Working in partnership with Māori is not, never was, and never will be apartheid. It is inconceivable, in 2021, that a New Zealand politician can confuse rangatiratanga with apartheid. Apartheid is the oppression of people; rangatiratanga is the empowerment of people, and it is a guarantee of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Rangatiratanga is what my great-great-great-great-grandfather Whetoi Pomare signed his hapū and his descendants up to in February of 1840. When Judith Collins later said, "Is that what those chiefs thought they were signing up to?" My answer is "Hell, yeah. That's exactly what they were signing up to." The disparity between Māori and non-Māori outcomes is a direct result of Te Tiriti being ignored—kāwanatanga, assuming total power and control, and rangatiratanga being sidelined.