dusting off his campaigning shoes, imnofox proudly stepped onto the makeshift stage at Te Puke o Tara Community Centre

"Well, what can I say! Tēnā koutou katoa. Ko Aoraki te māunga. Ko Tekapo te roto. Ko imnofox tōku ingoa. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa."

"Let me recite a well known whakatauki. Unuhia te rito o te harakeke kei whea te kōmako e kō. Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao. Māku e kī atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata! Now I recite that well known whakatauki to emphasise the interconnectedness of human relationships, the interdependence of us as individuals and as communities, both on the micro scale and the macro scale."

"I didn't plan to run for politics again, but I saw some real challenges in our future. For all of my political career, since entering parliament as a Green MP, to becoming the first Green Deputy Prime Minister and first Green Minister, to becoming the first Prime Minister from a third party in over 80 years, I have been both a campaigner for social justice and climate justice, two of the greatest challenges of our time. But as we move forward, as I sat back for my short retirement, the very structure of the society and our nation's relationship with its own state and other states became a glaring concern, especially in the context of those two issues."

"What will the structure of the state look like after climate change? How will the state exert it's massive power? And how will it behave in relation to unpredictable imperialist powers like the United States? Already we see a dangerous decay of our rights in submission to these powers, and it shouldn't and can't be tolerated."

"Politics is broken. You know, when I was a Minister under the last government I was in, I began to quite appreciate The Opportunities Party, believe it or not, and their willingness to put aside the politics of politicking, and focus on policy and results. No matter who delivered it, what colour their tie. Don't get me wrong, I respect the Green Party's strategy and their goals: the system has it's constraints, our democracy is flawed. But, regarding the 'radical centrism' of TOP, you know I started to appreciate something Marama Fox once said, co-leader of the Māori Party many years ago. She said the Māori Party would work with anyone, as "it's blue undies, red undies, same damn skidmarks". Now she said that in the context of Māori rights, which is true. But it can equally be applied to both Labour and National's embrace of the surveillance state, who have always been unanimous in ushering in every regressive reform to our privacy rights and freedom."

"National will smile at you, nod politely, and stab you straight in the chest. Labour will take you to lunch, express some sympathy, before stabbing you in the back. It's a cycle that's lasted decades and it's time to break that wheel."

"If we had the will, Aotearoa New Zealand could form the first government built on principles, free from the status-quo fetishists in the two old parties. We've nearly had opportunities before, but we've watched as supposedly principled politicians, like those in TOP who I had admired, flee to the big old parties for the safety and the security of their career. My Labour opponent did just that, winning the seat of Te Tai Tokerau for TOP on a principled campaign, before fleeing to the safe arms of the Labour Party when the ground got too shakey."

"Now, wedded to the Labour Party, whose line will he toe? The line of his constituents, the 87,000 proud Māori demanding better? Or the line of the Labour Party leadership? We've seen Labour's history, history they still refuse to grapple with, and history they have still refused to learn from. Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a hinderance to them, something that stands in their way, something that has to be 'dealt with'. It took my advocacy as an MP to convince Labour that their blunt reforms to the Māori Community Development breched te Tiriti o Waitangi. No, the constituents of Te Tai Tokerau need to be put first, their rights under te Tiriti o Waitangi not only recognised, but honoured by the Crown."

"What is their grand solution? A new Māori 'Governorship' Council, a Westminster invention to act as a substitute for real partnership, subordinate to parliament. Well, that is not the partnership described under te Tiriti o Waitangi! No, this is yet another example of the Labour Party trying to satiate Māori anger without changing anything of substance. No, Māori must be an equal partner in the governance of Aotearoa, not given some tokenistic secondary body, with less power and less resources than even the Waitangi Tribunal!"

"Let me tell you this: the mass surveillance of New Zealanders, enabled by both Labour and the National Party, is a blatant breach of te Tiriti o Waitangi, and should be taken straight to the Waitangi Tribunal. When Māori were guaranteed tino rangatiratanga, did that guarantee have an asterisk beside it, allowing for an exemption when the Crown wants to infiltrate our communications, to track our every movement, to impose their control over us and the control of other nations Māori certainly have not yet signed any treaties with? Kāo!"

"I think we all remember, just over 10 years ago, when the Labour Government intercepted Tūhoe phones and sent armed police to terrorise peaceful Māori, Māori who had not ceded their mana motuhake to the colonial Crown. What right had they? None! And yet they still terrorised young Māori: the surveillance state in action, a surveillance state Māori never consented to."

"The relationship between the state and the people it rules has never been more imbalanced, especially for Māori, who never ceded sovereignty, and especially for Māori who never signed te Tiriti o Waitangi at all. The Internet Party is committed to fixing what was broken, delivering the redress for these wrongs. We will start by repealing the GCSB Bill, ending mass surveillance of all New Zealanders, including Māori."

"We need stronger protections for the privacy of every New Zealander. Imagine how successful our security agencies would be if the focussed on the white supremacists who threaten Māori daily, rather than scary Māori activists, Greenpeace campaigners, socialists, and Internet Party supporters?"

"The internet was supposed to set us all free, provide a new place, a meta-network, where all were effectively equal. Now it's become little less than a platform for a few multi-nationals and a few rogue governments to track our every action, our every interest, effectively our every thought. In this interconnected modern society, the only way we can remain free is if we fight against this tyranny."

"Only the Internet Party is primarily focussed with solving the surveillance issue, defending our privacy, and harnessing the power of the internet for good, not evil."

"We can make change if we want to. I'm running for change. It's time to wake up and sniff the roses, people. Te Tai Tokerau need a champion who'll stand up for them, and their rights. You need a maverick."

"The choice is clear, the record speaks for itself. Vote imnofox for Te Tai Tokerau, and tick the Internet Party box!"

the crowd cheered for imnofox and his inspiring candidacy, speaking truth to power: something Te Tai Tokerau had not seen since the last election, in which imnofox also ran.