Oh Debbie, where did you learn such rubbish?

Oh Debbie, where did you learn such rubbish? 

I feel extremely sad for Maori Party MP, Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer as she must live every day with so much hate in her belly about colonisation because she has no idea of New Zealand’s true history. (See, “What this ‘debate’ will not discuss”. Wanganui Chronical. 30/7/2021). 

This is shown by her opening statement, “Hey colonizer, so let me get this right, you want to lead a debate about indigenous rights that you helped destroy”? It was your tangata Maori ancestors that destroyed any indigenous rights. In fact, they had destroyed the indigenous people/tangata whenua and their rights long before the colonizers set foot in New Zealand/Nu Tirani! 

Surely, you have been told that on Hongi Hika’s, Ngapuhi return from England in 1820, he had smuggled over 800 muskets into New Zealand, then went on a cowardly rampage south killing thousands of his unarmed countrymen, women, and children for the fun of it and the feasts that followed. Te Rauparaha doing the same further south. It was not long before the Southern tribes had also gained muskets and were arming themselves to attacked Ngapuhi for utu/revenge. In fear, 13 Ngapuhi chiefs wrote to the King of England asking him to be their guardian and protector, not only from the French, but also from themselves. 

Hongi Hika’s and Te Rauparaha attacks in 1820/30 led to the musket wars that wiped out nearly half the tangata Maori population and caused some chiefs, mainly in the South Island to sell 2/3 of New Zealand before the Treaty was signed. If you don’t believe me, then go to New South Wales Supreme Court where you will find hundreds of “legal” Deeds of Sale relating to these sales. The “nasty colonialist” then stopped the intertribal wars, brought law and order amongst the tangata Maori tribes, and returned most of the land the chiefs had “legally” sold, without compensation to the buyers or being allowed to lodge a claim for compensation or the return of their land, as part-Maori can do today, with the apartheid Waitangi Tribunal.  

It’s sad that you do not know that after the letter from the 13 Ngapuhi chief’s writing to the King of England, Britain reluctantly became involved in New Zealand to stop the brutal intertribal wars, genocide and cannibalism that had been raging in New Zealand since the beginning of the 18^th century. These are documented facts held in Archives around the world, the British Parliamentary Papers as well as the truth told by the great Maori stateman, Sir Apirana Ngata in his book, “The Treaty of Waitangi – An explanation”, which I suggest you read before putting pen to paper again! 

As for your final comment, “We are tangata whenua and the sooner the colonisers accept that the sooner Aotearoa will grow up”. The chiefs agreed and accepted they were not tangata whenua, as over 500 signed the Tiriti o Waitangi as tangata Maori with not one complaining. This was endorsed by Dr Rangainui Walker, past Head of Maori Studies at the Auckland University when he quoted in the “1986 New Zealand Yearbook” page 18, “The traditions are quite clear on one point, whenever crew disembarked there were already tangata whenua (prior inhabitants) living in New Zealand”.  The New Zealand Government does not have a definition of the Indigenous People, or tangata whenua of New Zealand for the simple reason, there is no forensic evidence to say who were the first inhabitants!  

It also seems Debbie did not read fairy tales when a child, because if she had, she would have known “Aotearoa” was a fairy tale name for New Zealand in a fairy tale story in the 1890’s! 

It’s sad when part-Maori like Debbie Anne Ngarewa-Packer have been so brainwashed that they continue to live with such a hate of colonisation, when they could be enjoying a once beautiful country built by their ancestors, both Maori and Pakeha based on Lt. Governor Hobson’s famous quote at Waitangi on the 6^th  of February 1840 after each chief had signed the Tiriti o Waitangi, “He iwi tahi tatou – We are now one people”, to which the whole gathering gave 3 hearty cheers with another 500 tangata Maori chiefs signing the Tiriti o Waitangi over the next six months.       

Best wishes Debbie for a far happier life when you have learnt the truth!

Ross Baker. Researcher, One New Zealand Foundation Inc. Email: ONZF@bigpond.com.au .