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“The Shameful Theatre of Racist Disruption: Exposing the Far-Right Network Behind New Plymouth's Anti-Māori Spectacle” - 14 August 2025

The mask has slipped, and what lies beneath is uglier than we imagined.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

15 Aug 2025 — 12 min read

Kia ora whānau.

Councillor Murray Chong's grotesque performance at New Plymouth District Council on Tuesday was not an isolated outburst of racism - it was a carefully orchestrated piece of political theatre designed to undermine Māori participation in local democracy. This shameful display reveals the sickening depths of a coordinated network of far-right agitators, white supremacist enablers, and neoliberal profiteers who have turned attacking tangata whenua into a lucrative political strategy.1news

https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/08/14/councillor-kicked-out-of-meeting-after-labelling-policy-racist/

Background: The Web of White Supremacist Politics

The procurement policy that sent Chong into his racist rage was actually a straightforward initiative aimed at supporting local businesses, including iwi, hapū, and Māori enterprises. This is precisely the kind of inclusive economic development that threatens the colonial power structure these actors desperately want to preserve. Their panic is palpable because they know that when Māori succeed economically, their narrative of superiority crumbles.rnz

The policy follows successful models internationally and nationally. The government's progressive procurement target has already exceeded expectations, with 6% of contracts awarded to Māori businesses worth $930 million. This success terrifies those who profit from Māori exclusion.beehive

The Theatre of Racist Disruption

What happened at Tuesday's council meeting was no accident. Chong's calculated repetition of his "racist policy" slur three times, despite repeated warnings from Mayor Neil Holdom, was a deliberate provocation designed to generate maximum media attention. This is textbook far-right agitation - create the controversy, play the victim, then milk the outrage for political capital.1news

Even more revealing was the shameful behaviour of his enablers. Max Brough attempted to excuse Chong's racism, while Gordon Brown pathetically suggested that Chong "just used the wrong words" because "oral language is not his greatest strength". This patronising racism-by-proxy is almost more sickening than Chong's direct bigotry. They know exactly what they're doing.rnz+1

The Puppet Masters Behind the Scenes

The true villains in this story are not just the racist councillors performing for the cameras, but the shadowy network pulling their strings. Kevin Moratti, founding board member of the far-right lobby group Hobson's Pledge, orchestrated this attack by first denouncing the procurement policy as "race-based".nzherald+1

Moratti's lies about the policy being "co-governance" when the document makes no mention of co-governance reveal the deliberate disinformation campaign at work. This is the same Moratti who claims to have not been active in Hobson's Pledge for 10 years, yet campaigned as a Hobson's Pledge trust member in 2021 alongside Chong against Māori wards.rnz

The Money Trail: Following the Far-Right Funding

The financial connections between these anti-Māori groups are deeply troubling. The New Plymouth Ratepayers Alliance is affiliated with the Taxpayers' Union, which forbids politicians as members - forcing Chong and Brough to "officially remove themselves" while still being puppeted by the organisation.rnz+1

Even more sinister, Hobson's Pledge domain names are registered by the Taxpayers' Union, with Jordan Williams of the Taxpayers' Union listed as director of the Campaign Company that runs Hobson's Pledge operations. This web of financial and operational connections reveals a sophisticated astroturfing operation designed to manufacture grassroots opposition to Māori rights.rnz

The ACT-NZ First Pipeline of Hate

The political connections are equally damning. Chong has stood for NZ First and the New Conservatives, while Moratti has been an ACT Party candidate for Parliament. This reveals the direct pipeline between far-right political parties and local government disruption.rnz

ACT's policies explicitly target Māori rights, proposing to abolish Māori electorate seats and eliminate "race-based" policies. NZ First has similarly attacked Māori rights, with Winston Peters comparing co-governance to apartheid. These local disruptions are part of a coordinated national assault on Indigenous rights.conflictresolutionunit+1

The Pattern of Escalating Racism

This latest incident is part of Chong's documented pattern of racism against tangata whenua. In 2017, he called te reo Māori a "dead language being kept alive on a respirator". In 2019, he declared he was "ashamed" to sing the te reo version of the national anthem. In 2021, he campaigned against Māori wards.rnz+2

The escalation is deliberate and strategic. Each racist outburst tests the boundaries of acceptable discourse, normalising increasingly extreme positions. The fact that Chong's car was shot at in 2024 shows how this rhetoric of hate can inspire real violence.nzherald

The Neoliberal Economic Agenda

Beneath the racist rhetoric lies a deeper economic agenda. These groups oppose Indigenous procurement not because they care about "fairness," but because they profit from the existing system of exclusion. Government procurement worth over $51.5 billion annually represents a massive opportunity for wealth redistribution that threatens established power structures.tpk

The success of progressive procurement - with over 3,200 contracts worth $930 million awarded to Māori businesses - demonstrates what happens when barriers are removed. This threatens the gatekeepers who have long controlled access to public resources.beehive

Implications for Māori and Democracy

This orchestrated attack on inclusive procurement represents a broader assault on Māori participation in democracy. By weaponising the language of "fairness" and "equality," these actors seek to make Māori inclusion appear divisive rather than just. This is classic white supremacist rhetoric - positioning the oppressor as victim and the victim as oppressor.

The demand from Moratti that his ratepayer group be given "access to council decision-making just as some other un-elected parties are" reveals their true agenda - they want formal power without electoral mandate while denying democratic participation to tangata whenua. This is authoritarianism wrapped in the language of democracy.rnz

The broader implications extend beyond New Plymouth. This template of racist disruption, astroturfed opposition groups, and coordinated media campaigns is being replicated across the country. The Taxpayers' Union operates similar ratepayer groups nationally, while Hobson's Pledge campaigns against Māori representation everywhere.wikipedia+1

Call to Action and Resistance

The courage shown by councillors like Dinnie Moeahu, who called out the racist behaviour directly, shows the path forward. "Those who keep questioning our standing in our community, in our country... what are you afraid of? And what have you lost? All I see is, finally we're being included". This is the truth that terrifies the far-right network.1news

Mayor Holdom's question about the agendas of these divisive actors needs to be answered with action, not just rhetoric. These groups must be exposed for what they are - well-funded political operations designed to maintain white supremacist power structures. Their claims to represent "ratepayers" are fraudulent when they have only 1800 Facebook followers in a district with 62,673 enrolled voters.rnz

The whakapapa of resistance runs deep in Taranaki, from the wars of invasion to the ongoing struggle for tino rangatiratanga. This latest assault must be met with the same unwavering commitment to justice that our tīpuna showed. We cannot allow these racist disruptions to normalise hate or undermine our rightful place in our own whenua.

The time for polite disagreement is over. These are not good faith actors with legitimate concerns - they are coordinated enemies of Indigenous rights using sophisticated propaganda techniques to advance white supremacist goals. They must be named, shamed, and politically destroyed.

The Māori Green Lantern fighting misinformation and disinformation from the far right

The shameful spectacle at New Plymouth District Council was not about procurement policy - it was about power, privilege, and the desperate attempts of a dying colonial system to maintain its grip. The web of connections between Chong, Moratti, Brough, and their puppet masters in Wellington reveals a sophisticated operation designed to undermine Māori participation in democracy.

We must recognise this for what it is: coordinated warfare against tangata whenua wrapped in the language of fairness and democracy. Our response must be equally coordinated, equally strategic, and utterly uncompromising in defence of our rights and our future.

The fight for tino rangatiratanga continues, and it will be won not by appeasing these racist actors, but by exposing their agenda and defeating them politically. The truth is on our side, justice is on our side, and history will remember who stood where when it mattered.

Mauri ora, and remember - for those who find value in my work exposing these networks of hate and misinformation, please consider a donation/koha to support this crucial mahi: HTDM: 03-1546-0415173-000. I understand these are tough economic times for whānau, so please only contribute if you have the capacity and wish to do so.

Kia kaha, kia māia, kia mana motuhake.

Ivor Jones, The Māori Green Lantern

https://themayorsoffice.co.nz

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