ACT Party: A Response to Anti-Maori Actions
By Dr Harpreet Singh | drhsinghnz.substack.com | FB: @DrHSinghNZ | BSky: @DrHSinghNZ | IG: @DrHSinghNZ
19/12/2025: This piece was originally written in July 2025 for Aotearoa New Zealand History Facebook Group. While it was intended as a standalone post, it ultimately sparked my writing journey and the creation of this Substack. I revisit this article often; it serves as a reminder of why I write and why I am committed to standing up for others.
My name is Dr Harpreet Singh. I am an academic specialising in Sikh and Indian history in New Zealand and have published numerous research papers in Europe, the USA, and New Zealand. I usually avoid involvement in politics, but I felt it necessary to clarify some points regarding Paramjit Parmar, the controversial ACT MP. My family arrived in New Zealand over 120 years ago.
It’s essential to make clear that Paramjit Parmar’s views do not reflect the experiences or beliefs of all Punjabis, Sikhs, or the broader Indian community in Aotearoa. Her position is her own, and it overlooks a long and difficult history that many early Indian migrants endured in this country.
Parmar either does not understand or is unaware of the discrimination and systemic barriers faced by Indian migrants who arrived in New Zealand before the 1990s. These earlier generations were excluded, marginalised, and treated as second-class despite being British subjects. They fought hard for basic rights, dignity, and a place in this society.
Many more recent migrants, particularly those who arrived in the 1990s and 2000s, did not personally experience these struggles. As a result, there is often a lack of awareness of how deeply racial inequality shaped New Zealand’s history, and how closely the early Indian experience mirrors the injustices that Māori have faced for generations.
Understanding that history is essential. Without it, we risk repeating the same patterns of dismissal and division that once harmed our own communities.
What do Māori and early Indian immigrants have in common? Far more than most people realise.
As debate continues around co-governance and Treaty rights, it’s disappointing but not surprising to hear MP Paramjit Parmar criticise policies she sees as favouring Māori. Her calls for so-called “race-neutral” governance overlook the deep historical parallels between the experiences of Māori and the early Indian community in New Zealand.
Indian migrants who arrived before the 1930s were British subjects, just like the Pākehā settlers. But they were treated as second-class. They faced racist immigration laws, were blocked from bringing their families, denied basic civil rights like voting and land ownership, refused service in hotels, and targeted with open hostility in public life. Despite their legal status as British citizens, they were excluded from the privileges of full belonging. In response, they petitioned the Crown, asking for equal treatment and protection.
At the same time, Māori, indigenous to this land and guaranteed rights under Te Tiriti o Waitangi, were being systematically dispossessed of land, language, and political power. The promises of the Treaty were ignored. Māori were also framed as obstacles to national progress and denied the right to determine their own future.
In other words, both Māori and Indians have long histories of being marginalised by a system that privileged whiteness. Both communities have had to fight for recognition, dignity, and justice.
That’s why it is so troubling to hear Parmar oppose Māori co-governance, as though it were some kind of unfair privilege. If she truly understood our own community’s early experience in New Zealand, she might see these policies not as special treatment, but as long-overdue efforts to honour historical commitments and correct entrenched injustice.
Indian New Zealanders once stood before the same institutions demanding fairness and dignity. We should remember that history and stand with Māori now as they do the same.
History matters.