imnofox rallied a crowd of voters in Hamilton’s main inner-city park, totally flooding the park with people, to the annoyance of the local council

“Kia ora, koutou! There are so many of you here, it’s just outstanding! You know, when I entered this race, fighting for kaupapa Māori, a digital economy, and restraining the powers of the state- I tell you what, I never thought we’d come this far. It’s amazing how close this race is, with a brand new party like Internet taking on the big parties, and even winning! Our party is expecting 2 seats in Parliament, including Te Tai Tokerau. While Labour campaigns to lead the opposition, our Internet Party candidates are busy campaigning our asses off to be part of the next government. And we’re getting closer and closer, demanding the government honour te Tiriti o Waitangi and honour our rights to privacy and free speech.”

“Numerous establishment parties and candidates have told us to give up, that what we’re doing is futile. But what I say to that is simple. Is it not futile to maintain the same authoratarian state and expect anything to change? Is it not futile to continue giving just lip service to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and expect anything materially change for Māori? Is it not futile to demand equality and freedom while maintaining and boosting the surveillance state? These are questions that the other establishment parties refuse to grapple with, but questions that the Internet Party have the answers to.”

“It’s hard to envision what the state would look like if it truly honoured te Tiriti O Waitangi. For a start, we know what it doesn’t look like. Labour’s brightest and best proposal is a ‘Māori Governorship Council’, yet another body envisioned by the state, as part of the state, subordinate to the state. We all know that Māori did not sign away tino rangatiratanga, we did not sign away our sovereignty. The Crown has the right to govern, and Māori kept our sovereignty. The very idea that the answer to this is to create a new council, and as it says in Labour’s manifesto, “subordinate” to parliament shows an absolute unwillingness to elevate Māori voices, tikanga Māori, and matauranga Māori above the Pākehā parliament. Whether they care to admit it or not, it’s another form of the ongoing white supremacy praticed by the Crown and Pākehā since before 1840, with the rights Māori have that are even upheld are only done so in a way that doesn’t challenge the power of the Pākehā class and Pākehā institutions.”

“So what does it look like? Well, that’s a big question, that even I don’t have the answers to. And that’s why we need a process to properly figure that out. We know the solution needs to recognise and guarantee tino rangatiratanga, it needs to be built on the foundations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga, and it needs to advance mana Māori motuhake. We need a new constitution, developed by Māori. It is nonsensical that the wrong-doer would control the relationship between tangata whenua and tau iwi, as the Labour Party would have us do. No, it is the right of the wronged party to determine the terms of the relationship between tangata whenua and tau iwi going forward. This would finally give the terms of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga legal status above statute, not just as an international treaty, easily ignored by the government of the day- as both Labour and National have blatantly done in government.”

“The benefits of a new constitution outside of the immediate sphere of kaupapa Māori are significant. We can enshrine our rights in this higher law, enforceable by the courts. The National Party and ACT especially have a history of ignoring the unenforceable Bill of Rights Act- I remember when the two parties took away the right for prisoners to vote, disproportionately impacting Māori. But there is no legal challenge to that, because the Bill of Rights Act is unenforceable. Now we can think about that in the context of mass surveillance: we have no enforceable right to privacy because there are no checks on the government secretly conducting mass surveillance on all of us, especially Māori. Our rights as tangata whenua and our rights as individuals need to be protected from the threat that is the colonial state, dreamt up by Pākehā to serve Pākehā interests. We need a new constitution!”

“And as I discuss sovereignty, I also want to mention my opponent’s uncritical support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, a deal foisted on us by that National Party with zero consultation with Māori. And once again, despite the Greens and other successfully blocking the deal for many terms until these significant issues are solved, National and Labour are united in uncritically signing us up to this deal, not even proposing any changes. That is how far-gone the Labour Party is as a party of the establishment. As the Waitangi Tribunal said in their report on the WAI262 claim, “With each instrument that it signs up to, the Crown has less freedom in how it can provide for and protect Māori, their tino rangatiratanga, and their interests in such diverse areas as culture, economic development and the environment”. Key clauses of this agreement would undermine the Crown’s ability to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, creating legal mechanisms to prioritise the interests of multinational corporations over the indigenous rights guaranteed by our founding document.”

“Our right to self-determination, tino rangatiratanga, and political autonomy should have informed the negotiations of the TPPA, yet Māori have had no say. As the WAI 262 report states, the Crown’s policies and practices did not at all comply with the Treaty, and we never say any attempt from the National or Labour parties to credible engage with Māori. Given clauses of the TPPA directly affect Māori rights relating to intellectual property, biodiversity, and environmental law- all rights guaranteed by Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Crown needs informed consent from tangata whenua, or at the very least, meaningful engagement. Even the UN special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples has singled out investment chapters of deals like the TPPA as threats to the rights of indigenous peoples and restrain their ability to seek remedies. I say this deal needs substantial reform, or at least substantial consultation with iwi Māori, in line with Te Tiriti o Waitangi, before we can consider joining this other Pākehā treaty.”

“Across the board, the Crown has failed Māori, has ignored Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and both Labour and National show know intention to do anything substantially different. I’m proud of the platform the Internet Party are running on. It’s about democracy, self-determinaton, and sovereignty- both on a collective and an individual level, principles ignored by almost all parties running for parliament and certainly ignored by the only other party running in Te Tai Tokerau. Look, I’ve seen politics and the state of the state firsthand, and it’s no easy battle. From all corners of the machine, the Crown will defend it’s power to the nth degree, as will the born to rule political parties who seek to occupy that power. But we have to let them know that that power comes with certain responsibilities, not just rights. Those responsibilities include honouring our rights, as tangata whenua, as people of the land, as those who have had their sovereignty usurped by a foreign monarch who never had any right to do so. This is not just an historical injustice, because our people are still hurting while Pākehā and tau iwi continue to benefit from the same exploitation.”

“I’m pleased to be running for a party that doesn’t hold back when challenging the Crown, and has an inherently sceptical of state power and how the state uses that power. Too many candidates running for parliament this election see that power as their weapon to wield, and we can’t let these fools have it, at least without Internet involved to keep them on a leash. It’s time for the will to shake things up to take control, redistribute power to Māori, restore our tino rangatiratanga. It’s time to reject the old Pākehā parties who have presided over more than 100 years of injustice and exploitation. A vote for myself in Te Tai Tokerau and a vote for the Internet Party anywhere in the country is an explicit rejection of the policies of state control, whether that be control over our information, our lives, or our freedoms. We need a political revolution that isn’t left or right, Labour or National, liberal or conservative. We need a political revolution for Māori freedom!”