What is the solution for Maori?

What Is The Solution For Maori?

By Julian Batchelor, Stop Co-Governance.

There is a lot of talk, especially around election time, about what Maori need. The solutions offered are usually things like better access to education, better housing, more housing, better health care, better everything.

But none of these are the solutions. Literally billions of dollars have been injected for decades into ‘the betterment’ of Maori but nothing has solved “the Maori problem”. Which is?

That on just about every measure of negative social indication, Maori get the gold medal - suicide, obesity, child poverty, child abuse, alcoholism, family violence, incarceration, violent crime, unemployment, welfare dependency, just to name a few.

New Zealand novelist and newspaper columnist Alan Duff (right), himself a Maori, wrote “That something is badly wrong with the Maori people is a fact that no one now will argue with. The government statistics tell the sad tale. The eyes of any citizen of New Zealand can anyway see it: something is terribly wrong with the one people that is not nearly so wrong with the predominant other.”1 Alan is best known as the author of the novel Once Were Warriors.

So what is wrong?

What’s the solution?

What I am about to say does not just apply to Maori, but to all people in all cultures, right around the globe. But it particularly applies to Maori.

The solution has to do with the development of character. This word ‘character’ is hardly ever talked about today, but it’s the ancient golden key to success in life, proven over time, tested, and trusted.

Unlike “personality”, which is fixed from conception, “character” is developed. No one is born with great character. The opposite is true. All children are born with weak characters, so their characters must be developed. For example, children do not have to be taught to lie, fight, cheat, exhibit greed, covetousness and so on. They exhibit these behaviours naturally. It just seems to be in them.

Character, like personality, has to do with what’s on the inside of a person. It’s their locus of control. Good character is more valuable than gold.

Character training starts in life by teaching children, and their parents if they don’t know, about the absolute connection between success in life, whatever path one chooses, and the development of character.

1 Alan Duff. Maori. The Crisis And The Challenge. Harper Collins. 1998. p1 1

Life is tough, a lot of the time, and when things get tough, and you don’t have character, it gets much much tougher.

Hence the birth of the so called ‘disadvantaged’ class.

That is to say, when things get hard, really hard, and things start to go wrong, and you don’t have character to pull you out of a nose dive, you sink to the bottom. You crash and burn, and sometimes you never recover. Once at the bottom, you end up being labeled by the government as a ‘disadvantaged person’. 2 But you are not really a disadvantaged person. Rather, you are someone who lacked character. The good news is that all is not lost for a person at the bottom.

Sometimes people who hit rock bottom have an ember of character in them, and they blow on that ember, or friends / family rally around and blow on it for them, and it can burst into flame, and they can recover. But even the desire to blow on the ember, and fuel the fire, takes character.

So what is character?

“Character” can be defined as a cluster of internally driven skills, drivers, and attitudes such as: • Someone who consistently displays integrity in their dealings with others • Someone who consistently displays honesty in their dealings with others • Someone who has the ability to persevere when things are tough, • Someone who has the ability to solve problems, • to handle criticism and success, • to handle disappointment, and lots of it, • to be self disciplined, • the resolve to take personal responsibility for one’s health and wellness, the food we eat, the liquids we drink, and the exercise we get, • the resolve to read and take courses on this and that and improve themselves and their mind • the ability to plan and set goals, and the skills to achieve them, particularly financial and health goals, • the desire to work hard, and work long hours when it’s necessary, • the skills and commitment to look after a life partner and children and pour wisdom and support and encouragement into both, • the discipline to look after property and possessions and maintain them, • the ability to manage time and to estabablish priorities, • having the discipline to eliminate distractions like TV and other trivia, 2 Sure, there are people who hit rock bottom, and there is no one there to help them get back up. We need to help such people. And by ‘we’ I don’t mean the state. I mean people like me and you. Why? So that we get the opportunity to exercise character by helping people in need - people who can give us nothing in return for what we give them. When we help someone in need just for the sake of it, and not looking for anything in return, we develop a bit of character. And how would we help them? First, give them food and shelter or whatever they need. Sometimes just a hug and a listening ear. The basic necessities. But straight after that? Character education and coaching. And if they say ‘no’ to character training, then leave them to struggle, let them go, until they have experienced even greater pain - enough pain to shed their pride and arrogance and learnt humility. And when they come back, asking you to help them, teach them about character. This is called tough love.

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• • • • • • •

to focus on growing the inner man or woman, or girl or boy, to put family first, to be a generous / giving person. someone who has the wisdom to rest from work at the right time someone who has learned to be altruistic someone who has learned how to make friends and keep them, and to be loyal and caring and loving.

And so on.

Here’s the thing - character transcends culture. If you don’t have character, no matter what cultural group you belong to, life will destroy you. It will push you to the bottom, fast.

People with character, deep character, obey the law, rise above their many problems, obey rules, respect authority, work hard, pay their taxes, love their families, contribute to society, and take responsibility. They exhibit most if not all the attitudes, drivers, and skills I have just listed, and more.

When big big problems come to them, they overcome, even the ultimate problem which is death. How so? They die victoriously, leaving a legacy of people all around them who they coached and nurtured in the art of character development. Anyone who dies in this state, with this legacy, dies a worthy death.

In other words, people of character produce children or others around them who are the same as themselves.

They, like their parents, become model citizens who contribute to the country infinitely more than they take.

The police never visit them, and they rarely need hospital care. They make a priority of educating themselves to the highest level possible. They invest in their minds, and their health, and their families and friends, and thus their futures.

Imagine the outcomes for a country where everyone was like that?

A tiny police force, a tiny healthcare system where everyone was taking responsibility for their own health not depending on others to do it for them, a tiny court system with not much to do apart from the odd speeding fine, welfare dependency pitifully small, and a very big tax take because of near zero unemployment.

Any country like that would be a very very prosperous country and everyone around the world would want to live in such a country.

How does one achieve that?

By government implementing a deliberate and sustained character education initiative, starting at birth for children, and immediately for parents who don’t know all this. Character acquisition is a life long pursuit. As I have said, no one “arrives” with character development. They never “have it all”. Between birth and death, there is always room for growth.

Many parents have not had such education, so don’t know what they don’t know. Thus they can’t pass onto their children the character skills their children will need to succeed in life.

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Successive governments have, I am certain, unwittingly created the opposite - the characterless. How so?

They have created a welfare state monster which is now insatiable. They have created a group of people, Maori mainly, who have come to think of themselves as victims, not as victors.

Anyone who thinks they are a victim will make little effort to work on their inner character.

Why? They come to think that their poor circumstances in life are being caused by something outside of them e.g. colonialism, ‘the system’, white people, racist people, anti Maori people, and so on.

What happens next? They come to believe that their circumstances won’t change unless and until these perceived people, groups, systems, are removed.

Why is this so terribly bad? It’s bad because they come to believe that success and prosperity in life is about what is on the outside of them. Their poor station in life is someone else’s fault. Read THIS Thus they abandon character development which is about what is on the inside of a person.

As if this is not bad enough, they also have an entitlement attitude. What is this? It’s the attitude that says “you caused my bad situation in life, so you have an obligation to fix my situation by giving things to me for free.”

Another variation on this entitlement attitude is “We were the first people to come to New Zealand. We are the bosses here. You need to serve me.”

Both these attitudes - victim hood, and entitlement - have been a disaster for Maori. Why?

It’s led them to believe the greatest lie of all which is that they don’t have to take personal responsibility for the outcomes of their lives.

Essentially, governments have created a great characterlessness class of people in our country. They have given a growing number of people a ticket to give up on life, sent them a message that it is ok to be characterless, to let life beat you down and keep you down.

Thus, when down and out, they receive their new name from the government - they are “A Disadvantaged Person.”

But it gets worse.

Maori as a race are destroying themselves not just with victim hood and entitlement attitudes, but also by another terrible belief.

What is that belief? It’s the belief that many Maori hold that they can’t be criticised by anyone.

Why not? Because if you criticise a Maori, you are being ‘culturally insensitive’.

Alan Duff writes so accurately when he says “Welfarism has set its own dreadful standard, and particularly on Maori because their history has 4

made them susceptible to suggestion. The dreadful standard is that Maori, especially those on government benefits, shall not be told any unpalatable truths about themselves. It has the added back-up that continues to grow in recent times, that of cultural insensitivity. And so the standard is now firmly in place that Maori are beyond reproach because they are victims. And you’re not allowed to blame victims, while any criticism is immediately deflected by the shield of Maori ‘cultural sensitivity.’ 3 ‘Cultural sensitivity’ means that Maori say they are sensitive to any kind of criticism, and therefore criticism is not allowed.

At the root of this is pride, the deadliest of the 7 great sins.

Pride is considered a deadly sin because it involves an excessive sense of self-importance, arrogance, and the lack of humility.

It is seen as the most serious of the deadly sins because it can lead to other sins such as envy, greed, and anger.4 Pride can also lead to being devious and cunning, finding ways of getting money for nothing, playing on people’s emotions, manipulating them to get them to play ball, bullying, intimidation, and making threats.

In other words, pride is the root of all evil.

Could it get worse for Maori? Yes it does.

Many carry one more attitude which is deadly. What’s that?

It’s the attitude that “I demand compensation.”

This is a belief that “my circumstances in life have been caused by others, and those others must compensate me for the losses I have incurred.”

What happens next?

People with this attitude spend their lives either chasing compensation, or waiting for it to arrive. Thus their eyes are taken off the very thing that would compensate them most.

What’s that?

The development of their character.

Instead of waisting time waiting for money to be given to them, they could have gone out an earned the money they were waiting for. If they had done latter, instead of the former, they would have developed another bit of 3 Alan Duff. Maori. The Crisis And The Challenge. Harper Collins. 1998. p.75 4 Perhaps this explains why Maori are 14% of the population, yet 51% of people in prison are Maori, and most are in there for violent crimes. What THIS video.

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character.

So in hanging on to these attitudes, ‘victim hood’, ‘entitlement’, ‘cultural sensitivities’ and ‘I demand to be compensated’, Maori have secured for themselves one way ticket to the bottom of the barrel. Being able to take criticism, you see, and improve as a person from hearing it, is another essential attribute of someone with good character.

Which is, ironically, one reason many Maori reading this paper will struggle to accept its content.

It’s as if Maori are a cursed people group. The things they hang on to, like a dog with a bone (victim hood, entitlement, cultural sensitivity, and “I demand compensation”) have become their death warrant, the very things that are causing their demise, their destruction.

So how are MPs and governments to blame for this?

The main concern of most governments, and most MPs, is re-election, or election, and not long term solutions.

Votes are their gods and they will do anything to get them.

Hence they offer voters money and incentives, ballot box lollies, rather than long term solutions.

Voters are themselves too stupid / unwise / selfish to resist. They ought to demand character in their leaders, but they don’t. That’s because they themselves lack character.

So a dreadful vicious cycle is set in motion.

This cycle must eventually be broken if we want a prosperous and truly healthy country.

In this respect, most politicians are so utterly and shamefully shallow. They are self serving to the core.

Hence we have generations of deeply characterless people living in New Zealand who think that life is about what is owed them, and what they can get, rather than what they can give and contribute to society.

In this respect, Maori, generally speaking, get the gold medal.

In the Olympics of entitlement, demands, sensitivities, and victim hood, they stand highest on the dais.

The result? What we have now in New Zealand is a cultural group with a heavy dependency on the state. Just to re-cap, four attitudes are causing Maori to self destruct: 1. “I am entitled” 2. “I am a victim, I have been grieved and I can never move on until the wrong has been righted” 3. “You are not allowed to criticise Maori” 6

4. “I demand compensation so that I don’t have to work my way out of a hole. I just want you to give me money so I don’t have to go out and earn it.”

In combination, these 4 attitudes have held Maori down for 180 years and nothing is set to change. They are the four hallmarks of the characterless.

Successive governments who offer empty hollow and unsustainable ‘solutions’ for the characterless, principally to win votes and buy themselves into power, who don’t address the root problems, and who don’t offer root solutions, are the problem.

Make no mistake.

Character is the golden key to success in life. Guaranteed. It’s the golden key to a prosperous and radiant country. What’s true for an individual is true for a community, and a country, and a world.

We could say that the health and prosperity of a nation is in direct proportion to the sum total of the depth of character, or otherwise, of each of its citizens.

Yet, no political party in New Zealand has ever talked in these terms.

Ever.

Why is this? It could be that MP’s don’t know about character.

Or they know about character but will not talk about it because it will not win votes.

If the latter, then for sure, they think they possess character, but in reality they do not.

Why? Because one of the great marks of a man or a woman of character is this - they do the right thing, and say the right thing, regardless of the consequences. Truly great leaders put a premium on truth - speaking it, and modeling it.

It’s their character that drives them to think, speak, and act this way.

They know what is right, and what is wrong, and they tell people the difference, even if they lose popularity in doing so, it does not matter to them. They just go out and do what’s right, and say what’s right, irrespective of the consequences. That’s a real leader.

Plastic leaders, characterless leaders, fake leaders, characterless MP’s, on the other hand, focus on doing and saying what is popular. What will win them votes. They don’t care if what they say is right or wrong, or whether what they do is right or wrong, or what is best for the people they want to govern, they just want power.

Thus they show for all the world to see that they don’t have character.

Lack of character, at every level, has gotten this country into the mess it’s in now, and only character, at every level, will get us out.

Now I want to talk about something else, a related topic and Maori radicals talk about it a lot.

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Equality Vs Equal Outcomes i.e. equity.

I believe in equality of opportunity, but not in artificially creating equal outcomes i.e. equity.

Sure, there ought to be a level playing field, where everyone has the same chance of succeeding. The rules should be the same for all. The goal posts should be the same for everyone. Democracy demands this.

But as for artificially creating equal outcomes? No. Absolutely no.

Why not?

If a man or a woman works hard to develop their character, and they achieve great outcomes in life (e.g. wealth, a great business, a great family, a posh car, great friendships, and other assets etc), this is a wonderful thing.

They will have earned their success. All power to them. I applaud them. They deserve their great outcomes.

But what of the man or woman who is lazy, who displays the traits of the characterless, and ends up with poor outcomes? Who ends up being labeled ‘disadvantaged’?

Should we artificially compensate that man or woman, the one who never paid any attention to character development, gifting them money and resources, which have been generated and earned by the man with character, so that these two men, the characterful and the characterless, have equal outcomes?

No. Absolutely not. Why? If we did that we would be rewarding bad character. And what does that do? We teach that man that he will be rewarded for his bad character.

This is absolutely the worst thing to teach any person. It’s inhumane. It’s abuse.

Why? We teach him to live a lie. To believe a lie. What lie? That he or she can succeed in life without character.

This is the ultimate lie.

What then?

He or she develops more bad character, like chronic laziness and dishonesty, and so we will push him or her into a terrifying downward spiral.

For example, take the woman who figures out that having more illegitimate children can earn her a lot of money from the government. That’s right, by establishing a system where she can see having illegitimate children as a career choice, we absolutely cause her demise, her destruction.

She learns to rely on the state, rather than her character, for her success in life.

---------------------Alan Duff writes “She, the solo mum, feels that the state owes her. Yet it was hardly the state which put her with child, and nor was it the state which had the father walk away from his responsibility. Or was it?

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This very thing is what has happened in the United Stales of America to black people: the state has been paying the American black man to father children biologically, but not in any other sense. So we have the unbelievable situation of two-thirds of American black children being born outside marriage. And why? Because that state has been paying the mothers, the irresponsible, I’m-a-stud father-figures, to develop like this. As any American black will tell you, welfarism has done more harm to the black people than anything else _in their long and awful history in that country. Any black will tell you that welfare has done more damage to the black family than slavery, than the Jim Crow days of prejudice and bigotry. None of that matches what welfarism is inflicting on the American black family unit, its ve1y soul, its psyche and doubtless, then, its future.

Those same statistics are starting to happen right here in New Zealand to the Maori. That over half of Maori children are in single­parent families is witness to this. It is from this that they are supposed to take their sense of identity, personally and in a wider social sphere, as well as find the best role models.

The welfare system is feeding this. Government, therefore, whether deliberately or not (and I can’t believe it is that deliberate) is funding the ultimate destruction of a society. In this case, Maori society. My society. All of New Zealand’s society.”5 ----------------------------------She (the solo mum) will quickly become a disadvantaged person.

She will then model for her children how they too can become disadvantaged people.

Hence generations of dependent people are birthed.

It’s the same for a man who realises that not working and being on the dole is a wonderful thing.

He has children and he teaches them the same, and they all become disadvantaged too.

What happens next?

He or she starts costing a lot of money to keep. The hardworking people of character have to keep him or her. They have to pay to keep him or her alive and in comfort.

On the balance sheet, the characterless person becomes an ongoing loss, a liability. Money down

the drain.

If a country is a ship, every characterless person is a leak. A leak on the financial health and prosperity of a country. And if there are too many leaks, the ship sinks.

And no man, no woman, no country can prosper and flourish when it’s built on a lie. Why? Because when the storms of life come, and they will, that man, that woman, that country, will sink.

5 Alan Duff. Maori. The Crisis And The Challenge. Harper Collins. 1998. pp72-73 9

Outcomes for an individual or a country are in direct proportion to character. If a man or a woman has great character, they will achieve great outcomes. If not, then poor outcomes. This is just how life works, and there is no point in arguing any other way.

It’s a law of life, like gravity. This is the truth, nothing more, nothing less. And in the end, the truth always wins.

If you break this law, it will break you. Nothing is more certain.

This, ultimately, is the solution for Maori i.e. they must take their focus off being: • victims, • and entitled, • and dependent on hand outs and free stuff from the state • cunning and manipulative tricksters, fraudulently manipulating the Treaty and engaging in spin about the same in order to gain money and assets for nothing.

They must take their minds off the supreme importance of: • their culture and their language, • and how important they are, • and how everyone must respect and honour them, • and how everyone must bow down to them, • and how everyone must get their permission for this and that and the other thing.

• and how everyone must walk on egg shells when they are around them.

• and how no one is allowed to criticise them.

When we as Kiwis bow down to these bullet points, and pander to Maori, we fuel the fire of their existing characterlessness.

How so?

They become more proud and more arrogant, more self seeking, more dishonest, more greedy and more ungrateful.

Yes, that’s right. When we bow down to Maori, or to anyone who lacks character, and pander to them, we actually fuel their characterless. When we do this, we become part of the problem. We contribute to their demise. Read THIS article by a Maori medical doctor about this.

The solution? Stand up to Maori and confront them, directly and lovingly, about this issue of character.

It’s called tough love.

If the whole country started saying it, out loud, directly and clearly, they might just get it.

The blight of characterless is moving Maori in entirely the wrong direction. This has been going on for decades and it must stop. Actually, it’s been going on for nearly two centuries.

Billions of dollars have been given to Maori over this time, and absolutely nothing has changed for Maori except for one thing - their character has gotten worse and worse. Their status as the ‘disadvantaged’ people group has 10

become entrenched.

And worst of all?

As I have said, characterless politicians of all parties have created this situation. They have created the demise of Maori. How? By pandering to them. Instead of helping them out of the pit by confronting this issue, and showing that they themselves have character, they have patted them on the head, saying to them “You are wonderful” or “Poor you.

We agree with you.”

That is to say, they have actually affirmed the attitudes of Maori that have caused the destruction of Maori.

So where to from here?

Maori must focus completely and entirely on the development of character in their people.

Their leaders must lead by example. Maori leaders are the problem, and Maori leaders are the solution.

Some Maori have already learned all this, about character, and they are flourishing. People like Winston Peters, Alan Duff, and David Seymour.

People like the Maori plumber or sparky, or carpenter, or nurse, or midwife. They are in every profession and every trade.

All power to them. They detest being treated differently to everyone else. They demand that they compete on a level playing field.

They consider the special treatment Maori get for this that and the other to be demeaning, as though they were the IHC. We must honour these Maori for swimming against the tide of their culture, and succeeding.

But I have an exhortation for them as well. What exhortation? Lead your people out. Help them.

Don’t sit back and watch your own people wallowing in their characterless, pitiful state. Reach down and help them out. They are your people. Help them. Help them move into what I am writing about here regarding character.

Politicians would be exceptionally wise to follow suit, implementing character education starting at pre-school and continuing through to the end of university.

And don’t forget the same for parents so that parents and children are all in sync. If they did this, New Zealand would (not could) become the wealthiest and healthiest country on earth.

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Plug the leaks on the ship called New Zealand, then watch her prosperity and good fortune soar. Watch apartheid, racism, poverty, and racial division melt like ice on a hot tin roof.

Be patient though. We have to play a long game.

Behaviours and attitudes which have become entrenched over decades will take time to expunge. This will not be an over night fix.

It will take great humility for Maori to make such a change.

And here’s the thing - even humility is a character trait, so the challenge for them will be great.

But if they do it, then and only then, will they break free, and as a people group begin to flourish and stand on their own two feet, like the rest of society.

No more victim-hood attitude No more entitlement attitude.

No more of ‘you own me’ attitude No more blaming anyone else attitude No more thinking ‘you are not allowed to criticise Maori’ attitude.

No more manipulating and twisting the Treaty to get free cash and assets through fraud and spin.

Enough. All this has caused their demise.

Alan Duff summarises succinctly when he says “What we Maori have been hearing, by way of messages and urgings from our leaders, is that we are not at fault for our woes, not at fault for anything bad that happened and is still happening to us. All roads of cause and effect, according to our spokesmen and women, lead to the white man. It’s not our fault we fail at getting the same numbers through high school to university. It’s “Pakeha education, with its Pakeha values, which has failed the Maori”. Think of something, anything, that has gone wrong with Maori, and one or more of our spokesmen will jump up and say, “Hold it a minute. This is not Maori failure. It is the system. We are oppressed.”6 These Maori spokesmen and women are voices of the characterless.

It’s no accident that Martin Luther King in his famous speech said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Maori today want the opposite - to be rewarded for the colour of their skin, not the content of their character. As such, they are doomed to continual failure.

We are not done yet. There is one more character flaw which many Maori have which is fatal. What’s that?

Dishonesty. Alan Duff writes “Dishonesty has kept us, all these years, from truly addressing the problems afflicting Maori. We have seen every form of method applied to it, like different forms of sticking plaster to the same wound.

We have not see the wound properly diagnosed. We have not even see the wound as being anything other than inflicted by someone else, by that other race called Pakeha. He is not capable of self analysis and self criticism. He 12 6 Alan Duff. Maori. The Crisis And The Challenge. Harper Collins. 1998. p16

doesn’t have a clue of even those terms.”7 It’s time for Maori, once and for all, to break free and become the grand and great people group that they were always meant to be.

After reading this, they will know how to do it.

Julian Batchelor, M.Ed (Hons) B.Th, Dip.T’ching. Founder, The Stop Co-Governance Movement, 2024.

7 Alan Duff. Maori. The Crisis And The Challenge. Harper Collins. 1998. p3 and p23 13