You’ll be aware of the Far North Council and their unelected Māori voting plan.

It is of course a scandal, but more importantly it is part of the overall de-Māorification of the economy this current Government, in one form or another, promised to address.

The fact this stuff is still going on proves they are failing.

ACT’s Todd Stevenson the other day wrote to Public Service Minister Judith Collins asking about Māori names in government departments. She said there was a war on, and we had better things to do. Fair point? Or convenient excuse?

The simple truth is what they promised and what has happened are two different things.

Enter ACT, who are now promising to ban the Far North type of behaviour. Is that a double promise? Didn't you already say you would do that?

Here is the problem with it:

1) ACT aren’t running the Government; they are merely part of it. Unless they make it a bottom line, which they won’t, it may or may not see the light of day after the election.

2) Given their well-promoted stance on race-based policy, going into another election having had the opportunity to fix it already, you have a credibility problem.

And 3) My sense of this as a broad-based issue is it isn't what it once might have been.

Personally, I find Māorification problematic. To give someone rules, or money, or decisions of names, or a job based on race is simply irrefutably wrong.

But the fervour with which that was argued a couple of years ago doesn’t appear to be quite as white hot.

Yes, there is a very vocal group who seem to have made it their raison d'être, but they are small and many of them are rabid, which makes the appeal of the overall argument to the broader populace less enticing.

You might also argue that against this wall of determination was an even bigger wall of determination, i.e. those who believe in it, think it's good, who have held the line and carried on.

And can I suggest that at this point, and the Far North Council are your gold star example, it is they who are the more successful of the two camps.

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