<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/23/who-is-julian-batchellor-stop-co-governance-new-zealand-far-right-speaker-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-referendum-no-campaign>
"A controversial speaker from New Zealand whose views are being co-opted by
far-right groups in Australia is spreading “dangerous falsehoods”, a Māori
human rights advocate has claimed.
Julian Batchelor is currently running a tour of New Zealand called Stop
Co-Governance aimed at halting what he claims is “the elite Māori takeover” of
the country and a “coup by stealth”. The tour has attracted accusations of
racism amid a flurry of local media attention. Batchelor has consistently
denied he is racist or spreading misinformation and says he is a strong
supporter of “equal rights for all”.
Now his views are being co-opted into the debate about the Indigenous voice to
parliament by an Australian podcast and separate social media channels that
share extremist content.
The evangelical author recently appeared in an interview with an Australian
podcaster who has previously featured Proud Boys members as well as far-right
extremists such as Blair Cottrell, where he was asked about Australia’s
upcoming referendum.
“For [Indigenous Australians] to say … we want to have special treatment, we
want to have special handouts, then that’s apartheid,” he said in response.
The Māori advocate, who asked to remain anonymous, told
Guardian Australia
that Batchelor’s New Zealand tour was catalysed by a long fight by Māori to
have power to protect and access sacred sites.
“Even though he doesn’t represent the majority, when you gather people together
under a particular theme like that, it can create a premise for some very
dangerous and harmful results,” she said, referring to Batchelor’s comments at
his forums, including that New Zealand is “at war” against “elitist Māori”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
