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National Māori Authority chairperson, Mathew Tukaki, has called for the resignation of National's education spokesperson Paul Goldsmith after he told Newshub Nation on Saturday that while colonisation may have been "traumatic" for Māori, overall it has had a positive effect.
"But with it came all sorts of wonderful things, such as literacy, such as the freedoms and democracy that have come through... I think on balance it has, yes," Goldsmith said.
In a statement Sunday, Tukaki took issue with those remarks.
“I hate to state the obvious but this man should not be in the parliament and to be honest the media need to stop giving people like this a voice or a platform," he said.
"Colonisation of this country destroyed Māori communities. Our people were murdered, men, women and children. Our women were raped. We were dehumanised and lied to. Treated with disdain and as second class citizens and this joke of a man says it was good for us.”
Tukaki also called for the resignation of the party's senior Māori advisor, Tu Williams, for "not doing enough to stop this rhetoric".