pn846. One-eyed, Ultra-Right-Wing, Violently Anti-Māori, Essentially Anti-Intellectual. There is No debate. Everything is Black or White, literally.

 

Dr Muriel Newman

Last week I very nearly made a mistake by  published ­­the results of a Roy Morgan poll which showed National and Act ahead of Labour and the Greens. Then I saw it was conducted in December last year, well before the recent Kantar poll that showed Labour and the Greens still well ahead. 

 But this did not stop Dr Muriel Newman publishing the December  poll in her blog Breaking News! yesterday, with no mention of the Kantar poll. She wrote "This week we examine Labour's fall in the polls". Incredible!  

I was surprised Bryce Edwards' NZ Political Daily provided a hyperlink to her piece today.  His site provides useful links to mainstream articles and only occasionally to reasonably moderate  blogs such as Kiwiblog, Politik, and The Conversation.  Opening the door to the likes of Newman is something of an unwelcome precedent.

Why unwelcome? 

Because her NZ Centre for Political Research (previously Political Debate) and her blog are not the independent think tanks they claim to be.  It may seem hyperbole to say they are one-eyed, ultra-right-wing, violently anti-Māori and essentially anti-intellectual. But they are. There is no debate. Everything is black or white.

Yesterday's NZCPR, for example, had ten anti-Māori postings, and Monday's five, including a challenge to Waitangi Day by none other than Dr Michael Bassett of Don Brash's Hobson's Pledge fame. Unsurprisingly. the NZCPR Board is full of Hobson's Pledge people.  

The Centre runs a weekly poll. This week's poll asked "Do you think that it is now time for the Māori seats and Māori  electoral roll to be abolished?"   They claim (I'm not joking) that the Māori MP's in the Labour government are trying to take over the country.  99% of readers voted yes!

The Centre's board members are:

• Dr Muriel Newman, PhD in Mathematics, foundation member of the Act party and former MP.  Hobson's Pledge  member.
• David Round, Law lecturer, Canterbury University. Author Treaty 'rights' a trap,Truth or Treaty, Māori aristocracy. Hobson's Pledge  member. 
• Mike Butler, property investor. Wrote about Auckland's "monster" Māori Board.  Hobson's Pledge member.
• Dr Ron Smith, Director, International Relations and Security centre, Waikato University.
• Frank Newman, property investor, husband of Muriel. Hobson's Pledge  member.

Note the wording in the Centre's appeals to readers for financial support:

Your support is crucial if we are to continue our battle against the march of socialism, the attacks on free speech, the undermining of democracy, and the on-going attempts to divide us by race. Please help us keep the flame of freedom and liberty alive in 2022 by clicking HERE. 

That just about says it all. This is no independent think tank, and NZ Politics Daily does us no service in publishing its ideas.

-- ACW