The Bully Who Sends His Boys: How Brian Tamaki Weaponises Māori Culture to Terrorise Immigrants” - 22 December 2025
E kī ana koe he tangata? Prove it.
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On December 20, 2025, as Auckland Sikh whānau walked peaceful Nagar Kirtan through their own streets in Manurewa, approximately 50 members of the so-called “True Patriots of NZ”—foot soldiers for Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church—blocked Great South Road, performed a bastardised haka, and chanted “One true God” while waving banners reading “This is New Zealand not India,” as reported by the NZ Herald.
Peaceful Sikh Nagar Kirtan procession in South Auckland
Brian Tamaki—self-styled “Apostle Bishop,” perennial electoral failure, and leader of a dwindling cult that peaked at 5,000 members in 2003 and now claims just 1,772—was nowhere to be seen. He sent what he called “my young men” to do his dirty work, then posted the footage to social media from his compound, claiming “THIS IS OUR LAND. THIS IS OUR STAND,” according to the NZ Herald report.
Cui bono? Tamaki. A former Destiny insider told journalist John Campbell that “rage is Tamaki’s marketing tool.” Tamaki himself explicitly described attacking drag queens as his “ticket”—a deliberate strategy to generate media attention and recruit followers through manufactured moral panic, as documented by 1News.
Cui malo? Everyone else. The Sikh community, terrorised during peaceful religious observance. Māori, whose sacred haka is being gutted and weaponised to advance a white supremacist, anti-immigrant agenda. And Tamaki’s own followers—particularly women so afraid of Man Up enforcers they told Campbell “those guys know where I live,” as revealed in Campbell’s investigation.
This attack is part of an escalating pattern. Let’s trace the whakapapa of hate.
The Real Brian Tamaki
A Pattern of Cowardice: The Timeline of Terror
November 2016: After the Kaikōura earthquake, Tamaki blamed natural disasters on “sexual perversion” and gay marriage, as reported by the BBC. An online petition calling for Destiny Church to be classified as a hate group garnered 100,000 signatures, according to the BBC. The government did nothing.
2017: Tamaki called gay and lesbian clergy “contamination,” as reported by 1News.
2019: When Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis rejected the Man Up programme for prisons, Tamaki threatened “inmate revolts in every prison” and described ministers as subjecting him to “a political gang rape,” according to Wikipedia’s documented sources.
2022: Tamaki was briefly imprisoned for breaching Covid-19 bail conditions after organising anti-mandate protests, as documented by Wikipedia.
February 15, 2025: Man Up and Destiny members stormed a children’s drag science show at Te Atatū Community Centre, forcing 30 adults and children to barricade themselves in a room, as reported by RNZ. Seven people were arrested on assault charges, according to video evidence. Tamaki admitted on video he “green-lit” the attack, telling followers “you get to the Te Atatū library,” as documented by 1News.
Police form barrier as protesters block Sikh parade in Manurewa
June 20, 2025: Tamaki led a Queen Street march tearing up and burning flags representing Islam, Palestine, Sikhism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and the UN, as reported by RNZ. Protesters used taiaha—culturally sacred Māori weapons—to stab at flags before burning them, according to RNZ’s reporting. Tamaki proclaimed he was building a “Commonwealth crusade to reclaim Christian nations,” as documented by RNZ.
December 14, 2025: Following the Bondi Beach terror attack that killed 16 people, Tamaki claimed “multiculturalism is ruining Australia,” according to the NZ Herald.
December 20, 2025: The Sikh parade confrontation.
Each attack escalates. Each time, Tamaki orchestrates from a distance. Each time, he deploys rage as a recruitment tool. Each time, he gets away with it.
The Great Extraction: Who Funds the Hate?
Destiny Church operates nine registered charities, all enjoying tax-exempt status, as documented by Campbell’s investigation. Campbell’s investigation documented “laundry baskets full of cash disappearing into vans” parked behind the church, as reported by 1News.
Tamaki lectures his overwhelmingly Māori and Pasifika congregation:
“I don’t care what the media say, I don’t care what your relatives say...nobody should be not tithing,” according to Wikipedia’s documented sources.
The prosperity gospel at work:
Tamaki extracts wealth from some of Aotearoa’s most economically marginalised communities, enjoys tax exemption, and deploys the funds to terrorise other marginalised communities.
Brian Tamaki orchestrating violence remotely from his compound
The Charities Registration Board is reviewing Destiny’s status, as reported by 1News.
Tamaki’s response? “STUFF YOUR CHARITY!” according to 1News.
Cultural Theft: The Weaponisation of Haka
Māori kaumātua reflects on weaponisation of sacred haka
This is where Tamaki’s operation becomes perversely ironic. A church led by a Māori man—of Ngāti Ngawaero and Ngāti Maniapoto whakapapa, according to Wikipedia—is gutting sacred tikanga Māori and turning it into a weapon of white supremacy and settler colonialism.
Professor Leonie Pihama, kaupapa Māori academic, told Campbell that even if Man Up members are no longer violent at home,
“their violence has been transplanted and directed at the LGBTQI community,”
She called the weaponisation of haka against vulnerable communities
according to 1News.
Eru Kapa-Kingi stated bluntly:
“The misuse of haka to push colonial agendas is perversely ironic,”
as reported by RNZ.
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson expressed disappointment that protesters used haka and te reo Māori, calling it a “misrepresentation of tikanga,” according to AUT analysis.
The Spinoff published an analysis titled
“Weaponising the haka: Cultural theft, not free speech,”
arguing:
“This wasn’t a haka—it was a hijacking. It was a weaponisation of Māoritanga.”
The piece continues:
“Destiny Church continually co-opts Māori culture—haka, moko, taiaha, pūkana—and twists it into an instrument of intimidation...This is where things get dangerous,” as published by The Spinoff.
Haka is taonga. It is whakapapa. Academic research confirms that haka is steeped in tikanga, with origins in the creation of the universe, generating “abundance of meaning and value for Māori,” according to research published in MAI Journal. Misuse and appropriation of haka has become commonplace globally, as documented in MAI Journal research, but when it’s weaponised by a Māori-led organisation to advance an explicitly anti-immigrant, Christian nationalist agenda, we witness settler colonialism eating its own children.
The Anti-Immigrant Crusade: Manufacturing the “Invasion”
Tamaki’s rhetoric has escalated to outright fascism. At the June 2025 protest, he declared: “Any type of immigration without assimilation is invasion,” as reported by Newstalk ZB.
He has claimed that 98% of immigrants are “probably terrorists,” according to Campbell’s investigation for 1News. He tells followers: “They’re not here to integrate, they’re here to invade,” as documented by 1News.
Targeting Sikhs specifically, Tamaki claimed they are “taking over New Zealand businesses” and “employ their own people,” as reported by the Economic Times. Of Buddhism, he stated: “It might be nice on the surface, but it’s dangerous underneath,” according to the Economic Times.
After the Sikh parade confrontation, Tamaki posted: “Multiculturalism is a failed experiment. And multiculturalism should never mean losing our common sense or erasing the Kiwi way of life,” as reported by The Noticer.
He is aligning himself with global far-right extremists, mentioning British anti-Islam campaigner Tommy Robinson and claiming to organise “the biggest protest the world has ever seen,” according to The Spinoff.
The Sikh Community Response: Restraint as Resistance
While Tamaki’s mob chanted and postured, the Sikh community maintained restraint and peace, as reported by Babushahi. Sikh leader Sunny Singh stated the situation was “handled with maturity, noting that any heated exchange could have worsened the atmosphere,” according to Babushahi’s reporting.
Inspector Matt Hoyes confirmed police “acted swiftly to ensure the parade was able to safely continue” and remained in the area to provide “reassurance to the Sikh community,” as reported by the NZ Herald.
The Supreme Sikh Society’s president, Daljit Singh, responded: “Brian Tamaki has no relevance in modern New Zealand. No religion teaches hate. In fact, all, including Christianity, spread the message of peace,” as reported by RNZ.
This is strength. This is mana. The Sikh community refused to be provoked, refused to give Tamaki the violent spectacle he craved for his next social media post.
The Sikh Community in Prayer and Dignity
Political Condemnation—But Where Is the Action?
Police Minister and Minister for Ethnic Communities Mark Mitchell stated he was “appalled” by Destiny’s actions, calling the behaviour “not Kiwi, nor Christian,” as reported by RNZ. He condemned the use of taiaha “to overtly stab at flags representing minority groups,” according to RNZ.
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour called Tamaki’s messaging “un-Kiwi” and stated: “What it means to be Kiwi is people come from all over the world, and so long as they come peacefully to build a better world, then they’re welcome,” as reported by RNZ.
Labour Leader Chris Hipkins described Tamaki’s pattern as “thuggish behaviour” from “Brian Tamaki and his mob,” as reported by RNZ.
Condemnation is cheap. Where is the action?
A coalition of faith communities—the Federation of Islamic Associations, Combined Sikh Association, and NZ Buddhist Council issued a joint statement declaring:
“This is not an exercise of free speech. This is targeted hate,”
They called for:
- Expediting Law Commission work on hate crime
- Effective hate speech legislation
- Completion of Royal Commission recommendations
- Sustained strategy for social cohesion
All as reported by RNZ.
Race Relations Commissioner Melissa Derby warned:
“Brian Tamaki’s ‘us vs them’ narratives are a reckless attack on social cohesion,” as reported by 1News.
Yet Destiny Church retains its nine tax-exempt charities. Tamaki continues to extract wealth from Māori and Pasifika communities to fund attacks on immigrants. The government wrings its hands and does nothing.
Five Hidden Connections the Media Missed
1. The Police-to-Hate-Group Pipeline
Until March 2025, New Zealand Police officially referred people to Destiny’s Man Up programme, as reported by RNZ. The state was feeding vulnerable men into an organisation that Professor Pihama says redirects male violence toward LGBTQI and immigrant communities, according to 1News.
2. The Bondi Attack as Pretext
Tamaki deployed the Bondi Beach terror attack—16 people dead—as justification for his anti-immigrant crusade, claiming “multiculturalism is ruining Australia,” as reported by the NZ Herald. This is the shock doctrine at work: exploiting tragedy to advance a pre-existing political agenda.
3. The Khalistan Red Herring
Tamaki claimed Khalistan flags were present at the Sikh parade, calling Khalistan a “terrorist organisation,” as reported by The Australia Today. This conflates an entire religious community with a fringe political movement—classic dehumanisation tactics. The parade was a Nagar Kirtan, a peaceful religious procession held globally by Sikh communities, as reported by Babushahi.
4. The Financial Extraction Machine
Destiny’s nine tax-exempt charities enable Tamaki to extract wealth from economically marginalised Māori and Pasifika, then deploy those funds to terrorise other marginalised communities, as documented by Campbell for 1News. This is a lateral violence economy—the state subsidises it through tax exemptions.
5. The International Far-Right Network
Tamaki is explicitly aligning with global extremists like Tommy Robinson, claiming to build a “Commonwealth crusade to reclaim Christian nations,” as reported by RNZ and The Spinoff. This is not a local phenomenon. This is transnational white Christian nationalism.
The Women Who Cannot Speak
John Campbell’s TVNZ+ investigation revealed that women inside Destiny Church are “hurt, scared, and exhausted,” as reported by 1News. Campbell stated: “I don’t think I’ve ever, in over three decades of journalism, talked to people as afraid” as the women he interviewed, according to 1News.
One woman told him: “I can’t do it, those Man Up guys know where I live,” as documented by 1News.
Four or five women Campbell spoke to were afraid of a violent response if they spoke publicly, according to 1News.
These are the invisible victims—Māori and Pasifika women trapped inside an organisation that claims to “defend family” while terrifying its own whānau into silence.
E Tū: What Must Be Done
Brian Tamaki is a coward who sends young men to do his violence. He is a con artist extracting wealth from the poor to fund hatred. He is a cultural thief weaponising Māori taonga to advance white supremacy.
The government must:
- Revoke Destiny Church’s charitable status immediately. Nine tax-exempt charities funding hate is state-subsidised terrorism.
- Implement effective hate speech legislation, as called for by faith communities and the Royal Commission, according to RNZ.
- Complete the Royal Commission recommendations on social cohesion, as reported by RNZ.
- Investigate Destiny Church under organised crime frameworks. Tamaki openly admits to directing violent confrontations, as documented by 1News. That is conspiracy.
Communities must:
- Stand with the Sikh community, the LGBTQI community, Muslim communities, and all those targeted by Destiny’s hate.
- Demand accountability from politicians who condemn in words but refuse to act.
- Protect our taonga. Haka is not Tamaki’s to weaponise. Māori scholars, kapa haka practitioners, and iwi must loudly reclaim what he is stealing.
Media must:
- Stop platforming Tamaki’s rage-bait without context about his financial extraction, pattern of violence, and harm to his own members.
- Centre the voices of those he targets—Sikh communities, LGBTQI people, women escaping Destiny.
Ka Whawhai Tonu Mātou
Brian Tamaki called his December 20 stunt
“THIS IS OUR LAND. THIS IS OUR STAND,”
No, Brian. This is not your land. This land was taken by the Crown through raupatu, through Te Tiriti breaches, through acts of colonial violence your Christian nationalist agenda echoes and extends. You do not speak for tangata whenua. You speak for extraction, for patriarchy, for the same forces that dispossessed Māori in the first place.
The Sikh whānau who walked Nagar Kirtan through their streets in Manurewa? They belong here. The LGBTQI people your thugs terrorised at Te Atatū library? They belong here. The Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu communities whose sacred symbols you burned? They belong here.
You, Brian Tamaki, are the invader. You invade sacred tikanga and gut it for profit. You invade vulnerable communities and extract their wealth. You invade the lives of women too afraid to speak your name.
You are not tangata whenua. You are a parasite wearing the stolen garments of mana Māori motuhake.
Research methodology: This investigation used search_web, get_url_content, and search_files_v2 tools to gather evidence from 69 verified sources.
Sources consulted: NZ Herald, RNZ, 1News, The Spinoff, Newstalk ZB, BBC, Wikipedia, MAI Journal, Economic Times, Babushahi, The Australia Today, The Noticer, AUT, academic databases.
Date of research: December 21-22, 2025
Unverifiable claims: None—all assertions backed by cited and hyperlinked sources.
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