> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # "The Loyalty Laundromat: How Shane Jones Washes Murray Chong’s Record And Calls The Dirty Water “Cohesion”" - 26 September 2026 - URL: https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/the-loyalty-laundromat-how-shane-jones-washes-murray-chongs-record-and-calls-the-dirty-water-cohesion-26-september-2026/ - Published: 2026-09-25T21:10:15.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-25T21:10:15.000Z - Description: When A Coalition Rewards Anti-Māori Provocation As Loyalty, Whānau Pay The Price And Democracy Carries The Stain. - Author: Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_1.png) I am Ivor Jones, The Māori Green Lantern. Ko Te Arawa, ko Ngāti Pikiao ōku iwi. I carry Welsh whakapapa too. I am a tohunga mau rākau wairua and a kaitiaki of evidence. I do not raise the taiaha because a politician irritates me. I raise it when power scrubs its own fingerprints from the weapon and tells whānau the bloodstain is “cohesion”. *Tika* means what is correct, just, fair and appropriate, while *pono* means what is true, honest, genuine and sincere, according to [Te Aka Māori Dictionary](https://maoridictionary.co.nz/search?idiom=&phrase=&proverb=&loan=&histLoanWords=&keywords=TIKA&ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and a [Te Puni Kōkiri case study](https://www.tpk.govt.nz/docs/tpk-ot-case-study.pdf?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). Pā Hēnare Tate’s formulation is even sharper: tika is doing the right thing; pono is doing it the right way, as explained by [E-Tangata](https://e-tangata.co.nz/reflections/its-what-you-might-call-architecture-tanga/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). That is the test I apply here. Is selecting Murray Chong **tika** after his documented public record? Is Shane Jones’s effort to reduce that record to “one or three colourful lapses” **pono**? My conclusion is no. Not remotely. ### The Tika And Pono Test ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_4--1-.png) > This essay follows five connected threads: NZ First’s selection of Murray Chong; Chong’s record concerning Māori representation, te reo Māori, the Confederate flag and an inclusive procurement policy; Shane Jones’s attempt to wash that record clean with the words “loyalty” and “cohesion”; the measurable local and national damage to Māori representation; and the practical choice facing voters on 7 November 2026. I would love you to click through and use this essay, because it contains a storehouse of information you can carry into the smoko room, the dinner table, the marae, the workplace and the voting booth. I have created an audio podcast that lays out this kaupapa in detail, a short video that explains it plainly, and this long-form cited essay for readers who want the complete paper trail. This is not content confetti to disappear down a corporate algorithm. It is a repository for our mokopuna. One day they may look back at this period and say: *at least The Māori Green Lantern, alongside the other voices who refused silence, warned us while the machinery was still moving.* --- ## The Candidate And The Laundry Cycle ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_5.png) NZ First announced Chong as its New Plymouth candidate and called him a “dedicated local advocate” committed to honest public service, transparency and prudent public spending; his campaign slogan includes “one country, one people, one law, one flag”, according to the [party’s published announcement](https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2609/S00269/new-plymouth-deputy-mayor-murray-chong-to-stand-for-nzfirst.htm?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and [RNZ’s report](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1572460/new-zealand-first-names-new-plymouth-veteran-councillor-murray-chong-as-election-candidate?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). [New Zealand First names New Plymouth veteran councillor Murray Chong as election candidate\*Correction: An earlier version of this article said Murray Chong was New Plymouth’s Deputy Mayor. He is one of three deputy mayor’s who will be in rotation in May 2027.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32.bc7fe925-011be444-3351-4f66-93e2-3062e1e60235.png)RNZRNZ | Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/thumbnail/4OI913U_image_crop_27624-9899a3c9-a53f-4ab0-9fce-1c21eb1121be.jpg)](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1572460/new-zealand-first-names-new-plymouth-veteran-councillor-murray-chong-as-election-candidate?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) That official varnish omits the splinters. In 2025, Mayor Neil Holdom ordered Chong out of the council chamber after Chong called a procurement strategy “racist”, withdrew the remark, and then repeated it. The policy aimed to save money and produce local economic, social, cultural and environmental gains, including better partnerships with iwi, hapū and Māori businesses, according to [1News and Local Democracy Reporting](https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/14/councillor-kicked-out-of-meeting-after-labelling-policy-racist/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). Chong’s supporters said he had used the wrong words and deserved some slack; councillor Dinnie Moeahu rejected that excuse and asked what opponents of Māori inclusion feared they had lost, while Holdom said leadership should be inclusive rather than divisive, according to the same [1News report](https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/14/councillor-kicked-out-of-meeting-after-labelling-policy-racist/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). That counter-evidence matters. Pono requires the whole record, not only the pieces that sharpen my argument. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_3.png) Chong abstained when the council voted in 2024 to retain its Māori ward, citing threats to his safety, and a bullet had struck his distinctive vehicle during the public controversy, as reported by [RNZ’s candidate profile](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1572460/new-zealand-first-names-new-plymouth-veteran-councillor-murray-chong-as-election-candidate?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and the [New Zealand Herald](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/maori-ward-debate-new-plymouth-councillor-murray-chongs-car-hit-by-gunshot/DW3XLBLHGNF23ETMXYBQJCY/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). That reported violence is indefensible. Political disagreement never licenses threats, intimidation or gunfire. But condemning violence against Chong does not require anyone to launder his politics. In 2019, he apologised after saying he was ashamed to sing the national anthem in te reo Māori, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-ao-maori/380219/new-plymouth-councillor-murray-chong-apologises-for-te-reo-maori-anthem-comments?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). Earlier reporting also recorded his defence of displaying the Confederate flag at an Americana event; he acknowledged its association with slavery but framed it through childhood television nostalgia, as reported by the [Otago Daily Times](https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/councillor-ashamed-sing-maori-version-anthem?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). These are not identical acts and must not be falsely collapsed into one legal allegation. They are, however, a public pattern: resistance to specific Māori representation, hostility to a policy designed partly to include Māori suppliers, a recorded rejection of the Māori-language anthem, and defence of a symbol inseparable from racial oppression. In my evidence-based opinion, that pattern makes NZ First’s language of “cohesion” look less like principle and more like industrial-strength political detergent. --- ## Jones Puts Loyalty Above Accountability ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_6.png) [Shane Jones backs NZ First’s controversial New Plymouth candidate selectionNew Zealand First deputy leader Shane Jones is backing the party’s controversial candidate selection for the New Plymouth electorate.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32.bc7fe925-eee98b74-29e8-491b-b104-c3d8185be1d9.png)RNZRNZ | Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/thumbnail/4JHQJGK_shared_image_3_jfif-d6dc0828-0605-4f49-bfc5-351e6b8d4a67.jpg)](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) At a New Plymouth rally attended by about 300 supporters, Shane Jones said Chong was valuable and loyal to the elements making up NZ First’s identity. Jones dismissed the controversies as “one or three colourful lapses” and claimed voters would instead consider national cohesion, cost of living and industry, according to [RNZ’s rally report](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). There is the reveal. Jones does not deny the record. He miniaturises it. Conduct affecting Māori language, Māori representation, racial symbolism and Māori economic participation is pushed through the rinse cycle until it emerges as colour — vivid perhaps, embarrassing perhaps, but supposedly superficial. Chong told RNZ that many controversies were old, that he had learned, and that his strong electoral record proved community respect; he pointed to receiving twice as many votes as other candidates, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). The official 2025 result supports the narrow electoral claim: his 9,566 first preferences were 2.02 times David Bublitz’s 4,743, according to [NPDC’s final result](https://www.npdc.govt.nz/media/yo5j5rgv/npdc-final-results%5F2025.pdf?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). But popularity is not moral absolution. A large vote proves that many people chose a candidate. It does not prove every statement was tika, every symbol pono, or every affected community unharmed. Elections confer office; they do not wash history. --- ## The Deep Dive Podcast Murray Chong and the Mori Ward Battle 0:00 /1267.763084 1× Listen to a lively conversation between two hosts, unpacking and connecting topics in the sources of this essay. I apologise in advance for the AI's very harsh pronounciation of reo. Please dont shoot me, :). ## Youtube Video Like video? Here is a short video suppporting the essay. Again, don't shoot the messenger please because of AI's pronounciation. :) --- ## A Koha To Keep The Laundry Lights On ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_10.png) You might ask who pays The Māori Green Lantern to produce high-volume, evidence-heavy essays that follow the stains power wants hidden. The answer is whānau through koha. No corporate queue stands behind this mahi. Every koha says that accountability will not be left to the same Crown and political structures being examined; it says rangatiratanga includes the power to **support** our own truth tellers. Kia kaha, whānau. Stay vigilant. Stay connected. If you are able, consider a koha so this voice can keep testing political claims against tika, pono and the public record. If you cannot koha, no worries. [Subscribe or follow The Māori Green Lantern](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/#/portal/support), kōrero about the evidence, and share it with whānau and friends. That is koha too. - **Koha — Support This Mahi:** [Make A Voluntary Contribution](https://app.koha.kiwi/events/the-maori-green-lantern-fighting-misinformation-and-disinformation-ivor-jones?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) - **Subscribe — Receive The Essays Directly:** [Support The Māori Green Lantern](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/#/portal/support) - **Direct Bank Transfer:** Ivor Jones, 03-1395-0099387-000 - **Facebook:** [Follow And Subscribe](https://www.facebook.com/Themaorigreenlantern/subscribe/) --- ## Five Connections They Hope You Miss ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_4.png) ### Connection One: Loyalty Is The Real Qualification Jones praised Chong’s loyalty to NZ First’s core identity, while Chong said the party held true to his values, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). The selection is therefore not an accidental mismatch between a respectable party and an inconvenient candidate. By their own words, it is ideological alignment. ### Connection Two: “One People” Deletes The Treaty Relationship NZ First’s candidate announcement promotes “one country, one people, one law, one flag”, according to its [published release](https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2609/S00269/new-plymouth-deputy-mayor-murray-chong-to-stand-for-nzfirst.htm?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). The slogan pretends formal sameness repairs historical and institutional inequality. Constitutional scholar Claire Charters explains the defect plainly: treating everybody the same does not automatically create equality when a majority can dominate a minority, in [E-Tangata’s constitutional discussion](https://e-tangata.co.nz/comment-and-analysis/claire-charters-lets-imagine-a-new-constitution/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). I traced the same solvent in [“The Coalition Conveyor Belt”](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/the-coalition-conveyor-belt-how-equal-citizenship-became-a-machine-for-downgrading-te-tiriti-21-august-2026/): “equal citizenship” is used to rub Crown obligations from the page while leaving Crown power untouched. That is not equality. It is unilateral power wearing a supermarket-brand fairness label. ### Connection Three: Local Provocation Meets National Rollback New Plymouth’s poll recorded 15,004 votes to remove Māori wards and 12,046 to keep them, a removal margin of 2,958, according to the [official NPDC result](https://www.npdc.govt.nz/media/yo5j5rgv/npdc-final-results%5F2025.pdf?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). Nationally, 24 of 42 referendum councils voted for removal, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/576556/final-results-confirm-axeing-of-more-than-half-of-maori-wards?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and [Te Ao Māori News](https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/10/18/local-elections-2025-final-results-confirm-majority-of-councils-reject-maori-wards/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). The coalition reinstated compulsory poll provisions for many councils; [Policy.nz explains the legislative reversal](https://policy.nz/2025/resources/maori-wards?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz), while [Vote Local lists the 42 affected councils](https://www.votelocal.co.nz/maori-wards-and-constituencies/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). I examined the wider closure of Māori-representation pathways in [“The Grandmother Who Kept The Door Open While They Bricked The Rest Shut”](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/the-grandmother-who-kept-the-door-open-while-they-bricked-the-rest-shut-29-july-2026/). ### Connection Four: “Cohesion” Means Māori Must Absorb The Blow Jones said Chong could contribute to a more cohesive nation, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). But cohesion without repair is simply enforced quiet. If Māori must accept attacks on our representation, language and participation so other people can feel united, then “cohesion” is not peace. It is submission with a press release. ### Connection Five: Extraction And Culture War Share A Spine At the same rally, Jones used “drill, baby, drill”, said “bugger the climate”, promised to cut red and green tape, and maintained NZ First’s commitment to seabed mineral extraction, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). I traced that extractive ideology in [“Drill Baby, Drill — Into Your Own Fraud”](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/drill-baby-drill-into-your-own-fraud-19-april-2026/) and Jones’s accountability record in [“How Shane Jones Loots The Public Purse And Winston Peters Calls It Statecraft”](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/how-shane-jones-loots-the-public-purse-and-winston-peters-calls-it-statecraft-19-june-2026/). The connection is structural. The same politics treats Treaty duties as tape, Māori representation as division, kaitiakitanga as obstruction and extraction as common sense. I call that white-supremacist neoliberal government not as a claim about anyone’s secret soul, but as my judgement of a system that preserves settler control, devalues collective Māori authority and opens whenua to profit while demanding that Māori call the result unity. --- ## Three Examples For The Western Mind ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_7.png) ### Example One: The Boardroom With The Reserved Seat Removed Imagine a company takes your family’s land, builds its headquarters on it, and signs an agreement promising your descendants an enduring role in decisions. Generations later, the board calls that reserved voice “racial privilege” and lets all shareholders vote on whether your family may remain in the room. **The Harm:** New Plymouth’s final poll produced 15,004 remove votes and 12,046 keep votes; the removal side won 55.47% of valid choice votes, according to the [official result](https://www.npdc.govt.nz/media/yo5j5rgv/npdc-final-results%5F2025.pdf?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). Nationally, 57.14% of the 42 referendum councils voted for removal, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/576556/final-results-confirm-axeing-of-more-than-half-of-maori-wards?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and [Te Ao Māori News](https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2025/10/18/local-elections-2025-final-results-confirm-majority-of-councils-reject-maori-wards/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). **The Tikanga Impact:** Whakapapa locates authority and obligation within relationships among people, whenua and generations. A Māori ward is not full rangatiratanga, but it creates a route for mana whenua perspectives to enter decisions. Removing that route weakens whanaungatanga and tells tangata whenua that their relationship with place may be overruled by a temporary numerical majority. **The Solution:** Restore councils’ ability to establish Māori wards under the same democratic rules used for general wards; entrench Māori representation against discriminatory veto mechanisms; and require transparent reporting on Māori participation and outcomes. The [Green Party has opposed the forced referendums and defended Māori wards](https://www.greens.org.nz/news%5Flocal%5Fgovernment?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). ### Example Two: The Supplier List That Calls Inclusion Discrimination Imagine a city discovers that contracts repeatedly circulate among the same established firms. It adopts a buy-local strategy to save money and widen access for smaller businesses, including Indigenous suppliers. One director labels that effort racist, repeats the allegation after withdrawing it, and is later marketed for his commitment to prudent public money. **The Harm:** New Plymouth’s strategy aimed at economic, social, cultural and environmental gains and sought stronger partnerships with iwi, hapū and Māori businesses, according to [1News](https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/14/councillor-kicked-out-of-meeting-after-labelling-policy-racist/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). The immediate harm cannot be honestly reduced to a dollar figure from available sources. The measurable institutional harm is the obstruction and stigmatisation of a formally adopted inclusion mechanism. **The Tikanga Impact:** Manaakitanga is not ceremonial kindness. It is the active protection of dignity and the creation of conditions in which others can participate. Calling the opening of a blocked economic doorway “racism” reverses victim and beneficiary: the excluded are recast as privileged, while the inherited advantage behind the closed door disappears from view. **The Solution:** Publish procurement outcomes by business location and relevant supplier categories; audit whether promised access produces contracts rather than brochures; and use independent review to test value for money and equity together. Tika demands evidence of results. Pono demands that inclusion is neither exaggerated nor sabotaged. ### Example Three: The Employee Whose Misconduct Becomes “Colour” Imagine an employee repeatedly creates reputational damage involving language, race and inclusion. Management does not examine the pattern. It calls the incidents “colourful lapses”, praises the employee’s loyalty and sends him out as the organisation’s public face. **The Harm:** The individual episodes are documented: the 2019 te reo anthem controversy and apology in [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-ao-maori/380219/new-plymouth-councillor-murray-chong-apologises-for-te-reo-maori-anthem-comments?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); the Confederate-flag defence reported by the [Otago Daily Times](https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/councillor-ashamed-sing-maori-version-anthem?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); the 2024 Māori-ward abstention under reported threats in [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1572460/new-zealand-first-names-new-plymouth-veteran-councillor-murray-chong-as-election-candidate?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); and the 2025 chamber expulsion reported by [1News](https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/14/councillor-kicked-out-of-meeting-after-labelling-policy-racist/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). Jones then publicly reduced the controversies to “one or three colourful lapses”, according to [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1574614/shane-jones-backs-nz-first-s-controversial-new-plymouth-candidate-selection?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). **The Tikanga Impact:** Pono requires truthfulness and consistency. Ngākau pono can mean loyalty, but loyalty detached from tika becomes protection of the in-group rather than integrity. In Western terms: loyalty is not a character defence when the organisation is asking whether the conduct itself meets the standard. **The Solution:** NZ First should publish the candidate-vetting standard it applied, explain why the documented conduct meets that standard, and state what change it believes occurred. Chong should be judged on his full record, including his apology, his electoral support, the violence directed at him and the conduct for which he remains publicly accountable. --- ## Tika Without Pono Is Branding ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_8.png) Chong says he has learned. That deserves a fair test, not automatic disbelief. But learning is shown through changed conduct, acknowledgement of harm and repair — not merely the passage of time or the size of a vote tally. Jones offers none of that architecture. He offers loyalty. He offers industry. He offers the political equivalent of throwing a sheet over the stain and accusing anyone who notices the smell of opposing cohesion. This is where my judgement becomes scathing because the evidence has earned it. NZ First is not cleaning a record. It is laundering a political asset. Chong supplies the grievance vocabulary; Jones supplies the industrial spin cycle; Peters supplies the brand; and Māori are expected to drink the grey water and call it national unity. --- ## The Electoral Verdict ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Loyalty_Laundromat_-_Slide_9.png) The general election is on **Saturday 7 November 2026**, according to the [Electoral Commission](https://elections.nz/guidance-and-rules/candidate-hub/key-information-and-dates?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz), [Parliament](https://www3.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/parliament-in-election-year/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and the [Prime Minister’s announcement](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/general-election-be-held-7-november?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). > I do not recommend returning this National–ACT–NZ First coalition to power. That is my political opinion, based on the documented pattern in this essay: compulsory Māori-ward referendums, rhetoric that treats Māori inclusion as division, candidate loyalty elevated over accountability, hostility to environmental safeguards and an extractive programme sold as common sense. > I recommend a Green Party vote. The Greens have publicly opposed attacks on Māori wards and called for equitable Māori representation, according to their [local-government statements](https://www.greens.org.nz/news%5Flocal%5Fgovernment?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). > They have proposed entrenching Māori seats, allowing greater Māori electoral-roll choice and strengthening Māori representation, according to their [Māori seats announcement](https://www.greens.org.nz/greens%5Fannounce%5Fbill%5Fto%5Fentrench%5Fm%5Fori%5Fseats%5Fin%5Flaw?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). > Their 2026 programme includes 13 Māori candidates, nine in the top 20, and an additional $200 million commitment for te reo Māori, according to [Green Party election material](https://www.greens.org.nz/news?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) and [RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics%5Felection-2026/1364436/greens-promise-200m-into-te-reo-maori-initiatives?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz). A recommendation is not worship. The Greens must still be measured against tika and pono after election day. But on the evidence available now, they offer a clearer route toward Te Tiriti, climate responsibility, Māori representation and public accountability than a coalition whose deputy leader calls this record “colourful” and whose candidate slogan attempts to compress two peoples and a Treaty relationship into “one”. The ballot is not the whole taiaha. It is one grip on the shaft. Use it. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/YgMeeENm6-9sk9PH-12.png) Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right --- ## Legal Disclaimer This essay is public-interest political commentary concerning candidates, elected representatives, government policy and democratic accountability. Factual claims are linked to the sources relied upon; interpretations and political judgements are identified as opinion and grounded in the disclosed record. Named people are discussed only in their public capacities. No malice is intended. No allegation of criminal wrongdoing is made unless expressly attributed to a verified source, and none is made against Chong or Jones here. Corrections will be made promptly where credible evidence establishes an error. A retraction or response request may be submitted through [The Māori Green Lantern](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/).