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“The Bank That Proves NZ's Being Robbed” - 31 July 2025

New Zealand's Surrender of Economic Sovereignty to Australian Parasites

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Ltn

31 Jul 2025 — 20 min read

Kia ora whānau.

The Māori Green Lantern here, with a greeting that translates to "be well, extended family." Today we rip apart one of the most damaging pieces of neoliberal propaganda masquerading as enlightened banking policy that I have ever encountered.

Tadhg Stopford's essay "The Bank That Proves NZ's Being Robbed" exposes the greatest economic theft in New Zealand's modern history — the systematic looting of Aotearoa by Australian banking cartels, enabled by politicians who have forgotten that sovereignty means nothing if you surrender control of your money supply.

This essay reveals how neoliberal colonization operates through financial institutions, stripping tangata whenua and all New Zealanders of economic self-determination while enriching foreign shareholders. Through the lens of Māori values of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), manaakitanga (care for people), and kaitiakitanga (guardianship), we will expose how banking policy since 1989 represents a massive betrayal of everything our ancestors fought to protect.

Background: From Sovereignty to Servitude

To understand the magnitude of this economic colonization, we must first grasp what New Zealand surrendered. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was established in 1936 by the First Labour Government specifically to serve public purpose through credit creation. This was not some socialist experiment — it was economic sovereignty in action. From 1936 to 1989, the RBNZ functioned as a true public bank, directly funding infrastructure, housing, education, and development using public credit.

John A. Lee, the architect of New Zealand's first state housing programme, used 1% credit from the Reserve Bank to build thousands of quality homes for working families. This was not charity — it was the government exercising its sovereign right to create money for productive purposes, just as the Bank of North Dakota does today, earning profits every year since 1919 while serving its people.

But in 1989, under the neoliberal reforms of Roger Douglas, the Reserve Bank Act stripped the RBNZ of its power to lend directly to government. The Public Finance Act of 1989 made it illegal for the government to fund itself through its own central bank, forcing dependence on commercial banks that create money from nothing and charge interest. This was the moment New Zealand surrendered its economic sovereignty to foreign financial interests.

The Great Banking Robbery Exposed

Stopford's essay, while well-intentioned, accidentally documents the largest ongoing theft in New Zealand's history. The numbers are staggering and shameful:

ANZ Bank New Zealand alone made $2.1 billion profit in 2024 — more than Fonterra, Spark, Fletcher Building, The Warehouse, Air New Zealand, and major supermarkets combined. Let that sink in, whānau. A single Australian-owned bank operating in our country extracts more wealth than our largest dairy cooperative, major construction companies, and airlines put together.

The total banking sector profits reached a record $7.2 billion in 2024, while New Zealanders struggle with housing costs, infrastructure decay, and underfunded public services. The four Australian-owned banks control 85% of bank lending in New Zealand, forming an oligopoly that extracts billions annually from our economy.

Meanwhile, the Bank of North Dakota, serving a rural state with fewer than 800,000 people, demonstrates what public banking achieves: steady profits returned to the state, partnership with community banks, and direct investment in real economic development.

The contrast is even starker when we examine what New Zealand abandoned. From 1936 to 1989, the RBNZ directly funded state housing, infrastructure development, and economic growth through public credit creation. The first state houses were built using Reserve Bank credit at 1% interest, providing quality homes while keeping money within New Zealand.

The Neoliberal Colonization of Aotearoa

The Racist Mythology of "Household Economics"

The most insidious aspect of our current system is how politicians like Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis perpetuate the racist myth that government finances work like household budgets. This analogy is not just wrong — it is a tool of economic colonization designed to justify austerity while banks profit from public poverty.

When politicians claim "there's no money" for hospitals or housing while banks extract billions in profits from creating money ex nihilo (out of nothing), they reveal either stunning incompetence or deliberate deception. The Reserve Bank's own publications acknowledge that banks create most money through lending, yet our political leaders pretend this basic function of monetary systems does not exist.

This willful ignorance serves neoliberal interests perfectly. By pretending money is scarce, politicians justify cutting public services while simultaneously allowing banks to create billions in new money for speculation on housing and financial assets. The result is entirely predictable: asset bubbles that enrich the wealthy while ordinary New Zealanders face homelessness and infrastructure decay.

The Māori Values Lens: Exposing Colonial Financial Structures

From a Māori worldview, the current banking system violates every principle of balanced economic relationships. Māori economic traditions emphasized collective wellbeing, sustainable resource management, and reciprocal relationships that strengthened communities. Our ancestors understood that economic systems should serve people, not exploit them.

The concept of tino rangatiratanga (self-determination) is fundamentally incompatible with surrendering control of money creation to foreign banks. When Australia's "Big Four" banks control 85% of New Zealand's lending, tangata whenua and all New Zealanders lose the economic sovereignty that enables true self-determination.

Manaakitanga (caring for people) requires economic systems that prioritize human wellbeing over profit extraction. Yet our current system allows foreign banks to extract billions while New Zealanders face housing crises, inadequate healthcare, and crumbling infrastructure. This inversion of priorities represents the antithesis of manaakitanga.

Kaitiakitanga (guardianship) demands that we protect resources for future generations. Instead, our banking system enables the financialization of housing and essential services, turning basic needs into profit centers for foreign shareholders while destroying long-term sustainability.

The Australian Colonial Banking Project

The scale of Australian economic colonization of New Zealand is staggering and under-reported. ANZ, ASB, BNZ, and Westpac extract billions annually from New Zealand while contributing little beyond the basic function of money creation that any properly structured public bank could perform more effectively.

These banks argue they "can't afford to be New Zealand owned" because New Zealand lacks the capital to purchase them. This argument reveals breathtaking arrogance and economic illiteracy. The Bank of North Dakota was established with $2 million in 1919 and has grown steadily through retained earnings and public deposits. New Zealand could establish a public bank tomorrow using government deposits and begin competing with the Australian oligopoly.

The Australian banks' profits come primarily from New Zealand's bizarre monetary system where the government borrows money that banks create from nothing, pays interest to commercial banks, and then the Reserve Bank buys back government bonds using newly created money. This circular process ensures private banks profit from public debt while providing no economic value beyond basic money creation.

The Indigenous Alternative: Learning from Success

Indigenous banking models worldwide demonstrate the effectiveness of community-controlled financial institutions. In the United States, tribal banks serve Native American communities with values-based banking that prioritizes long-term relationships over short-term profit extraction.

The Māori economy, worth $70 billion and growing faster than the overall New Zealand economy, demonstrates the potential for indigenous-led economic development. Yet this economic strength is undermined by a banking system that extracts wealth from Māori communities and channels it to Australian shareholders.

The Reserve Bank has begun acknowledging its role as kaitiaki of the financial system, embracing Te Ao Māori values in its operations. However, this cultural awareness remains largely symbolic while the fundamental structure of wealth extraction continues unchanged.

Implications: The Cost of Financial Colonization

The implications of New Zealand's surrender of monetary sovereignty extend far beyond banking profits. By abandoning public credit creation, New Zealand has constrained its ability to address climate change, housing shortages, infrastructure needs, and social inequities.

The Bank of North Dakota has provided steady profits to North Dakota state coffers, returning $335 million in 2024 alone while maintaining profitable operations. These profits fund public services and economic development instead of enriching foreign shareholders.

Meanwhile, New Zealand borrows money at commercial rates for projects that could be funded through public credit creation. Every hospital, school, or infrastructure project financed through commercial borrowing represents a massive wealth transfer from New Zealand taxpayers to Australian bank shareholders.

The housing crisis provides a perfect example of this dysfunction. New Zealand could establish public banking to provide low-cost credit for housing development, as John A. Lee did in the 1930s. Instead, we allow commercial banks to create money for housing speculation, driving prices beyond the reach of ordinary New Zealanders while extracting billions in profits.

The environmental implications are equally severe. Māori values of kaitiakitanga require long-term stewardship, but financialized banking systems prioritize short-term profits over sustainable development. This mismatch between values and financial structures undermines efforts to address climate change and environmental degradation.

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

Reclaiming Economic Tino Rangatiratanga

Stopford's essay exposes the greatest theft in New Zealand's modern history — the surrender of economic sovereignty to Australian banking cartels. The solution is not complex: New Zealand must reclaim control of money creation and credit allocation through public banking.

The Bank of North Dakota proves that public banking works in modern economies. It partners with community banks, funds economic development, returns profits to the public, and operates without speculation or excessive risk-taking. These are the outcomes that result when banks serve communities instead of extracting wealth from them.

For tangata whenua, the establishment of public banking aligned with Māori values represents a crucial step toward economic tino rangatiratanga. Indigenous peoples worldwide achieve better outcomes when they control their economic development, and banking is the foundation of economic control.

New Zealand faces a choice: continue surrendering economic sovereignty to Australian parasites, or reclaim control through public banking that serves our communities. The evidence is overwhelming that public banking delivers better outcomes for communities while maintaining profitability.

The theft continues every day that New Zealand allows foreign banks to extract billions while claiming "there's no money" for public services. It is time to end this farce and restore economic sovereignty through public banking that serves Aotearoa instead of enriching Australia.

The Māori Green Lantern exposes lies to empower truth. The truth about banking is simple: money creation is a public function that should serve public purposes. Everything else is colonial propaganda designed to justify theft.

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Kia kaha, whānau. Keep fighting for truth.

Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern
Kaitiaki Exposing Colonial Deception