I don’t blame you if you didn’t watch this week’s TV One Māori issues debate. It was pretty much what you’d expect, with the notable exception of ACT’s Nicole McKee, who stood out as a shining beacon of common sense and unity amid a sea of racism, with the other parties pushing separate systems for different New Zealanders.

If you think every New Zealander should be equal before the law, without separatist policies dividing us, then please Party Vote ACT.

Nicole stood firm in her defence of healthcare being based on need, not race. She pointed to practical ways ACT has improved lives for all New Zealanders, including Māori, and opposed people being forced to speak Māori while supporting the freedom of people to do so if they choose.

Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori want separate race-based institutions, billions more of taxpayer money spent on programmes for only one group, and unelected bodies like the Waitangi Tribunal given the power to override our democratic Parliament. It would be laughable if it weren’t for the prospect that, unless we lock them out, that’s exactly what’s on the agenda.

Here’s what that looks like:

Labour wants to bring back co-governance under a different name, and go back to awarding government contracts on the basis of race.

The Greens want Waitangi Tribunal recommendations made binding on the Government.

Te Pāti Māori wants an unelected Treaty Commissioner with the power to veto decisions of our elected Parliament.

Nicole made the point that ACT’s policies are for all New Zealanders. If you need healthcare, you should get it based on clinical need, not who your ancestors were. Picture two families on the same street, with the same bills and the same struggles. One ticks the right box and gets the help. The other gets nothing. Go and explain to that second family how that’s fair.

That’s why, in Government, ACT:

ended race-based bowel cancer screening and lowered the age

⁠ended the 8 per cent target that handed out government contracts by ethnicity

scrapped co-governed three waters and the Māori Health Authorityrepealed the law that put a child in state care’s race ahead of their safety

Charter schools are another example. They may be the programme making the biggest difference for Māori children, and those from other backgrounds too, yet Labour wants to shut them down because their union mates don’t like them. That’s despite these schools lifting attendance and engaging children who had been let down by the state system.

Children need to be going to school. Education is the pathway from poverty to prosperity. When Labour left government, only a third of Māori children were regularly attending school. With David Seymour in charge of attendance, that’s improved to half, but we still need to go much further.

None of this is safe. The Coalition hasn’t gone as far as ACT would like, but it has gone further than it ever would have without us. Imagine what more ACT MPs could do. We’ll put equality before the law into the Constitution Act, add property rights to the Bill of Rights, end race-based hiring in the public service, keep tikanga from becoming a separate source of law, and make the Waitangi Tribunal’s job finishing the remaining settlements, then wind it up. And we’ll make sure that you aren’t forced to say karakia or other spiritual prayers as part of public sector employment or resource consents.

But we need more ACT MPs to have the strength to get this across the line.

A Party Vote for ACT is just as effective at stopping Labour as a Party Vote for National, but it means more MPs who staunchly oppose racist policies and will never back down on equal rights.

Here are two things you can do today:Vote now if you haven’t already. You can vote at any voting place until 7pm on Saturday 7 November. Find yours at map.vote.nz/voting-places, and Party Vote ACT.⁠

Ask three people to Party Vote ACT. Friends, family, workmates, neighbours. Forward them this email. A message from someone they trust counts for far more than any ad.I think about my grandchildren, and I want them to grow up in a country where what they do matters more than who they are. With your Party Vote for ACT, we can ensure the Coalition is re-elected, and make it go further and faster on uniting New Zealanders under One Law for All and One Future Together.

Thank you,

Paul Henry ACT Candidate

P.S. Right now, Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori MPs are mobilising their supporters to drive as many people as they can to get out and vote. It’s going to be tight. Party Vote ACT before 7pm on Saturday 7 November.