OPINION: It is possible that security agencies will be closely monitoring Kiri Tamihere-Waititi, the wife of Māori Party Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi.
Her expletive-laden social media rant, urging Māori to overthrow the government, wasn’t just a step too far—it was potentially illegal.
While she has the right to express dissatisfaction and highlight perceived wrongdoings, her comments crossed the line from criticism into dangerous incitement.
She declared, “They’re (The Government) doing everything and they’ve got the f***** power to get rid of us. And while you’re thinking about that, you might as well also start thinking about how we’re going to take our country back too. We’re continuing to subscribe to a model that was designed to assimilate, to continue to colonise, and to keep us as second-class citizens in our own country. By design, we are not unified. Right? Just imagine, just take one f***** minute of your day to imagine if we were all on the same page. Can you imagine the might and the power that we would have? We could overthrow any government. We could do whatever the f*** we wanted.”
Perhaps even more concerning was some of Tamihere-Waititi’s followers praising and supporting her inciting comments to “overthrow the Government.”
This endorsement of her rhetoric raises serious questions about the influence of such extreme views.
Kiri Tamihere-Waititi
That being said, the tone of her videos hasn’t incited real-world anger so far. Most anti-government protests organised by the Māori Party have been peaceful events in Christchurch.
Given her background as a trained Clinical Psychologist from the University of Auckland, you would think Tamihere-Waititi knows exactly what she is doing.
She de-registered out of protest and shifted her focus to promoting Whanau Ora as a solution for decolonising mental health. But what does decolonising mental health actually mean? Undoubtedly, it’s a symbolic middle finger to the science that aims to help people.
The police told me they are investigating her online video to determine if any crimes have been committed, while the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has indicated it continuously monitoring perceived threats.
In 2022, Director-General of Security Rebecca Kitteridge noted that the landscape has shifted dramatically with the rise of “anti-authority” extremists.
NZ Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) Director-General Rebecca Kitteridge. Photo credit: Newshub
Kitteridge, who heads the SIS, explained that addressing “anti-authority” political extremism had evolved from a relatively niche issue to a primary focus for the agency.
She highlighted concerning signs the public should be on the look out for. “It could be policies that are interpreted as infringing on rights and it’s a kind of what I describe as a hot mess of ideologies and beliefs fuelled by conspiracy theories,” Kitteridge said.
Kiri Tamihere-Waititi’s social media rant epitomises the very dangers Kitteridge has warned the public about. My only hope is that she’s on a watch list.
It only takes one individual to embrace Kiri Tamihere-Waititi’s extreme victimhood narrative and act on it.
The time to push back against such obscene views is now.
Do you need to report a national security concern? You can do so here
