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Summary:
Paul Goldsmith is much more than meets the eye. From his deep and abiding association with Hobsons Pledge founder Don Brash, to his libertarianism ideals and positive view of colonialism, is he the right man to lead the Treaty of Waitangi negotiations, and oversee the sanctity of our state enterprises?
Plus, coming this weekend - the left is stupid.
Paul the Jovial Pianist and Former Historian
Paul Goldsmith is a senior government Cabinet Minister with five ministerial positions including Media, Arts, State Enterprises, and Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations.
He’s a good spokesperson for National and fronts media regularly. Paul knows what to say, and how to say it. His tone is disarming. He is a former ‘historian-for-hire’, PR advisor, National Party speech writer, and penned glowing biographies for Don Brash in 2005, and Alan Gibbs in 2012.
i.e. Goldsmith knows his craft is words.
Brash is the former National and ACT Party opposition leader, and present day founder of anti-Maori, racism group, Hobsons Pledge. For the 2005 election, Brash received a book about himself from Goldmsith that read like mythical “hagiographies”. The book also positively sold neoliberal, trickle down economic reforms i.e. the liberatarian ideal.
Understanding who Goldsmith admires will explain why.
Significantly, Goldsmith explicitly lied to New Zealand. He and Brash denied the biography was commissioned by the National Party. Except Nicky Hager, the legendary investigative journalist, revealed it was. It was National’s first big budget spend for the election year…
Goldsmith still speaks highly of Brash calling Brash “an amazing character” in 2020. And “there is nothing wrong with controversy” regarding Brash’s reputation.
Besides that, Goldsmith has maintained a seeming harmless, disarming demeanour. He enjoys piano and speaks positively about arts and culture, often serenading audiences on a piano while appearing genial.
And, once you put aside “irritating mistakes” like his $4 billion gap that he missed as National Finance spokesperson in 2020, Goldsmith has generally been seen as a solid performer under Luxon.
He featured on AM regularly, and hasn’t put a foot wrong this year, apart from once, accidentally, revealing National’s true intentions for Kiwirail’s Interislander.
But under Goldsmith’s lightly apologetic, and jovial language lies a man with deeply held beliefs about the role of Māori rights, colonialism, neoliberalism, and the free market.
A Newsroom article reported Goldsmith, in his capacity as a ‘historian-for-hire,’ once said Māori had suffered “in landlessness and social and economic marginalisation on a scale comparable to, if not more severe than, some of those areas affected by confiscation.”
Yet Goldsmith later forgot all that, and took a sharp right turn, saying he was previously “brainwashed” but had “quickly snapped out of it” when encountering great folks such as National and ACT Party MP John Banks. Banks, and people like him, were who inspired Goldsmith to become “involved in politics”, he said.
Now Banks was mainly an anti-LGBT, anti-union, and pro-trickle down economics politician. He left political life after being found guilty of filing a false electoral return for SkyCity donations. That was later overturned. However, Banks remains deeply connected in the far right circles of NZ politics and commentators.
Minister Paul Goldsmith also admired and gravitated towards another anti-Te Tiriti, neoliberal figure - one of NZ’s wealthiest men, Alan Gibbs - who he wrote a positive biography for too. Gibbs is considered the “godfather” of ACT, instructed ACT to be “more radical,” and remains a mega donor to David Seymour and the party.
Gibbs is an Atlas Network participant, the group’s presence seemingly synonymous with “anti-climate, anti-Indigenous and pro-trickle down economic reforms”. Gibbs’s daughter holds a global leadership role in Atlas - i.e. the same network group behind Donald Trump and Liz Truss.
As Goldsmith himself said in 2020, Alan Gibbs is a man deeply involved in NZ politics.
But to put this all very simply - Goldsmith’s deepest ideologies and beliefs appear to be formed by, and shaped with, those who set up and led ACT.
Goldsmith is very possibly the National Party’s David Seymour - albeit a less outspoken, obvious version.
But here we need to be very careful.
Goldsmith is the NZ Government’s chief negotiator for Māori on Te Tiriti O Waitangi i.e the Treaty of Waitangi.
And that doesn’t bode well for Māori when its Minister, and Government, are deeply connected with groups that are against the values of indigeneous peoples around the world.
While ACT is the lead protagonist in the anti Te Tiriti story, supported by Don Brash’s Hobsons Pledge, and Taxpayers Union, who else is ultimately connected in this web?
Let’s hear more from Goldsmith himself
In 2019, Goldsmith penned a piece suggesting that colonialism was ultimately a good thing for Māori, which is a startling mindset for a modern minister of the New Zealand government - and especially one leading Treaty negotiations.
He wrote:
“Māori had lived in isolation for centuries. Inevitably, when the rest of the world figured out how to sail around the globe and found these beautiful islands, rich in resources, they would be forced to reconnect with the rest of humanity.
That reconnection would always be challenging – not least because diseases for which they had built up no immunity would ravage generations.
Humans, meantime, in all ages have fought over land and resources. After Cook came guns, which amped up traditional Māori fights dramatically.
Against that, many things that came after Cook massively enriched the lives of the inhabitants – protein-rich food, the written word, metal, wheels, access to the global archives of literature, religion, music, science and stories etc etc.
Did the good outweigh the bad?
Surely, we have to say, yes.”
And in 2021, in an interview with Newshub Nation, Goldsmith re-iterated that sentiment. Colonialism, he argued, was on balance good for Māori. He downplayed it, waving the invasion away with, all change is ultimately ‘traumatic.’ That sounds similar to Chris Luxon who, when referring to people and children who had been systematically abused by the state/faith based care - said they had “dysfunctional upbringings”. That’s one way of putting long term rape, violent attacks and emotional abuse, Prime Minister.
Now, I would like to spend a few moments to define some important terms, and let me tell you why it’s important.
We need to be able to understand what is happening, and we need to be precise on language because this government’s rhetoric is a form of racial gaslighting whereby their rolling back of Māori progress and support is defined under the banner of “unity,” “human rights,” “democracy,” and “anti-racism”.
i.e. They have co-opted language and definitions to attack those they hurt, and anyone who disagrees with their actions.
So here’s a few definitions for you to take away.
RACISM is a form of prejudice that generally includes negative emotional reactions to members of a group, acceptance of negative stereotypes, and racial discrimination against individuals, typically one that is a minority or marginalized
Merriam-Webster defines RACISM as:
1. A belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2. the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another
IMPERIALISM is the policy, practice, or advocacy of extending the power and dominion of a nation especially by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas
COLONIALISM is closely related - it’s domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation : he practice of extending and maintaining a nation's political and economic control over another people or area
On those definitions alone, the government’s lines that Maori supportive policies and support are “racist,” are clearly misinformed.
Goldsmith, the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi negotiations is also likely to have a forgone conclusion when he labels Waitangi Treaty historians as “left wingers” who had “brainwashed” him temporarily before he saw the light with trickle down economics, anti-Treaty figures. Goldsmith also reveals an apparent belief that mother England was the superior force, race, and values system too, mirroring those who colonised.
In his capacity as Arts & Culture Minister this year, Goldsmith cut funding for Matariki celebrations by 45%. And in June, he told RNZ it was a hard decision to make, but, you know, money is tight - in another petty display by this government akin to Simeon Brown’s instructions to councils that they were not allowed to spend transport money on road safety measures.
If you want $2 million, Paul, ask Nicola Willis for that from 1/500th of what she just threw away on the state enterprise called Kiwirail. Or 1/1500th of what your government gave to landlords. etc.
Will Goldsmith, the Minister, or his government speak up about racism and misinformation from Don Brash?
On the 26th July, I wrote about how Hobsons Pledge was spreading disinformation and racism against Māori, using the foreshore seabed issue.
Remember, Brash is a founder of the anti-Māori group but Brash is also a former ACT Party leader. RNZ reported on Hobsons Pledge’s direct links to Taxpayers Union last year. Casey Costello is a founding trustee of Hobsons Pledge and an ex-Chair of Taxpayer Union. Nicky Hager said TPU acts as an apparatus of the National Party and political scientist Dr Bryce Edwards noted they were “ACT in drag”.
Everything is a circle and there’s no network like a deep, far right one, it appears.
I’d watched Hobsons Pledge start the seabed racism campaign on social media - hence my article.
But little did I know that NZ Herald - the NZME corporate pay for play “media outlet” would publish it as a front cover ad this week, spreading misinformation, racism and lies without care or abandon.
Yes, a complaint can be made, but they have achieved what they wanted - to spread the seeds of their lies and anti-Māori sentiment further and reach more people as part of ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, which will be ultimately backed by National, at this rate.
Prevention is better than cure, and as we saw in England this week, when people are poisoned with fear, division and racism, violence is easily stirred up by those that would use those people as tools.
Or is that the idea?
I look forward to the government’s leadership on this matter.
BTW this Paul Goldsmith article by historian Ross Webb is recommended.
And the video above shows how Goldsmith and Luxon’s simple excuse that Aussies couldn’t understand “Aotearoa” went down with Aussie PM Anthony Albanese.
Paul Goldsmith: The Man Who Wanted Te Reo Māori Gone