An updated Coat of Arms for a corporate-run country
To better reflect the new relationship between big corporations and government!
For the final comic commissioned by Greenpeace, I pitched an idea of updating the New Zealand Coat of Arms to better reflect the priorities of our government if the Regulatory Standards Bill were to pass, and to be honest, for trying to force it through in the first place.
The Coat of Arms is intended to represent our country as a bicultural nation and our relationship between the Crown and Māori, in addition to our agricultural exports.
With the bill proposing that private property and “individual freedom” over environmental protection, public safety, and indigenous rights, I decided to update it to reflect this.
First, by removing the Māori chief and replacing him with David Seymour and a generic businessman. This reflects the fact that the bill proposes to remove Te Tiriti o Waitangi from lawmaking so erasing the Māori voice in how our land is used - erased from the conversation, erased from the Coat of Arms. David and the Businessman represent the priority of corporate rights over those of the country.
Inside the shield, we have the consequences of unregulated corporations: polluted waterways, unsafe drinking water, oil spills, destruction of habitats, and it’s effect on native wildlife and the continued absolute abuse of our natural resources (draining our ocean beds, destroying our native forests).
We supposedly herald our exports in the Coat of Arms, but what will happen to those famous exports once companies are given carte blanche to take as much as they want, without consequence?
This may seem over dramatic to some, and sure, sometimes you have to paint a blunt picture to get the point across of what could happen. But the goal of Seymour is to bury the lead, to dress it up as harmless, and dismiss any criticism as “liberal woke agenda”. To get through to more people, you need to be blunt, to succinctly show them what this bill intends to do, to get them engaged and willing to stand up. It’s my hope that with these comics, we have done just that.
Here are some useful links if you want to learn more and for help on how to submit.
Dame Anne Salmond’s summary of the main points, and its overall un democratic process.
How the Regulatory Standards bill trojan horses the treaty Principles Bill.
Greenpeace has a simple breakdown on the history of the bill and the impacts it will have on the environment.
Most importantly, here is a guide on how to make a submission against the bill, more useful links, key points to make, and where to submit it.
More comics in this series:
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