A woman attempting to kick off a Tauranga ratepayers meeting was booed and jeered when she used Maori phrases. The usual lynch mob is on Twitter and other social media screaming racism, but ironically, the crowd was really just expressing its frustration and disapproval of recent racist tyranny by the Ardern govt.

The tyranny behind the crowd’s raucous objections is the removal of voting rights in the matter of the establishment of Maori wards. Last year, the council voted for the Maori wards, but citizens organised a petition and were able to collect the 5000 votes needed (under council regulations) to overturn the decision and force a referendum.

What followed was an astonishing attack on democracy. The council was disbanded by Ardern govt decree and replaced by govt appointed “commissioners”. The unelected commissioners subsequently voted unanimously in favour of Maori wards.

Then, to ensure there could not be another petition or referendum, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta pushed through the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill under urgency, preventing such petitions from affecting future council decisions on Māori wards. The law came into force on March 2.

Usual media tyrants were on Twitter

So the Tauranga people have had their democratic rights snatched away by the autocratic rule of the Ardern govt, and naturally this has caused widespread resentment.

The progressive autocracy that is assaulting New Zealand at the moment have to understand that labelling people racists for objecting to tyranny is going to cause a backlash, and what happened in Tauranga is only the start.

Using this smear as a means of shaming people into submission will only work for a while. The insulting pejorative appellation has been overused for some time now, and is clearly nearing the limit of its effectiveness.