SO CIVIL…SO WHAT?

Why civility shouldn’t be a shield

I naturally face occasional pushback against my criticisms of particular individuals. Sometimes the dissent can even be justifiable! But resistance on the basis that an individual I’m criticizing is “civil” – polite and courteous, exhibiting social graces…“nice” – doesn’t cut it with me.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing per se against civility. All else being equal I favour Western civility over incivility and barbarism. But being civil should not be a free pass or get-out-of-jail card, or provide immunity from justified reproach.

Recently, a friend proffered the view, in defence of Dame Patsy Reddy, that she’s a “nice person”. But even assuming Patsy is personally pleasant, that’s practically irrelevant to any objective assessment of her legacy and continuing impact as an elite member of New Zealand’s Bloberati. I’ve previously commented (unfavorably) on the diminutive Dame.

In the same vein, another friend of mine assessed newly-minted Radio New Zealand Morning Report show host John Campbell as, in person, a “good guy”. Which, even if it were true, is simply damning with faint praise. (I regard Mr Campbell – and it’s my prerogative - to be a lazy State-sponging Woke twat.)

Pompous John’s latest attempt at virtue projecting self-aggrandizement came in response to Mike Hosking winning the award for best presenter (talk/drive) at the recent NZ Radio & Podcast Awards, for the fourth year in a row.

Hosking was beamed into the Awards with a pre-recorded acceptance speech in which he had a mild jab at the Waiata Wokeness of the ceremony (“no one loves a culturally appropriate ceremony like I do”). And, no surprise and true to form, juvenile John loudly lambasted Hosking’s remark as “disgraceful”, as guests streamed out of the auditorium.

New Zealand’s High Priest of Race Hustling, Sir (Tā) Stephen (Tipene) O’Regan, is personally pleasant, at least in public. My limited personal experience of O’Regan back in the 90’s was that he was a decent enough human.

Subversive Government Ombudsman, John Allen, on whom I’ve also previously commented, is superficially just batty benign. (An acquaintance of mine lately argued that anti-freedom-of-information Allen should be immune from criticism, simply because his wife has predeceased him.)

Chris Finlayson, nowadays a petulant paid propagandist for the Ngāi Tahu and Tainui tribes, can still beguile when it suits his solipsistic self-interests.

As abominable as Judge Ema Aitken’s behaviour was at the Northern Club, at least we now know, from her conduct and the fact that she got off scot-free, that New Zealand’s judiciary and legal profession are appallingly politically Woke-biased. With the wisdom of hindsight, Aitken’s uncharacteristically uncivil antics were revelatory; perhaps her finest work.

The smiling assassins of New Zealand’s constitutional integrity are a global phenomenon. Baron Peter Mandelson, traitorous gay pederast and close friend of Jeffrey Epstein (dec.?) and current British Prime Minister Starmer, is a charming man.

Therefore give me “Tuku” Morgan any day of the week. At least you know where you stand. Tukoroirangi Morgan is the current executive chair of the Tainui tribe.

Two weeks before his election to Parliament in 1996, Tuku spent $4,000 of State-funded Aotearoa Television’s funds. He spent the money on fancy clothes for himself, including silk underpants at $85 dollars a pair. A month before Tuku’s spending spree, Tuku’s brother-in-law Tau Henare, as Māori Affairs Minister, had announced $4 million of new government funding for Aotearoa Television. In the 1980’s, Tuku picked up a criminal conviction for obstructing Police.

The Tainui tribe’s first Treat settlement was in 1995. It came with the same “relativity” clause that Ngāi Tahu enjoys, meaning more money every time another Māori tribe achieves a Treaty settlement. Tainui’s first settlement was worth $170m, but that was steadily squandered on crazy “investments” such as the Warriors rugby league franchise and multiple Hamilton hotels.

By 2010, Tainui had effectively done its dough, and secondary settlements kicked in. Relativity payments started, which to date have amounted to about $400m. Additionally, there was a separate settlement for supposed Treaty infractions involving the Waikato River, worth hundreds of millions of dollars (it’s hard to divine).

I’m inclined to regard Tuku Morgan as a boorish and divisive race provocateur. Mr Silk Undies is also a transparently performative thespian, who clearly wasn’t sincere – i.e., he absolutely knew he was talking crap - when he told the Waitangi Tribunal on 3 June 2026:

[the current Government] “the most racist, anti-Māori government ever to come to power”

“Since this coalition government was elected more than two years ago, we have watched the unrelenting assault on our rights and interests under Te Tiriti o Waitangi”

But I still prefer Tuku to the Smiling Subversives. Likewise Tuku’s brother-in-law Tau Henare (they’re married to sisters).

Tau entered Parliament in 1993, in the Northern Maori electorate seat, as a New Zealand First MP. Following a heated exchange in Parliament in October 2007, Trevor Mallard punched Tau in the head, for which Trevor plead guilty to the crime of fighting in a public place. Anyone who gets Lame Duck Mallard criminally convicted has my vote.

Tau Henare’s tribal roots are Ngāpuhi, which Tau characterizes as “all the North”. Ngāpuhi is the last major Māori tribal group yet to settle with the Crown for land confiscations. It’s the tribe of the Horrible Harawiras, on whom I’ve previously commented:

In a frightful flip-flop, muddling Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith announced on 16 June 2026 that he is not ruling out including an agree-to-disagree sovereignty clause in the Crown’s settlement deed with Ngāpuhi. Last year Goldsmith said the Government will not agree to Treaty settlements that entertain invented fictions denying a single sovereignty.

Goldsmith also said on 16 June that he’d earmarked fully 10 separate Ngāpuhi groups to join settlement negotiations. Endorsing Ngāpuhi nonsense that there isn’t one Government for all New Zealanders and treating with 10 separate Ngāpuhi groups are recipes for constitutional mayhem. Settlement on the basis of any such nonsense would only mean that, post-settlement, another 10 Ngāpuhi groups will come out of the woodwork, each claiming their own separate sovereignties and settlements. Feckless Goldsmith is just another slippery civil(ian).

On the other hand, proud Ngāpuhite and Government Minister Shane Jones is continuing with draft legislation requiring a single settlement with Ngāpuhi rather than multiple settlements with smaller groups, saying there is no benefit in turning the country’s largest iwi into “confetti”. Jones has warned against the Ngāpuhi settlement being “hijacked” by separate sovereignty sideshows. Love ‘im or hate ‘im, at least you know where you stand with Mr Jones. The same can’t be said of Goldsmith and his cordial, ephemeral ilk.

Better to be punched in the face than have stiletto knifes slipped through the ribs into New Zealand’s constitutional heart. Tuku Types at least reveal themselves for all to see.