Ad man Ansell unveils 'Treatygate' and declares war on racial favouritism

Controversial advertising guru John Ansell is whipping up a nationwide campaign dubbed "Treatygate" to stop New Zealand going down the path of racial separatism.

He told NBR ONLINE he hopes to raise $2 million for television and newspaper advertisements promoting racial equality and the creation of a colour-blind state.

The campaign will be a precursor to a proposed citizens initiated referendum at the next general election, posing the question: do you want a colour-blind nation with one law for all and free from racial favouritism of any kind?

“What I’m aiming to do is to destroy the Treaty grievance industry, which is crooked, as well as the appeasement industry which has been propping it up.

“The appeasement industry is full of people who Lenin would describe as 'useful idiots'.”

Mr Ansell, who masterminded race-based election campaigns for National and ACT and coined the phrase “iwi or kiwi,” says there are two types of Maori – grievers and achievers.

“One of the aims of my campaign is to get the Maori achievers to rise up against the grievers and show us that they are more numerous.

“I suspect there are more achievers than grievers, having talked to a number of people who I thought were on the grievers side.

“They actually quietly confide to me that they can’t stand the Hone Harawiras of this world and they are sick and tired of being represented by these people.”

Mr Ansell claims elitist elements in parliament, the judiciary, academia and the media are guilty of covering up New Zealand’s true history and assisting “griever Maoris” to extort money from taxpayers.

“This country is being divided increasingly by the griever Maori with the compliance of the cowardly non- Maori, who believe for the sake of a quiet life it’s better to surrender their country than stick up for it.

“We should be telling the grievers to show a bit more gratitude and get their hands back in their pockets and stop expecting money from other people."

Mr Ansell says his campaign is the result of having worked for many politicians over the years who have “wimped out on this issue”.

“One of our endearing qualities is that we like to be nice to everyone. But you can’t be nice to crooks, as Neville Chamberlain found out. He was nice to a crook and look where it got him.

“We have a parliamentary chamber full of Chamberlains and have had for some decades.”

Given his past electioneering experiences, Mr Ansell anticipates problems getting his message across to New Zealanders.

“The Dominion Post wouldn’t even run an ad containing 40 separate statements of provable fact for ACT, the headline of which was “Fed Up With Pandering To Maori Radicals.”

“Bernadette Courtney, the editor, refused to run that, which raises the question of what sort of democracy do we live in really?

“If she and others refuse to run my ads we’ll put them somewhere else. We’ll put them on posters around town, or drop them from planes, put them in letterboxes – and we’ll include exposes of those editors who refuse to run them.

“We’ll do what has to be done to get the message out to the public for the first time in their lives."

Despite such hurdles, Mr Ansell is confident of getting 80% of New Zealanders to support his call for a colour-blind state, devoid of the Waitangi Tribunal, separate Maori seats and Te Puni Kokiri.

“I think it will cause the National and Labour parties, who have basically run this country as an undemocratic state on this subject for the last 40 years, to have to abide by the will of the people.

“Where else in the world is the winner of a war of rebellion paying reparations to the descendants of the losers 150 years later?

“It’s absolute nonsense, but this sort of stuff is never talked about.”

So just where is the $2 million going to come from which Mr Ansell needs to fund his campaign?

It is a question he’s a little coy about, but he admits he has been in touch with multimillionaire ACT backer Louis Crimp, an outspoken critic of special treatment for Maori.

“I’m going to keep details about all donations confidential until the donors give me permission.

“I think New Zealanders in general are so fed up  that they will give generously and I’ve already got quite a few donations.

“What I’m doing is probably not the sort of thing you do if you’re planning on having a long life but I want to terrify the government.”