One Treaty, One Nation pamphlet 'racist and stupid', but not hate speech - academic

Sunday, 14 April 2019

The 'One Treaty, One Nation' pamphlet was delivered to letterboxes in Point Chevalier over the past two weeks.

An academic says anti-Māori pamphlets distributed in Auckland are hateful, but not 'hate speech' under current legislation, and says it's an important discussion New Zealanders need to have.

The pamphlets, headlined 'One Treaty, One Nation' were distributed to homes in Auckland's Point Chevalier over the past two weeks, bearing the slogans 'no special representation of part-Maoris in local government' and 'end the stranglehold that one minority group has over the culture and life of the nation'.

'The benefits of colonisation for Maoris, lifting them out of a violent Stone Age existence, far outweighed any negative consequences,' it reads.

Point Chevalier woman Emma Vere-Jones complained to the Advertising Standards Authority after a pamphlet was dropped in her letterbox.

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'I did it because I hoped that there could be some sort of recourse for it, I suppose,' she said.

'If you let smaller stuff go, then eventually the problem becomes bigger.'

Vere-Jones said she was offended by the pamphlet's language and its overall anti-Māori tone.

She also considered reporting it to the Human Rights Commission, but was not sure if it would fit under its remit, she said.

'Their rules say it's not enough that the material offends, it has to have the potential to excite hostility in those who hear or read it. It sort of made me feel like maybe they only looked at things that were more aggressive.'

Massey University professor Stephen Croucher said the Christchurch mosque attacks had heightened the public's sensitivity to racism.

'I don't think the New Zealand definition is clear enough to call [the contents of the pamphlet] hate speech … it's hateful, but it's not hate speech.'

It wouldn't be an easy conversation to have, he said.

'I think this is just the start of these conversations in New Zealand.'

If the group could be stopped from putting out pamphlets, then there would need to be a litmus to measure other material too, he said.

'The question is what's the line … who determines that line?'

Croucher, who is from the United States, said cases against racist material may fail in the US courts because it was considered freedom of speech, not hate speech or inciting violence.

'I personally see it as racist and stupid. It can be harmful but I don't know what we can really do about it legally.'

Andrew Little, who is overseeing a review of hate speech laws in the wake of the Christchurch terrorist attack, was not available for comment on Sunday.

However, he earlier told The New Zealand Herald he thought the pamphlet was racist and peddled myths about pre-European Māori society.

'If it demonstrates anything, it is that the author of it is an ignorant fool,' he said.

Little previously told Stuff the tolerance for speech that had been considered acceptable had been too high.

'I certainly think that the laws dealing with what we call 'hate speech', and human rights law, are woefully inadequate,' Little said.

'Since the events of March 15, we are more conscious of the impact of what we are seeing and we need to do better.'

Advertising Standards Authority chief executive Hilary Souter confirmed the authority had received a complaint about the pamphlet.

'I am not able to make any further comment until it has been processed.'

Then-Ohariu MP Peter Dunne said the pamphlets were full of 'disgraceful, despicable racist bigotry' when they were dropped in letterboxes in his electorate in 2017.

'I acknowledge the right to free speech,' he said at the time. 'But I am nonetheless outraged that this type of nasty, racist drivel is being circulated by some anonymous group.'

The pamphlet said further information could be found in books such as One Treaty, One Nation – written by Hugh Barr, former ACT leader Don Brash and others.

It also asked for donations to a campaign called Rolling Thunder, which has a bank account in Orewa.

Efforts to contact the publishers have not been successful.