"The Sandfly Lie: How A White‑Supremacist Neoliberal Government Buried The Verdict On Its Own Racism" - 15 August 2026
They Called Our Grievances Sandflies, Gutted Our Treaty Rights In 19 Laws, And Then Hid The Report That Shows Exactly What They Did.
Who I Am, Why I’m This Angry
Ko Ivor Jones ahau. Te Arawa, Ngāti Pikiao, a bit of Welsh coal dust in the whakapapa, and for the last few years I’ve been the annoying cousin with a taiaha made of footnotes — tracking where the money goes while a white‑supremacist neoliberal government burns the house down and smiles for the cameras.
RNZ | Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa
If you only take one thing from this essay, take this: the government finished a major review of the Waitangi Tribunal more than a year ago and refuses to release it, while it simultaneously tears Te Tiriti out of 19 different laws.
That’s not “good process.” That’s a burglar refusing to show you the CCTV while they’re still inside your house.RNZ Article
What This Government Is Hiding
In May 2025, Tama Potaka announced an Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) to review the Treaty Of Waitangi Act 1975, the law that created the Waitangi Tribunal.Beehive: Review Seeks To Improve Waitangi Tribunal
The terms of reference say ITAG would do its work between May and September 2025 and report back by the end of August, so Cabinet could introduce a bill before the end of 2025.TPK: ITAG Terms Of Reference. The engagement and communications plan repeats that timetable.TPK: Review Of The Treaty Of Waitangi Act 1975 – Engagement Plan
It’s now mid‑August 2026. Potaka admits the report is “before ministers” and still won’t commit to releasing it.RNZ Article That means their own deadline is about eleven months overdue — and the only reason to sit on it this long is because it’s politically inconvenient.
At the same time, the coalition has already completed a Treaty Clause Review that started with 28 Acts, cut down to 19 in final scope.Beehive: Ensuring Treaty References Are Consistent.
The Justice Ministry explains that Cabinet decided on 23 February 2026 to weaken every Treaty duty in those laws so none require more than “take into account”, and to repeal some clauses outright.Justice: Review Of Legislation Including Reference To The Principles Of The Treaty
When the Waitangi Tribunal looked at that decision, it found the Crown had breached the principles of good government, active protection, and partnership across 18 of those Acts, and said the Crown was “governing by coalition agreement, irrespective of the normal conventions of engagement and deliberation”.Waitangi Tribunal News Release E‑Tangata: Tribunal Names Crown’s Trickery And Deceit
So: 28 Acts in scope once, 19 in scope now, 18 already found in breach. A government that promised “no predetermined outcomes” and “strengthening, not undermining” the Tribunal now hides a whole review while it bulldozes the Tribunal’s jurisdiction behind closed doors.Justice: Review Of Legislation Including Reference To The Principles Of The Treaty TPK Comms Quote
That’s not “efficiency.” That is white‑supremacist statecraft: change the rules, burn the evidence, call it unity.
The Deep Dive Podcast
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. :)
Koha Consideration
Every koha signals that whānau are ready to support the accountability this white‑supremacist neoliberal government will never offer on its own — especially when it hides Tribunal reviews, ignores 276,000 submissions, and calls our people sandflies for daring to complain.
It signals that rangatiratanga includes the power to support our own truth‑tellers.
Kia kaha, whānau. Stay vigilant. Stay connected. And if you are able, consider a koha to ensure this voice — tracking every buried report and every “take into account” knife slid into Te Tiriti — continues.
If you are unable to koha, kei te pai. Subscribe or follow The Māori Green Lantern at themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz, kōrero and share with your whānau and friends — that is koha in itself.
Four Pathways Exist:
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Three Examples For The Western Mind
Here are examples that speak to a Western, “show‑me‑the‑evidence” mind. Here they are — each with quantified harm, a practical fix, and a translation of tikanga into concepts any decent Pākehā neighbour can understand.
Example One: The Curriculum Con – Erasing Our Kids’ Rights On The Quiet
In my essay “The Curriculum Con: How A White Supremacist Neoliberal Regime Tried To Bury Te Tiriti In The Classroom”, I walked through how this government moved to rip “give effect to Te Tiriti” out of the Education And Training Act 2020.The Curriculum Con
Those education changes ended up in their own urgent Tribunal inquiry, Wai 3553. Te Ao Māori News reports that the Tribunal found Cabinet’s plan to downgrade Treaty duties in schooling was such a serious breach that it compared the move to the discredited Treaty Principles Bill and warned of major damage to the Māori–Crown relationship.Te Ao Māori News: Prime Minister Rejects Scathing Waitangi Tribunal Report 1News likewise covered the proposal to weaken legal obligations to Te Tiriti in education.1News: Govt Proposes To Weaken Legal Obligations To Treaty
Quantified Harm:
The Tribunal explicitly warned that weakening education law to “take into account” Te Tiriti, instead of “give effect”, risked serious harm to the Māori–Crown relationship and could be as bad or worse than the Principles Bill.Te Ao Māori News: Prime Minister Rejects Scathing Waitangi Tribunal Report That’s not my hyperbole — that is their technical finding.
Solution:
Any future curriculum change that touches Treaty duties must go to the Tribunal before the bill is introduced, not as an afterthought once damage is already done. That’s the position I’ve argued across my education pieces, including “The Curriculum Con”.The Curriculum Con
Tikanga Impact, Translated:
Tikanga in education is about protecting the mauri of tamariki — the integrity of their spirit, language, and identity. For a Western reader: imagine the law quietly telling schools they no longer have to respect your family’s culture or dignity when they design the curriculum, and you only find out after the fact. That is what stripping “give effect” away does. You wouldn’t accept your children being treated that way. Neither will we.
Example Two: The Surgeon Who Hates The Patient – Goldsmith’s One‑Sentence Amputation
In “The Surgeon Who Hates The Patient: How Paul Goldsmith Is Performing Treaty Surgery With A Scalpel He Doesn’t Believe In”, I laid out how a man who publicly argued colonisation had “on balance” been beneficial to Māori was put in charge of “fixing” Treaty clauses.The Surgeon Who Hates The Patient
E‑Tangata’s analysis of the Treaty clause review shows what happened next: for a swathe of the Acts in scope, the justification for cutting back Treaty duties comes down to Goldsmith’s personal “view” in a Cabinet paper that strong “give effect” clauses “do not promote the balanced consideration of all relevant factors”.[Government Ignores Advice And Swings Te Tiriti Wrecking Ball]] The Tribunal describes Cabinet’s rationale as flawed and inconsistent with the honour of the Crown.[Tribunal Names Crown’s Trickery And Deceit]
Meanwhile, in my essay “How A White Supremacist Neoliberal Government Sold Our Surgeries And Still Refuses To Pay The Māori Health Debt”, I pointed out that the government managed to find $298.4 Million for private surgical theatres while still refusing to fully honour the Māori health obligations identified in the WAI 2575 inquiry.How A White Supremacist Neoliberal Government Sold Our Surgeries
Quantified Harm:
The Justice Ministry confirms that every Act in this 19‑law list now has its Treaty duty capped at “take into account”.Justice: Review Of Legislation Including Reference To The Principles Of The Treaty Goldsmith’s Beehive release likewise frames this as “ensuring consistent references” — code for cutting stronger standards down.Beehive: Ensuring Treaty References Are Consistent Carwyn Jones describes this package as “the most wide‑ranging breach of Te Tiriti in modern history”, and the Tribunal backs that concern.Government Ignores Advice And Swings Te Tiriti Wrecking Ball, Tribunal Names Crown’s Trickery And Deceit
Solution:
At minimum, whenever Cabinet overrides a specialist advisory group and a Tribunal finding, the minister should be legally required to publish a detailed, evidenced rationale — not a one‑sentence “view”. In “The Grave Robbers In Suits”, I argued for a dedicated Māori–Crown relations Cabinet committee with veto power over any move that weakens existing Treaty standards.The Grave Robbers In Suits
Tikanga Impact, Translated:
Tikanga here is about mana motuhake — the right of a people to determine their own path. Letting one minister amputate that with a single line in a briefing is like letting a surgeon who doesn’t believe your injury is real choose which of your organs to remove. In Western terms: you wouldn’t let a doctor who denies your illness operate on you. Yet this government is performing constitutional surgery on Māori with exactly that attitude.
Example Three: The Grave Robbers In Suits – Ignoring 300,000 People
The Treaty Principles Bill was the dry run for all of this. In “Fire At The Treaty House: Exposing Luxon’s ‘Unity’ As Arson” and “The Grave Robbers In Suits”, I set out the scale of opposition: More Than 307,000 Submissions, the largest response to any bill; 529 Oral Submitters Over 79 Hours And 35 Minutes; and around 90 Percent of written submissions opposed — with only about 8 percent supportive.Select Committee Report Spinoff Summary 1News
Working the numbers: 90 percent of 307,000 is roughly 276,300 People telling Parliament “No” in writing.
Parliament finally listened and killed the bill.1News But while everyone was celebrating, the coalition charged ahead with the Treaty clause review and Waitangi Tribunal review — the same agenda by other means, without the inconvenience of another 300,000 people writing in.Government Ignores Advice And Swings Te Tiriti Wrecking Ball The Crown Can’t Decide On Its Own
Quantified Harm:
The Tribunal’s report on the Principles Bill found it unfair, discriminatory, and in breach of partnership, active protection, equity, and the honour of the Crown, and recommended that the Treaty clause review itself be paused and reconceptualised with Māori.Waitangi Tribunal: Treaty Principles Bill Report The government has pressed on regardless, and Luxon has confirmed he still intends to amend 19 Acts and look at “eight or nine more” as part of Treaty reform.Te Ao Māori News
Solution:
We should demand a constitutional convention — backed by standing orders — that no government proceeds with any Treaty‑diminishing bill or review where more than two‑thirds of submissions oppose it. That’s not radical. That’s basic democratic respect for the people you claim to govern, and it’s the standard Te Tiriti itself implies.
Tikanga Impact, Translated:
Tikanga rests on whakaae (informed consent) and whakawhiti kōrero (genuine dialogue). A process where 90 percent say “no” and the Crown immediately pursues the same outcome via back‑room reviews is not consent. For a Western reader: if your council proposes to demolish your house, runs a consultation, gets 90 percent opposition, and then sells your street to a developer anyway, you’d call that corrupt. We call it colonisation, upgraded to 2026 firmware.
Kāore Tēnei He Kōrero Paku — This Is Not A Small Story, Whānau
It is the story of a government that promised no predetermined outcomes and delivered a locked drawer, that promised to strengthen the Tribunal and instead starved it of daylight for eleven months past its own deadlineRNZ Article, that heard 276,300 people say "no" and answered with 19 more laws stripped anywaySelect Committee ReportJustice Treaty Clause Review.
A namu bites once and moves on. This government bites, denies it bit you, and then hides the doctor's report proving the wound is real.
The taiaha does not need the Crown's permission to keep swinging, and neither do you need theirs to keep reading, sharing, and refusing to let this go quiet.
Toitū Te Tiriti. Kia kaha, whānau — the light stays on until the report does too.
Ngā mihi,
Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right
Disclaimer
This essay is an opinion piece written by Ivor Jones, The Māori Green Lantern, based on publicly available information from official government documents, Waitangi Tribunal reports, reputable news outlets, Māori research and commentary, and prior essays published on themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz. It does not offer legal, financial, or professional advice and should not be relied on as such.
All statements about named individuals and political parties relate solely to their public actions and public statements in their official capacities. They are made in good faith on matters of significant public interest, consistent with the public‑interest communication defence recognised in Durie v Gardiner NZCA 278 and the principles in Lange v Atkinson 3 NZLR 385, and with reference to the Defamation Act 1992.Durie v Gardiner CommentaryBuddle Findlay Update
Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy at the time of writing, including naming numerical discrepancies where sources conflict instead of smoothing them over. Any errors identified in future will be corrected transparently. Right of reply remains open to all named parties; private individuals (none are named here) would be offered a 48‑hour response window before publication.
