"Toitū Te Tiriti’s vision for New Zealand would result in a complete fracturing of our country and systems."

"Eru Kapa-Kingi ... [threw out a call this week] to reshape New Zealand’s constitutional order, to carve out areas of separate governance, and to take steps toward a future where Māori and non-Māori live under completely separate systems.

"This is not even a conversation about co-governance anymore. This is a manifesto for secession. ...

"Eru Kapa-Kingi is not a random activist shouting into the void. ... He is politically connected, academically legitimised, and strategically placed to influence the next generation of lawyers and activists. His writing is not just a personal opinion. It is a roadmap for the movement that is inextricably connected to Te Pāti Māori.

"[He] rejects the Treaty settlement process altogether ... [calling instead] for restoring Māori authority over whenua rangatira*, creating hapū-based systems of decision-making outside of Crown control.

"This is not the 'partnership' that New Zealanders have been told must exist for the past several decades. This is not collaborative nor inclusive. It is parallel sovereignty with the Crown ejected. It is constitutional revolution, internal secession, ethno-national partition, annexation, balkanisation. ...

"[Kapa-Kingi is the leader of] Toitū te Tiriti ... the activist movement at the heart of the new push for Māori sovereignty. It emerged in 2023 as a coalition of iwi leaders, activists, and academics opposing the Government’s Treaty Principles Bill, and quickly became the most organised expression of resistance to Crown authority in recent memory.

"Toitū te Tiriti is not merely 'aligned' with Te Pāti Māori, it is stitched into the party’s very fabric. ...

"Its kaupapa goes far beyond repealing specific legislation or opposing the Treaty Principles Bill. It calls for a complete constitutional reset and the recognition of tino rangatiratanga as an independent source of authority. In effect, Toitū te Tiriti is building the intellectual, legal, and activist framework for Māori self-government that operates separately to the Crown. ...

"Toitū te Tiriti functions as both the conscience and the shock troops of Te Pāti Māori, pulling the Overton window toward a future where Crown authority is eroded piece by piece.

"The strategy is pretty sophisticated. But it isn’t new. ...

"Toitū Te Tiriti’s vision for New Zealand would result in a complete fracturing of our country and systems."

~ Ani O'Brien from her post 'The path to the balkanisation of New Zealand' 

* Whenua rangatira translates to “chiefly land” or “paramount land.” In context, it refers to land that is considered ancestrally significant, collectively owned, and central to the mana of an iwi or hapū. When activists or scholars refer to whenua rangatira, they are usually talking about land that should remain in collective Māori control (not sold off or alienated under Crown law) and that carries a spiritual and political significance, not just economic value.