Ansell eyes ‘Treatygate’ party for 2014

Advertising guru John Ansell, who earlier launched a campaign for a "colour blind" New Zealand, is considering creating a new single-issue political party.

The man who created National’s “Iwi-Kiwi” billboards in 2005 (paving the way for National's return to power at the next election and, ironically, its alliance with the Maori Party) says he is coming under pressure for such a group to stand in the 2014 election.

Mr Ansell also warns of further Maori claims, including iwi wanting the sun, and he brands groups such as the Maori Council as his best recruiting sergeants.

His comments follow last week’s government delay of the partial privatisation of Mighty River Power following pressure from the Maori Council, plus a claim submitted by Northland-based iwi Ngapuhi over commercial use of the wind.

“The land grab has turned into a water grab, which in turn has turned into a wind grab. I wouldn’t be surprised if they claimed the sun next since Maui claimed to have slowed down the sun,” Mr Ansell told NBR ONLINE.

Has already raised almost $100,000
He says in just a few weeks he has raised almost $100,000 towards his $2 million target to fund an advertising campaign and related citizen’s initiated referendum on whether voters want a "colour blind" state. 

This comprises donations ranging from $20 to $50,000 but he won’t say is any have come from wealthy Southland supporter Louis Crimp.

“I’m not naming names but there are two donations in the tens of thousands, and I haven’t yet approached the biggest potential funders in the land.” 

Mr Ansell says the controversies over Mighty River Power, wind claims and the like are helping his campaign.

“I think the Maori Council are our best allies. They are creating the impression Maori tribes are gangs of extortionists appeased by a chamber of Chamberlains.” 

Wants to make a distinction
However, he wants to make a distinction between what he calls “Maori grievers” and “Maori achievers”.

“The Pakeha appeasers are probably the most guilty. The grievers are taking advantage of weak Pakeha appeasers, governments seeking their vote and scared of being called racist.

“Prime Minister John Key has opened the Pandora’s box, and it’s his own fault.”

Mr Ansell doubts that either the courts or the politicians could "restore" democracy under a “colour blind” state.

“I don’t have a lot of faith in political parties. They are the ones who have let us down. They have provided problems. I’m tired of working with political parties who don’t follow through.

"We need to go hard. We need a bunker-buster strategy. We need real cut-through. That’s why we need a major ad campaign where we control the words and pictures.

“People are calling for me to stand in a one-off political party, to do one thing and one thing only, to create a colour blind state, where state funding is based on need, not race.” 

Such a party would be created from the campaign for a citizen’s initiated referendum asking voters if they  want a "colour blind" state.

“If we get support for a one-issue, one-time only political party that would apply further pressure we would sit on the cross-benches.”

Mr Ansell says his campaign has been gathering pace, with more than 20 media interviews, including a couple on television, and an invitation to speak at a Rotary Club in Auckland – though he says it is not Orewa, where former National Party leader Don Brash made his famous speech on ‘"nationhood" in 2004.

There have been supportive comments on Treaty of Waitangi issues from former ACT leader Rodney Hide and left-wing commentators such as Chris Trotter, but he expects little support from the media and politicians. 

Misrepresenting our history
Instead, he says a “large number of our elite are misrepresenting history".

“What people don’t realise is the fabricating of large parts of New Zealand’s history which is taught in schools. I have been studying that for over a year.” 

On his blog, Mr Ansell also claims there was such "doctoring" of evidence in recent Treaty claims but those who have informed him will not go on record.

“If the griever Maori are going to be rorting for wrongs that were committed by our British forebears – if they are going to do that by misrepresenting history – we are going to have to rehabilitate the names of our ancestors, who were much more compassionate than are presented,” he says.

“My angle is to create a colour blind state, but if billions of dollars are being handed out on the basis of a false representation of history, we need to correct that history."

But rather than being racist, as opponents claim, he does want a "pakeha state".

“I want a vibrant multi-cultural, multi-coloured state. We have a multicultural society already. I am not talking about extinguishing anyone’s culture but turning off the tap to griever Maori who are the petulant teenage brats of society.

"These grievers can reflect the attributes of boorish teenagers. They are rude like Hone ‘motherf****r’ Harawira, they exaggerate like Tariana ‘holocaust' Turia, they bully like Tame ‘training camps’ Iti, they have a massively inflated sense of entitlement like Willie ‘racist’ Jackson and Maanu ‘give us the water’ Paul."

Laments today's Maori leaders
Mr Ansell further laments today’s Maori leaders.

“There are no Sir Aripana Ngatas on the horizon. Where are the Sir Peter Bucks, the James Carrolls, these fine gentlemen when I went to the Maori Select Committee room who were beaming down from the walls?”

He also laments the lack of "achiever" Maori taking a stance.

“I don’t know where they are. Perhaps they are in Australia. I am being abused as a racist, but I wish the 'achiever Maori' would claim the mantle of Maoridom from the 'grievers'. I am not anti-Maori and I do not speak for Maori,” he says.

“A lot of them feel like me but none of them have the courage to stand up to these 'griever Maori'. It is not pleasant territory, but so be it. If we don’t [stand up] the New Zealand as we know it may soon be over because of the sneaky way the government goes about things."

Mr Ansell says there was "pathetic" consultation over the government’s Marine & Coastal Area Bill and the current Constitutional Advisory Panel is only meeting “with people who will agree with it”.

To counter this, he says he needs money for his referendum, and a prospective party if this had sufficient support.

“It’s not a left and right issue. It goes right across the political spectrum. I would be happy to stand with people who are political opponents. Labour’s David Parker was one of the strongest opponents of the Marine & Coastal Area Bill,” he says.