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“When Government Fails, Misinformation Feeds: Exposing the Colonial Roots of COVID-19 Chaos” - 10 July 2025

The Deception Revealed

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

10 Jul 2025 — 13 min read

Kia ora, tēnā koutou katoa. Ko Ivor Jones ahau, The Māori Green Lantern. In the darkest times, misinformation spreads faster than healing can take hold.

Victor Waters' report for RNZ exposes a devastating truth about New Zealand's COVID-19 response: when government systems fail Māori communities, the vacuum is filled by misinformation and fear. This isn't just about poor health communication - it's about the systematic abandonment of tangata whenua during our nation's gravest health crisis.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/566462/paranoia-and-misinformation-spread-faster-than-covid-inquiry-told

The evidence is damning. Reverend Victor Pouesi from the Christian Church of Samoa warned the Royal Commission of Inquiry that "paranoia and misinformation spread faster than Covid itself," while Hector Kawai from Te Whānau o Waipareira witnessed whānau believing "Facebook experts" over health authorities. This chaos didn't happen by accident - it was the predictable result of colonial healthcare systems that consistently fail Indigenous peoples.

The Colonial Communication Failure

The root cause of this misinformation epidemic wasn't lack of information - it was the government's failure to communicate in ways that respected Māori sovereignty and worldviews. Community leaders highlighted that health authorities used "very technical and difficult to understand" language when trying to inform Māori about COVID-19 and vaccines. This wasn't poor communication - it was colonial communication that prioritized clinical jargon over cultural understanding.

The devastating impact is clear: Māori health leader Rawiri McKree Jansen documented how "Māori were now dying with Covid-19 because of that misinformation". The government's technical approach created the perfect conditions for harmful misinformation to flourish among communities already traumatized by centuries of medical racism.

Institutional Racism in Health Response

The misinformation crisis cannot be separated from the broader pattern of institutional racism that defines New Zealand's health system. Research by Dr. Heather Came identified five specific sites of institutional racism in public health policymaking: majoritarian decision making, misuse of evidence, deficiencies in cultural competencies and consultation processes, and the impact of Crown filters.

This racism manifested clearly in the COVID-19 response. The Waitangi Tribunal found that Cabinet's decision to reject official advice to prioritize Māori in vaccine rollouts breached Treaty principles of active protection and equity. Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield had advised the government to prioritize Māori aged 50 and over, but this was rejected for a "whānau-centred approach" - a decision that proved deadly.

The Misinformation Ecosystem

The digital environment that allowed misinformation to thrive reflects broader patterns of anti-Māori sentiment online. The Disinformation Project found that "the people who, three years ago, were talking about sunlight as a cure, or vitamin C, are now talking about co-governance and using increasingly racist, false and misleading information". These networks weaponized vaccine hesitancy as part of a broader white supremacist agenda.

Social media platforms became the primary source of harmful content targeting Māori, with about a third of Māori reporting exposure to offensive, discriminatory content. The same platforms that failed to moderate anti-Māori hate speech also failed to prevent the spread of medical misinformation that cost Māori lives.

The Neoliberal Framework

The COVID-19 response was fundamentally shaped by neoliberal ideology that prioritized individual responsibility over collective care. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz warned that "40 years of the denigration of government has left the government much less prepared to deal with a crisis such as this pandemic". This neoliberal framework made it impossible to develop truly equitable health responses.

The government's focus on market-based solutions and individual choice created the perfect conditions for misinformation to spread. When communities couldn't access culturally appropriate health information through official channels, they turned to alternative sources - many of which were compromised by conspiracy theories and anti-Māori propaganda.

Te Tiriti Violations

The misinformation crisis represents a profound violation of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Waitangi Tribunal found that the Crown "did not consistently engage with Māori to the fullest extent practicable on key decisions in its pandemic response," breaching the principle of partnership. This failure to honor tino rangatiratanga created the conditions for misinformation to flourish.

Māori health providers consistently demonstrated superior outcomes when given resources and authority. Yet the government repeatedly sidelined these providers, forcing them to work within colonial systems that were designed to fail Indigenous peoples.

The Path Forward

The solution to health misinformation isn't more colonial communication - it's genuine power-sharing with Māori health providers and communities. Te Whānau o Waipareira's success in reaching Māori communities demonstrates that "kaupapa Māori led solutions" work when properly resourced.

We need immediate action to:

Transfer real decision-making power to Māori health authorities
Fund Indigenous-led health communication strategies
Regulate social media platforms to prevent anti-Māori misinformation
Prosecute those who deliberately spread medical misinformation targeting Indigenous communities
Implement the Waitangi Tribunal's COVID-19 recommendations in full

Victor Waters' reporting reveals a system in crisis, but not because of technological failures or communication gaps. The misinformation epidemic that cost Māori lives was the inevitable result of colonial healthcare systems that prioritize settler comfort over Indigenous survival. Until we address the structural racism that defines New Zealand's health system, we will continue to see these devastating failures.

The choice is clear: we can continue with colonial healthcare that creates conditions for misinformation to flourish, or we can honor Te Tiriti and create genuinely equitable health systems that serve all our people. The cost of inaction is measured in lives lost to preventable disease and communities torn apart by weaponized misinformation.

Kia kaha, kia māia, kia manawanui. The fight for health justice continues.

Readers who find value in this analysis and wish to support the work of exposing misinformation and fighting for Indigenous health justice are invited to consider making a koha to support this kaupapa. In these challenging economic times, please only contribute if you have the capacity and wish to do so. HTDM: 03-1546-0415173-000.

Aroha nui,
Ivor Jones
The Māori Green Lantern

https://www.rnz.co.nz

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