Clayton Mitchell New Zealand First MP

In a country which prides itself on tolerance, it is disappointing to hear of cases where race and ethnicity are being used as an excuse to intimidate, bully, and in some cases, extort money from law-abiding citizens.

Last month, Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones exposed a situation in Opotiki, where gravel contractors had reported threats of violence and damage to their equipment if 'royalty” payments weren't made to a group of people alleged to be acting on behalf of the Opeke marae, part of the Ngati Irapuaia hapu, of the Whakatohea iwi.

Police are currently investigating the allegations but I doubt any charges will be laid. These kinds of incidents make it very difficult to invest money from the Provincial Growth Fund in one of the very regions specifically targeted to benefit from it.

Closer to home, a few radical and militant Matakana Island residents have resorted to bullying tactics to intimidate a lawful landowner from developing land which has been in their family for nearly 100 years.

Despite trying several times to get a resource consent to develop residential housing on the 149 hectares of their land, the property owner has now given up and decided to sell this block of land after being subject to pernicious opposition by some in the local iwi, which included threats to burn down any dwellings that were built on the site.

These are cases of blatant racism against non-Maori New Zealanders and should not be tolerated by society. Police need to take action when these kinds of situations arise as nobody is above the law.

We need to look to the future with a vision for New Zealand where everyone feels they belong. Commonsense must prevail.