Anti-Māori sentiment

Anti-Māori sentiment, broadly defined, is the dislike, distrust, discrimination, and racism directed against Māori people as an ethnicity and Māori culture. Various scholars have characterised anti-Māori sentiment as stemming from the colonisation of New Zealand by Britain.

Assimilationist policies pursued by successive early New Zealand governments were all marked by anti-Māori sentiment, often justified through false claims Māori were "dying out". Anti-Māori sentiment developed as views of Māori among Pākehā evolved, from the earliest notions of "noble savages" to 20th-century stereotypes of Māori as being fat, lazy, dirty, happy-go-lucky and unintelligent, or as criminals. Although racial segregation was never legally sanctioned in New Zealand, some towns practised it anyway until the 1960s. Anti-Māori bias in the media is well-documented and extensive. In 2020, media giant Stuff, which owns the Dominion Post and The Press, formally apologised for anti-Māori coverage in its newspapers dating back 160 years.

In the 21st century, anti-Māori sentiment has become more prominent and widely alleged as Māori culture has become more revitalised in public life, and Māori issues of greater concern among non-Māori. As of the 2023 census, one in five New Zealanders are of Māori descent. The 2004 Foreshore and Seabed controversy led to a resurgence of the Māori protest movement, which in turn was used by the political right to challenge tino rangatiratanga, or Māori sovereignty, as illegitimate or racist in itself. Such movements include Hobson's Pledge, an anti-Treatyist lobby group founded by former National Party leader Don Brash to oppose Māori treaty settlements and affirmative action, as well as Tross Publishing, Whale Oil, and elements of the ACT New Zealand political party. This is part of a wider trend against the Waitangi Tribunal and increased Māori political agency and biculturalism, including tropes of "Māori privilege", Other examples include a wider backlash towards Māori language revitalisation, alleged "Māorification" of Pākehā societal norms, and co-governance. A rise in anti-Māori sentiment, particularly against Māori women, was reported in the lead up to the 2023 New Zealand general election.

There are also marginal extremist groups, such as the defunct New Zealand National Front and active Action Zealandia, who are white nationalist in character and deny Māori are indigenous.