Asking questions is not racism

At what point did asking questions become a thought crime?

Chris Luxon is starting to sound indistinguishable from Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins and Labour when it comes to shutting down debate. Label it misinformation. Call it racist. Dismiss it as fringe rhetoric.

Many others and myself wrote about allegations circulating on social media that iwi may have instructed council to remove non-native trees from Mt Maunganui. That is not racism. It is repeating claims already being widely discussed and asking whether decisions made under cultural or ecological management frameworks may have had unintended consequences. No facts were asserted as settled. I even wrote,

“This is not an attack on Māori people. It is a challenge to Māori authority when it exercises decision-making power over land that directly affects public safety.”

The Prime Minister chose to lump all questioning voices into one category and tell those on the margins to keep quiet. "Some members of the public have speculated whether the removal of trees on Mauao in recent years for the protection of culturally significant sites and for restoration purposes contributed to last week’s slip. Mauao is co-managed by the local council and iwi groups," he reportedly said.

If exotic tree removal was guided by a formal management plan, endorsed by council and iwi co-management structures, then scrutiny is not optional. It is essential. Natural disasters do not suspend accountability. They demand it, especially when lives have been lost.

Calling people trolls or racists for asking hard questions is how trust is destroyed. It is how governments avoid uncomfortable scrutiny while pretending to defend social cohesion.