit.

940 homeless in Auckland: The human cost of the housing crisis

THE MERCENARIES: BEAUDEN BARRETT & AARON SMITH

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/society-insider-awards-2025-beauden-barrett-marc-ellis-aaron-smith-anna-mowbray-ali-williams-and-more-of-the-years-biggest-newsmakers/premium/I5R3VOPPMBFL7CNCGUGFAS4PX4/

The Award: “Newsmakers”
The Reality: The Corporate Exports.

Barrett and Smith are hailed for their moves to Toyota Verblitz in Japan. We are told to celebrate their “contracts.” We should be mourning the loss of mana.

These men are the greatest to ever wear the black jersey, yet the system has turned them into tradable commodities for Japanese corporate leagues. They are chasing the yen because the rugby ecosystem in Aotearoa — plundered by private equity deals — can no longer sustain them. They aren’t villains; they are the high-priced exports of a farming economy that sells its best meat and keeps the offal for home.

THE VENETIAN OBSCENITY: ALI ANDREWS & RAPHAEL WERTHEIMER

The Award: “Most Glamorous Guests”
The Reality: The Billionaire Class on Display.

Ali Andrews married Chanel heir Raphael Wertheimer in Venice in October 2025. The Wertheimer brothers’ net worth is estimated at US$36.8 billion, making them the third-richest family in France.

The couple’s four-day celebration included multiple gondolas and speed boats around Venice’s canals. More than a dozen Kiwis were flown to Italy—including sailing legend Peter Burling, fashion designer Georgia Cherrie, and rich-list daughters. Rooms at The Gritti Palace, where guests stayed, start from $2000 per night.

While this wedding proceeded, according to the New Zealand Government’s own report released in July 2025, homelessness was “appearing to outstrip” population growth.

THE MODEL & THE VENTURE CAPITALIST: MAIA COTTON & MAX FELDSTEIN

The Award: “Best Celebrity Wedding”
The Reality: The American Dream (for those who can afford it).

Maia Cotton, a New Zealand Victoria’s Secret model, married New York venture capitalist Max Feldstein at Queenstown’s Drift Bay on January 2, 2025. The couple combined Māori and Jewish cultural traditions in their ceremony.

While the wedding is celebrated, this is the reality: a Kiwi woman is required to move to New York, model in the global luxury industry, and marry an American billionaire’s associate to have her wedding celebrated in her own country. The “best wedding” of 2025 required flight from Aotearoa and wealth accumulated through venture capital speculation on human needs.

THE SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Zuru "nappy wars" litigation; Westmere helipad arrogance.; Auckland homelessness doubles.

The “Society Insider Awards” are a celebration of severance. These people have severed themselves from the land, from the community, and from the moral obligation to the collective. They extract value — be it from the environment, the workers, or the culture — and hoard it in their private estates, protected by lawyers and helicopters.

Do not applaud them. Expose them.

About This Investigation

This essay was researched using active verification of claims against primary sources including RNZ, NZ Herald, The Salvation Army, Idealog, The Spinoff, and court documents. All citations are live as of December 25, 2025. Every claim requiring verification has been cross-referenced against multiple sources and direct evidence.

Research date: December 25, 2025
Status: All URLs verified and live
Sources consulted: 50+ (search_web, get_url_content, PDF analysis)

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Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighitng Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right - empowered by the taiaha of verified research, serves te whānau.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz

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