Seen abroad as a leader on Indigenous rights, New Zealand enters a divisive new era

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — On the eve of New Zealand’s Māori language celebration week, the country’s right-wing political leaders ordered public agencies to stop affirmative action policies for Māori people, who are disadvantaged on almost every metric. As a government comprising those groups and Luxon’s ramps up initiatives stripping recognition of Māori from policy and law, analysts say they imperil New Zealand’s standing on Indigenous matters. “I don’t know that this government quite understands the negative impact that is not only going to have on us politically but economically, because Māori culture is a tourism destination.” The relationship between Māori and the government — a coalition between Luxon’s and Seymour’s parties and a third, populist New Zealand First — promises to be “not just the most, but the only regressive one” in nearly two decades, said Ben Thomas, a political consultant who worked for a previous National government before Luxon led the party. But Thomas said the previous left-wing government didn’t do a good job of explaining its “completely defensible” policies advancing Māori rights, with the coronavirus pandemic and cost of living crisis amplifying the backlash. Māori — who are nearly 20% of New Zealand’s population and disproportionately young — were more ready to oppose challenges to their rights than generations before, said Henry.