Henry Armstrong: New Zealand is in a Democratic Shambles – but who is listening?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines democracy as “The belief in freedom and equality between people or a system of government based on this belief in which power is either held by elected representatives or directly by the people themselves”.

Most New Zealanders view democracy within this definition as meaning one person, one vote, majority rule. They also believe that in a democratic society, freedom of speech and expression and the right to be consulted on important political and constitutional issues is fundamental, along with a non-partisan media and apolitical universities, inter alia.  But this simplistic view of democracy is actually quite incorrect, even dangerous, in New Zealand in 2023.

Henry Armstrong: The Tragic Decline of New Zealand Universities

As New Zealand approaches an election in October, the almost total disarray of the present government in virtually every respect, looms large like a dark cloud on the horizon. The economic, social welfare, education, health and justice systems are approaching chaos.  

The New Zealand  media is now increasingly politicised, with editorial censorship and an increasing  tendency towards ethnomania, particularly in relation to “co-governance” - the sharing of political power between the Maori minority (16%of the population) and the rest of New Zealand (84%). Our universities are increasingly, and compulsorily, including Matauranga Maori or knowledge, into all aspects of university life - in teaching, research, publications, and administration, with no discussion or debate.

Henry Armstrong: Stop This Disgraceful Three Waters Confiscation, Ardern!

Recent comments in various media throughout New Zealand regarding Three Waters demonstrate the utter stupidity and gross political interference in local affairs by the neo-Marxist Ardern government in its planned seizure of all of New Zealand’s water resources. 

The Three Waters Reforms forcibly removes from District and City Councils, billions of dollars' worth of assets which comprise all of New Zealand’s drinking, waste, and storm water systems. 

Most Councils use these assets to borrow against to fund other high-cost projects such as roading, waste disposal and other public services. These assets do not belong to central government, having literally been paid for by generations of New Zealand ratepayers.

So why is the neo-Marxist Ardern government acting in such a belligerent, non-democratic and illegal manner and what are the implications for ordinary New Zealanders?

Henry Armstrong: Does Our Government Engage In Mis- And Disinformation?

In an interesting piece by Mitch McCann in Newshub (8^th March), our neo-Marxist Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (you know, she who has a degree in Communication) commenting on the Parliamentary sit-in, is quoted as saying: “One day it will be our job to try and understand how a group of people could succumb to such dangerous and wild mis- and disinformation”. 

But, does her government itself deliberately engage in using mis-and disinformation to promote itself and it’s policies, which it accuses others of doing?

McCann is one of those journalists invited to attend the daily 1pm TV Pantomime Covid briefings, sometimes being mistaken for Zane Small by Deputy PM Robertson when addressing journalists by their first names.

According to Kate McNamara, NZ Herald (10 March), in a series on the use of spin doctors by our New Zealand government (Ardern’s office has several), it  now transpires that the government “selected” a group of 21  Covid19  “commentators ”for “special briefings” earlier in the pandemic to ensure they could help get the “right message” out. I wonder who, how, and why they selected the gifted “21”?

Did you know that?

Henry Armstrong: Defence Overview Unbelievably Inept and Ignorant

The recently–released report emanating from the Operation Burnham enquiry in which a review of our Defence Force is recommended, demonstrates an unbelievable degree of ineptitude and outright ignorance amongst the enquiry team. The enquiry panel included two military members (one retired) amongst its highly-politicised makeup, but dominated mostly by bureaucrats with no military experience at all.

Amongst the recommendations is a clear proposal that civilians must have a far greater involvement in on-the-ground future military operations than at present. Really?  And just how might that translate in the following scenario:

An NZDF soldier is patrolling a village in a Middle-Eastern country in which ISIS terrorists are very active. Approaching her checkpoint is a person clothed head to foot in a traditional garment with only their eyes uncovered. The person is holding a small child by the hand and should not be out on the street - there is a “curfew” in place. The gender of the person cannot be determined. The soldier’s instructions are to require any curfew-breaker to halt, identify themselves and the reason they are breaking curfew. Should they desist or refuse to stop, the NZ soldier is then entitled to......?

Henry Armstrong: The Covid 19 Dilemma - To Vax Or Not To Vax

Let me start this article by declaring that I am double-vaccinated against Covid19, with a booster scheduled for next week. 

In my lifetime, I have seen a number of pandemics in New Zealand come and go; have been vaccinated or inoculated for all of them; and had no option but to submit to these procedures in my early years under parental guidance or military law and discipline. I carried an International Health Certificate in my passport for many years, producing it on demand in many countries I sought to enter. Yes, I had a very bad reaction to one lot - TAB, as I recall - and another from the Asian Flu in the 1950s. I brought back Malaria from South-East Asia and suffered the indignities of spasms in cinemas. In operational theatres, diseases such as Malaria, Dengue fever and Typhoid were rife. Not all prophylactics were successful - especially against Malaria (Paludrin), Scrub Typhus (DBP, now recognised as deadly as Agent Orange), glandular fever and dysentery treatments. I survived!

Henry Armstrong: China, Democracy and the New Reality

Recent comments by our neo Marxist government headed by self-proclaimed “democratic socialist” Jacinda Ardern, seem to be equivocal about our relationship(s) with China. This is interesting, given that the Ardern government prides itself on socialist/communist principles such as the centralisation of essential services and the exercise of authoritarianism, often masquerading under the guise of “for the greater/public good” or “we are all in this together”.

One of the arguments about either strengthening or weakening our relationship with China is that China is significantly increasing its economic influence in the Pacific region - but also in Africa and elsewhere. Various “Western” nations such as the US, Australia, the UK and New Zealand seem to claim that the Pacific is “their” territory and that no other entity or power has any right to intrude into this area.  Really? Is China not a Pacific nation too?

Henry Armstrong: Climate Change - The Reality Vs The Bulldust, Bunkum And Balderdash!

It was encouraging to see thousands of ordinary New Zealanders out on the streets and at Parliament on Tuesday 9th November, protesting, waving NZ, Maori sovereignty and United Tribes flags. Parliament was in lockdown, perhaps fearing a US Capitol-style invasion. 

Irrespective of the reasons for protesting, the overall themes were perceived loss of freedoms - compulsory lockdowns, mandatory vaccinations, freedom of choice, ominous climate change proposals. The right to protest within the law is fundamental in a true democracy and must of course be upheld. 

With the lockdown of Parliament unprecedented in the last 40 years, according to Speaker Mallard, politicians dared not address the crowd. Imagine the reception Prime Minister Ardern would have received had she fronted! Instead we had a dismissive comment from Ardern to the effect that the protesters were “not reflective of the vast bulk of New Zealanders” - a dangerous and ignorant comment in that these brave souls had the courage to demonstrate, whilst many others who might have quietly agreed with them, stayed at home.

Henry Armstrong: The Capture Is Complete - The Politicisation Of New Zealand’s Universities

An old friend recently sent me a letter reflecting upon many years of university service.  I thought it so important that it is well worth sharing:      

AN OPEN LETTER TO NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITIES

As a triple graduate, Professor, lecturer, researcher, PhD examiner  and programme director with over 37 years of university service, involving five of our eight universities and their relationships with government, media, public and private organisations, I believe I am in a position to comment on certain current issues and the future direction of our tertiary education sector.

Henry Armstrong: How to Unmake and Remake New Zealand History

Introduction

This essay has been initiated regarding the concerns of  a group of New Zealand academics, teachers, historians and commentators, many of whom have held prestigious positions in relaying our history to generations of young New Zealanders, over many years. They are concerned that the history of our nation is presented to our young people in a comprehensive, truthful, unbiased and informative manner. Their aim is that a truthful presentation of New Zealand history is delivered in our schools from 2022, the date whereby a revised School Histories Curriculum prepared by the Ministry of Education, is to be taught.

The Ministry proposed a revised curriculum in early 2021, calling for submissions by 31 May. The result of over 5000 submissions on the draft reveals virtually no changes from the initial proposals. It is clear that a politically-focused curriculum is to be delivered in which untruths, distorted descriptions of recorded events and biased interpretations of the past will now be included.

Henry Armstrong: Deep Unrest in New Zealand - the politics of deception and coercion

There is mounting evidence of a very deep level of unrest developing in New Zealand, resulting from a series of fundamental changes initiated in an underhand, undemocratic, and dishonest manner by a Neo-Marxist government headed by Jacinda Ardern.

Ardern was accorded an election victory in November 2020 with 50% of the total vote. But 50% did NOT vote for Ardern. 

New Zealand embraces the voting system of Mixed Member Proportional (MMP). Under MMP minorities can collectively form a majority by attracting a range of minority interest groups. MMP allows one person to have two votes - one for an electorate candidate and another for a political party. But 50% of all New Zealand MPs are NOT elected, they are selected and appointed to a "list" by their party, so that the electorate has no say or direct input into the appointment of 50% of our representatives. Jacinda Ardern and Andrew Little were both rejected by their electorates on several occasions, but by being "listed" by their party, both now occupy high political office.

Henry Armstrong: Pathetic Planning, Puerile Politics and the Pandemic

In May last year, as the Covid19 pandemic was becoming established in New Zealand, I penned an article for NZCPR in which I raised a number of issues which, if not already obvious, would soon be seriously confronting us. 

These included issues where ethnic groups took the law into their own hands or claimed the response to Covid was “racist”; issues with contact tracing and privacy; vaccine shortages; border problems and MIQ control; numbers in gatherings exceeding the rules (by certain ethnic groups); and the media adulation being heaped on the Prime Minister following her constant daily TV exposure. 

I warned of the dire consequences of anyone daring to even challenge, much less criticise the government’s Covid response.

Eighteen months later, where are we at?

Henry Armstrong: Jacinda and the Journos - has the bubble burst?

Recent media posts (June 2021), by three of New Zealand’s top journalists (or is that actually a synonym for opinion-shapers these days?), seemed to have crossed the line and written highly critical pieces concerning our exalted, beloved, much-admired, and deified Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern - you know, our “Saviour” from Covid 19, as described by her Labour supporters.  

Firstly Andrea Vance, then Tova O’Brien, and now (29 June 2021), Duncan Garner, have all written scathing articles regarding either the Ardern government’s secret handling of the explosive He Puapua report; the shambolic Covid19 vaccination rollout plan, especially for Group 3; or Ardern’s personal incompetence and understanding in her attempts to explain a proposed new “hate speech” law – see details below.

Henry Armstrong: The New Zealand Constitution and Political Duplicity - Shush … Be Quiet!

The New Zealand Constitution in 2021 is under threat from a very committed neo-Marxist government and Maori sovereignty activists, who have as their agenda, a totally transformational set of goals which will result in New Zealand losing its much-valued traditional democratic status and history.

Already, we are seeing the signs of a highly centralised economic and political system reminiscent of the failed Soviet Union under communism in the latter half of the twentieth century. Water, health services, local authorities, social welfare and polytechnics to name a few, are all in the process of being centralised. 

Once established, communism is maintained by force and coercion. Communism resulted in the deaths of countless millions of otherwise innocent lives in the 20^th Century under such tyrants as Stalin and Mao. Such is the legacy of communism and neo-Marxism. It has utterly failed as a political system wherever it has been implemented. Such then are the lessons of history, within our own lifetimes.

Henry Armstrong: Is New Zealand Really Racist? Definitely!

Internationally known film director Taika Waititi caused a minor storm on the international circuit when, in a recent BBC interview, he claimed” New Zealand is a racist country”. Prominent Maori activist John Tamihere claimed during the 2020 election campaign, that “all Pakeha are asymptomatic racists”. 

National Opposition leader Judith Collins, in attempting to get the Ardern government to “come clean” in divulging the He Puapua Report on constitutional changes to Parliament, was roundly condemned for her “racist” attempts to create division in New Zealand - you know, that “team of five million’ who are “all in this (waka?) together”. 

The flamboyant co-leader of Te Paati Maori, in his Stetson hat, was so incensed at Collins’s blatant attempt to expose the traumatic contents of He Puapua to Parliament, he performed a haka in protest and was (rightly) kicked out of the House.

Professor Margaret Mutu of Auckland University, long noted for her unrelenting racist rhetoric, promotes the terms “white supremacy” and “white privilege” as being normalised in New Zealand (Ref: Newshub, 3 June 2021). She claims “white supremacy” is synonymous with racism, which she claims is an everyday experience of our Maori peoples.

Henry Armstrong: The Transfer of Political Power: Unconstitutional; Undemocratic; Underhand; Unwise

In a highly significant post on NZCPR of 28 February 2021, former ACT MP Muriel Newman penned an astonishingly erudite and profound article entitled: “The Corruption of Democracy” - see HERE.

This post should be read by every thinking New Zealander as it neatly describes the hidden transfer of political and economic power from the ruling parliament, to a “co-governed” New Zealand comprising a 50/50 power share between our Maori people (16%) of the population, and everybody else (84%), by 2040. One can only imagine the disastrous social and economic outcomes which this transfer will undoubtedly bring in its wake. Dr Newman’s article instigated literally hundreds of online responses objecting to this potential constitutional disaster.

Henry Armstrong: Fit to Govern?

When life-long, hard-line socialists like Chris Trotter raise important questions, on successive days, about the inaction or incompetence of the Ardern government on a whole host of issues, alarm bells should be ringing, loudly, across New Zealand. (See NZ Politics Daily, Bryce Edwards, VUW, 15/16 April 2021)

So, what is going so very wrong for the Ardern government?

Henry Armstrong: How the Ardern Government and Its Allies are Dumping on Us Oldies

The Ardern government’s recently-announced housing and punitive tax policies will have a significant impact on New Zealand’s seniors and are clearly ageist in their outcomes. 

Anyone over the age of 70 years in New Zealand today (especially if you are male and of European descent), can be forgiven for feeling that somehow, after a lifetime of struggle, commitment to, and hard work in the interests of our country, New Zealand, we have suddenly become “the enemy”!

Green Party MPs, almost to a person, condemn “old white men” as somehow being responsible for all of the ills of modern-day New Zealand society. Julie-Ann Genter’s infamous statement to a class of school children in Christchurch (aged around 10 years) that “old white men” needed to move aside from their domination of boards (she did not specify which boards-charities, SOEs, closely- held family companies, Stock Exchange listings), as some kind of cleansing process after which organisations would be refreshed and renewed.

Henry Armstrong: Racism in the New Zealand Health System

I begin this article with the conclusion I have reached on the above subject, which I would normally reserve for the final paragraph. My conclusion is quite simple. Our health system in New Zealand is NOT racist, as a host of academic, political and cultural activists so vociferously claim. 

Claims that our health system deliberately withholds treatment from our Maori people, are dishonest, untruthful and alarmist. What these activists claim as “systemic racism” can be easily illustrated, and dismissed, as failures in  socio-economic outcomes, NOT failures in our health system. Anyone, including myself, would understandably be outraged if our health system deliberately withheld appropriate treatment for ANY person in our New Zealand society, on the basis of their ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other political identity so favoured by these politicised activists.

This article is designed to illustrate just how dishonest these people (academics, cultural activists, politicians- and some highly-honoured New Zealanders) are, in their facetious claims.

Henry Armstrong: Waikeria Prison Riots - New Year 2021

The paucity of any political news over the holiday period suddenly ended with the development of a serious prisoner riot at Waikeria prison in the Waikato. A small group of inmates decided to spit the dummy and trash the prison, causing millions of dollars in damage - the cost of which will, of course, if remedied, be borne by the New Zealand taxpayer. Their “protest” was ostensibly concerning “poor conditions” at the prison, not enough exercise or washing facilities, and issues around drinking water.

Oh dear! Are we seriously required to now believe that in 2021 New Zealand, our “guests” of Her Majesty in prison can demand conditions to their liking?