Auckland War Memorial Museum’s plan to transform into a tikanga-led ‘social impact organisation’ stinks of the politically-correct mission creep that already besets too many of our public institutions.
Updating the Museum for diverse communities is one thing, but this plan goes further. Museum leadership is explicitly planning to ‘disrupt’ not just ‘colonial narratives’, but colonial structures themselves.
What an incredible disrespect to the fallen servicemen for whom the museum is named, who laid their lives down for the Crown and colonial institutions like our Parliamentary democracy.
ACT says publicly-funded museums should teach, not preach. Museum leadership should have a laser focus on preserving our history and taonga, making it accessible and relevant to all Kiwis while honouring the memory of those who have come before.
Instead, the Museum wants to adopt a 'proactive' approach to repatriation of its artefacts, meaning they'll give away their collections even if they're not asked. What a massive own-goal.
Much of the plan is indecipherable consultant-speak. Take this explanation of the ‘strategic framework’:
Our strategic framework takes the form of a tāniko weaving set up, there are two turuturu (weaving pegs) stuck into the ground. A tāwhiu goes between the two to hold the weaving in place. Our turuturu are our He Waka Eke Noa values, and our Guiding Principles. The turuturu are reliant on a sturdy papa (enablers) to hold the turuturu straight, enabling us to weave. The piece being woven between the turuturu follows the aramoana pattern. Each pathway is an ara and combined, these create the tāniko pattern – outcomes for our community.
What a load of gibberish. Someone has been paid far too much and spent far too long dressing up this plan to transform a prestigious, storied museum into a woke political organisation.
ACT believes our colonial, pioneering history is something we can value alongside the stories of Māori and those of more recent arrivals. New Zealanders are sick of the division and Museum leadership need to ditch this divisive plan.