Written By:
- Date published:
7:57 am, January 30th, 2026 - 14 comments
Categories: act, Brooke van Velden, david seymour, Maori Issues, schools, Te Reo Māori -
Tags: camilla belich, Karakia, Modern Slavery, Steve Gibson, Tikanga, Tim Jago
Repost from Mountain Tui Substack
A new school year has started for some, and tamiriki who can do with a love filled, nourishing meal are met with the food standards that David Seymour told us reflects ‘free market success’ and ‘private-public partnership effectiveness’.
Seymour’s incompetence can only be matched by his will for civil division and civil war in Aotearoa New Zealand – just as we saw similar movements in the US – which has now been broken by years of misinformation and lies, and citizens succumbing to entirely different paradigms.
It was not that long ago that Americans proudly stood by the terms “my fellow American” and where country and brotherhood / kinship were held as significant societal morals that most abided by.
No longer.
It wasn’t that long ago that Kiwis stood up for partnership and reconciliation with Māori, pride in the country’s shared culture – a globally admired culture that was the hallmark of Kiwi patriotism only a decade ago – and a willingness to admit history.
That’s fading.
Yesterday, first time Hastings District Councillor Steve Gibson made headlines for declaring that he refused to attend a council meeting at the local marae, citing it as a “non neutral” site, and protesting any “religious or spiritual practices” that might take place.
He was of course referring to the karakia, which has been a favourite topic on the alt-right of late.
Gibson, a regular on Sean Plunket’s show, and who rallies with slogans marked by ACT Party and Taxpayers Union favourites such as “Keep rates to inflation” and disallowing 16 years old from voting, is an ex police officer who appears heavily vested in issues like “protecting our flag” – perhaps not recognising that people and community are what all flags ultimately stand for.
Gibson isn’t the only one to protest Māori tikanga (customs) in New Zealand.
Last year, Whangamatā Community Board members Mark Drury and Neil Evans abruptly walked out of a pre-meeting karakia.
And right wing agitators such as Ani O’Brien have been stirring up acrimony, using optional, voluntary, pre-work karakia in Health NZ as an example of “public service waste” and claiming it costs NZ taxpayers $1 million, which is frankly an absurd allegation.
In response, ACT’s Todd Stephenson took it upon himself to help “Ani” by writing to Health NZ Chair Lester Levy, and upon Lester “Chainsaw” Levy confirming karakia has always been entirely voluntary, posted a note posturing that he had had something to do with this fact.
This is the ploy of the alt-right these days.
Not to be outdone, ACT’s Brooke Van Velden is on record as refusing to support a Labour bill that, wait for it, targeted the “worst type of worker exploitation” – including servitude, slavery, sexual exploitation, child labour – “really worst types of treatment that human beings can do one another.”1
ACT also cancelled Labour’s leadership advisory group on modern slavery after forming government.
Credit to the National Party’s Greg Fleming for displaying a rare moment of bipartisanship in helping Camilla Belich’s bill to progress this important issue.
Belich: We estimate there are 8000 in New Zealand now
These attempts to tackle extreme worker and child exploitation was a bridge too far for the ACT Party – perhaps not so surprising when previous leaders claimed that slavery is better than modern government.
David Seymour also re-directed sexual abuse youth victims to ACT lawyers, reportedly Seymour’s God mother, versus police, when Tim Jago was still ACT Party President.
And Brooke Van Velden seems to keep asking, ‘Won’t something think of the businesses?’ , while ignoring a silicosis crisis that kills Kiwi workers2, and diverting already underfunded Worksafe staff to man her multi hundred thousand dollar, $750 per roadcone removal hotline – even as NZ suffers double the workplace deaths of similar countries.
Flags and money are ultimately only symbols and customs that people agree to – but it’s in the kinship and willingness to come together that we can all find a greater wealth possible – for everyone.
It’s not something I expect the 8% party to get.
How would you feel about Christian prayers in English being given exactly the same treatment, in all these organisations?
Vaguely concerned, I guess. But mostly because it’s not really the same thing.
The issue here is conflating karakia with prayer or religious observance. While karakia can have spiritual elements, in this context it’s a cultural practice, not a religious imposition. In that capacity, it sits entirely within our constitutional reality as a bicultural state.
A Christian prayer in English would be a religious act from a specific faith tradition. Karakia, as used in workplaces, is about acknowledgement, transition, respect, and grounding: about taking a moment to recognise what we’re doing and the impact it has. If anything, that’s a quality we should want more of in public service decision-making, not less.
In practice it’s no different to getting a coffee before a meeting or having morning tea when someone starts a new job. Just a common, standard, shared ritual that marks the moment, not a demand for belief.
Collectively as a nation, we’ve probably spent more time and energy in the last two weeks debating karakia than the entire public service has spent actually using them in the past two years.
The original post mentioned Hastings District Council, so here's the minutes of the December 2nd council meeting:
Agenda of Council Meeting – Tuesday, 2 December 2025
The first thing mentioned is "Opening Prayer – Karakia Whakatūwheratanga".
Cool flex, but not quite the takedown you think it is.
The Council meeting on 4 September 2025, held at the Council Chambers, uses the exact same agenda item: “Opening Prayer – Karakia Whakatūwheratanga.”
Council minutes from 2024 and 2025 also record these prayers being led by an Anglican Reverend, David van Oeveren. That is quite clearly a Christian religious practice, and it does not appear to have attracted objection at the time.
So, we can only assume that Cr Gibson is perfectly fine with religious and spiritual practices being incorporated into council meetings – as long as they are ones he personally agrees with.
As a side note, Karakia Whakatūwheratanga is the literal te reo Māori translation of “Opening Prayer.” It tells you nothing about the theological or cultural content. Only that the agenda is bilingual.
So you're conceding that a karakia is a prayer?
No. Karakia can mean “prayer” in some contexts, but it’s a broader concept than that. It can function as an opening or closing, an acknowledgement, or a setting of intention, and it isn’t necessarily Christian or even theistic.
If your issue is religion in council meetings, I’ve already pointed you to two documented examples of explicitly Anglican prayers.
Go and complain about those.
Otherwise, stop pretending this is about “spiritual practices” and acknowledge that what’s actually being objected to is Māori culture having the same standing as everything else in civic spaces.
@ Gareth @ 1
"…being given exactly the same treatment…"
Well voluntary and in their own time, brilliant idea!
With morale in health at near rock bottom, something communal and uplifting might help undo the damage wrought by this mob.
If the Whangamata karakia was voluntary and in their own time, I assume you have no issue with people walking out before it.
Seeing it's to promote goodwill and thoughtful kindliness it is precious of anyone to walk out on karakia. But that's not an absolute – if it is a lengthy observance of anything that will make me weary. I have heard people complain about that.
But true goodwill will always carry you through Gareth and also the whingy councillor. It is not a step forward for grizzly self-centred people to go into politics at this time when we need to come together in a spirit of reasonable goodwill.
Hey, bigots gotta bigot.
What other voluntary activities would someone be a bigot for not participating in?
It is all about dividing and othering. In a Democratic system, extreme views should not dictate to the majority. Sad to say our sometimes Leader agrees with this 8% cad.
We seem to be off topic. The article is about Mr 8%.
So, bringing it back into line, just after the last election I'm sure Seymour announced an engagement, but I haven't heard any more about it.
His and her business I suppose but I hope he's not keeping the poor woman too long before he ties the knot…
I believe that Hipkins has announced his wedding date for 2027 – specifically after the election. I suspect that Seymour may well be following suit.
No campaigning politician has the bandwidth for wedding planning as well as a major election campaign.