November 7, 2025 9:12am by David Farrar

How advanced was Māori civilisation?

Something I have been interested in is trying to get a better understanding of what life was like for Maori in New Zealand before Abel Tasman made contact in 1642. By then Maori had been in New Zealand for around 400 years. Some people dismiss Maori civilisation back then as Stone Age, while others point to the skill (and courage) it took to paddle to NZ in wakas, and other aspects of Maori matauranga.

To try and put things in perspective I asked ChatGPT to list 100 inventions or innovations that occurred in ancient times (before 0 AD). This list itself is quite fascinating. The list is:

  1. Control of fire — c. 400,000–200,000 BCE — early hominins (Homo erectus / H. heidelbergensis)
  2. Stone tools (Acheulean handaxe tradition) — c. 1,700,000–200,000 BCE — early Homo (Africa, later Eurasia)
  3. Oldowan stone tools (simple flakes & cores) — c. 2,600,000–1,700,000 BCE — early Homo (Africa)
  4. Clothing (sewn or draped garments) — c. 170,000–50,000 BCE — modern humans (Africa / Eurasia)
  5. Language (complex spoken language) — c. 100,000–50,000+ BCE — anatomically modern humans (pan-regional; debated)
  6. Controlled use of pigments / body decoration — c. 100,000–60,000 BCE — early modern humans (Africa, Europe)
  7. Sewing (bone/antler needles) — c. 40,000–20,000 BCE — Upper Paleolithic cultures (Europe, Siberia)
  8. Bow and arrow — c. 70,000–20,000 BCE — Upper Paleolithic / African and Eurasian hunter-gatherers
  9. Fishing hooks / nets — c. 40,000–20,000 BCE — coastal/riverine hunter-gatherers (global)
  10. Pottery (earliest ceramic vessels) — c. 14,000–10,000 BCE — Jōmon culture (Japan) & other independent early pottery makers
  11. Domestication of dogs — c. 20,000–15,000 BCE — Eurasia (multiple origins suggested)
  12. Natufian agriculture beginnings (wild cereal cultivation) — c. 12,000–10,500 BCE — Levant (proto-agriculture)
  13. Agriculture / systematic farming (Neolithic Revolution) — c. 10,000–8,000 BCE — Fertile Crescent (Levant, Mesopotamia), independently in China, Mesoamerica, Andes, etc.
  14. Animal domestication (sheep, goats, cattle, pigs) — c. 10,000–8,000 BCE — Near East and Anatolia (and independently elsewhere)
  15. Permanent settlements / villages — c. 10,000–8,000 BCE — Fertile Crescent, Anatolia, East Asia
  16. Masonry / dry-stone construction — c. 9,000–7,000 BCE — Near East (e.g., Jericho), Anatolia (Çatalhöyük)
  17. Plough (early ard ploughs / digging sticks) — c. 6,000–4,000 BCE — Near East, later Europe and Asia
  18. Irrigation systems — c. 6,000–5,000 BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley (early forms)
  19. Wheel (potter’s wheel) — c. 5,500–4,000 BCE — Mesopotamia (wheel for pottery precedes vehicle wheel)
  20. Vehicle wheels / wheeled carts — c. 3500–3000 BCE — Mesopotamia / Northern Eurasian steppe (Sumerian/Southwest Asia)
  21. Sail (sailing boats) — c. 4000–3000 BCE — Mesopotamia / Persian Gulf / Nile (early reed-boat sails)
  22. Bronze metallurgy (smelting copper + tin alloys) — c. 3300–3000 BCE — Near East (Sumer, Anatolia) — start of Bronze Age
  23. Metallurgy: copper smelting / working — c. 7000–5000 BCE — Anatolia, Balkans, Near East
  24. Writing — cuneiform — c. 3400–3000 BCE — Sumer (southern Mesopotamia)
  25. Hieroglyphic writing — c. 3200–3000 BCE — Ancient Egypt
  26. Urbanism / first cities (state-level societies) — c. 3500–3000 BCE — Sumer (Uruk), Indus (Harappa), Egypt (Memphis)
  27. Standardized weights and measures — c. 3000–2500 BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley
  28. Legal codes (early laws & administration) — c. 2100–1800 BCE — Sumeria (proto-laws), later Hammurabi’s Code (c. 1754 BCE, Babylon)
  29. Currency / commodity money (silver rings, weighed metals) — c. 2500–2000 BCE — Mesopotamia / Near East (and other barter systems)
  30. Sewage/drainage & urban sanitation — c. 2600–1900 BCE — Indus Valley (Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro)
  31. Stone masonry with dressed blocks (ashlar) — c. 2600–2500 BCE — Egypt (pyramids), also in the Levant and Anatolia
  32. Pyramid construction and large-scale stone monuments — c. 2700–2500 BCE — Egypt (Old Kingdom)
  33. Papyrus (writing material) — c. 3000–2500 BCE — Ancient Egypt (riverine Papyrus manufacture)
  34. Sundial / shadow clocks (timekeeping by sun) — c. 1500–1000 BCE — Egypt / Babylonian regions (early timekeeping devices)
  35. Water clock (clepsydra) — c. 1600–1400 BCE — Egypt, later Babylon and Greece
  36. Glassmaking (early beads & glass objects) — c. 3500–2000 BCE — Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt (early glass)
  37. Alphabetic proto-writing (Proto-Sinaitic / early alphabet) — c. 1800–1500 BCE — Sinai / Canaan (precursor to Phoenician alphabet)
  38. Phoenician alphabet (basis of modern alphabets) — c. 1200–1050 BCE — Levant (Phoenicia)
  39. Iron smelting (beginning of Iron Age) — c. 1200–1000 BCE — Anatolia / Near East (earlier bloomery techniques)
  40. Cast iron / early high-temperature ironworking (China) — c. 5th–3rd century BCE (widespread later) — China (early ironworking innovations)
  41. Horse domestication and chariotry — c. 2000–1700 BCE — Eurasian steppe / Near East (Indo-Europeans, Hittites, Egyptians adapt chariots)
  42. Wheelbarrow (earliest evidence — China) — disputed early forms; commonly attributed later, but some scholarship points to very early single-wheel transports in China — c. 4th–1st century BCE — China (early forms)
  43. Seaworthy keel and hull improvements (shipbuilding advances) — c. 2000–1000 BCE — Mediterranean civilizations (Phoenicians, Greeks)
  44. Alchemy precursor techniques (calcination, distillation beginnings) — c. 3000–1000 BCE — Egypt, Mesopotamia (early chemical techniques)
  45. Paper precursor: papyrus / birch-bark / bamboo slips — c. 3000–500 BCE — Egypt (papyrus), South Asia (birch bark), China (bamboo slips)
  46. Calendar systems (lunisolar & solar calendars) — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Egypt (solar calendar), Mesopotamia (lunar/ lunisolar), Mesoamerica (later)
  47. Astronomy (systematic star charts, planetary observations) — c. 2000–1000 BCE — Babylonian astronomers; also China, India, Maya later
  48. Mathematics: positional number systems & arithmetic tables — c. 2000–1500 BCE — Mesopotamia (base-60 sexagesimal), Egypt (hieratic math)
  49. Geometry for surveying & construction — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Egypt (land survey after Nile floods), Mesopotamia
  50. Surgical instruments & basic surgery (trepanation, wound care) — c. 3000–1500 BCE — Egypt, Indus Valley, Andean cultures (trepanation evidence worldwide)
  51. Brewing beer / fermented beverages — c. 7000–4000 BCE — China (neolithic sites), Mesopotamia, Egypt (early large-scale brewing)
  52. Leavened bread & advanced baking — c. 4000–3000 BCE — Egypt (baking / ovens)
  53. Domesticated rice cultivation — c. 8000–5000 BCE — Yangtze River valley, China (also independently in SE Asia)
  54. Silk production (sericulture) — c. 3500–2700 BCE (legendary dates) — Neolithic China (Yangshao / early Chinese cultures)
  55. Iron ploughshare improvements — c. 700–400 BCE — China and Mediterranean (iron-tipped ploughs)
  56. Coinage (minted coins) — c. 7th–6th century BCE — Lydia (western Anatolia), later Greece and Persia
  57. Alphabetic writing transmission to Greeks (Greek alphabet) — c. 8th century BCE — Greece (adoption/adaptation of Phoenician script)
  58. Acoustic architecture / amphitheatre design (sound-amplifying buildings) — c. 6th–4th century BCE — Greece (theatres)
  59. Concrete-like mortars (early hydraulic cements) — c. 3rd–2nd millennium BCE — Near East; Roman concrete proper is after 0 AD but earlier cements existed (e.g., bitumen mortars)
  60. Road engineering / paved roads (planned routes) — c. 3rd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Mesopotamia, later advanced by Roman Republic (post-0 AD major expansion) but early major roads in Neo-Assyrian / Persian empires predate 0 AD in parts
  61. Postal relay / mounted courier systems (early forms) — c. 6th–5th century BCE — Persian Empire (Royal Road improvements), earlier local systems in China and Assyria
  62. Crossbow (early Chinese trigger-based weapons) — c. 5th–4th century BCE — China (Chu state / Warring States developments)
  63. Casting (lost-wax bronze casting for statues & tools) — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Indus Valley, Mesopotamia, Egypt (and later widespread)
  64. Mass textile production (spinning wheels are later) — warp-weighted looms — c. 4000–2000 BCE — Near East, Europe, China (early weaving technologies)
  65. Glassblowing is later; but beadmaking & core-formed glass — c. 2000–1500 BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt (early glass objects)
  66. Roadway surveying & civil engineering (arches, bridges, causeways precede Romans) — c. 2nd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Mesopotamia, Persia, India, China (early bridge building)
  67. Stirrup — (note: true stirrup appears later; early foot-loop devices existed) — true closed stirrup invention is post-0 AD (so exclude definite stirrup). I will instead list: saddles / riding equipment improvements — c. 2nd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Near East / steppe cultures
  68. Decimal and numeration developments (e.g., Brahmi numerals precursors) — c. 3rd–1st century BCE — India (Brahmi script and numeral concepts)
  69. Surgical anesthesia precursors (opium, mandrake, herbal sedatives) — c. 3rd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China (herbal pharmacopeias)
  70. Concrete domes and corbeling (early roofing techniques) — c. 3rd millennium–1000 BCE — Near East, Mycenaean tholos tombs (Greece)
  71. Harp / lyre / stringed instruments (musical instrument development) — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Sumer, Egypt (early stringed instruments)
  72. Spherical / nautical navigation knowledge (coastal navigation, star navigation) — c. 2000–1000 BCE — Polynesia (later expansion), Mediterranean mariners (Phoenicians, Greeks)
  73. Paper-like record systems: wax tablets & codices (wood/bone tablets, waxed boards) — c. 2nd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Mesopotamia, Mediterranean, China (bamboo slips)
  74. Acupuncture / early traditional medical systems (China) — c. 2nd millennium–1st millennium BCE (practical roots), documented later — China
  75. Rudder (stern post rudder precursor — true sternpost rudder is later, but steering oar in use) — steering oar — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Egypt, Mediterranean (longstanding steering oars)
  76. Mechanical automata precursors (simple mechanical devices & clocks) — c. 3rd–2nd century BCE — Hellenistic world (Hero of Alexandria later makes complex devices ~1st century BCE/AD) — early simple automata and mechanical principles in use earlier
  77. Concrete/ cement road paving in Mesopotamia/Egypt — early paving & bitumen application — c. 3rd–2nd millennium BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt
  78. Sophisticated shipbuilding: multi-deck / long-distance ships (Phoenicians) — c. 1200–800 BCE — Phoenicia (Mediterranean seafaring)
  79. Central heating precursor: hypocaust (earlier forms in Anatolia / Greece precede Roman widespread use) — c. 8th–4th century BCE — Anatolia, Greece (some evidence of early heating); Romans later perfect hypocaust after 0 AD
  80. Tally sticks / accounting systems — c. 5th–3rd millennium BCE — Mesopotamia (token systems that became writing)
  81. Glass mirrors (metal-backed glass / polished metal mirrors) — c. 4000–2000 BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt (polished bronze mirrors)
  82. Sluices, dams & basic hydraulic engineering — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt (canals, dams)
  83. Horse harness: bit, breastplate, early harness improvements — c. 2nd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Near East / steppe cultures (improved horse harnessing for chariots and riding)
  84. Compound bow (powerful laminated bows) — c. 2nd millennium–1st millennium BCE — Central Asian steppes (Scythians), Near East (composite bows)
  85. Mosaic art & tessellation techniques — c. 2000–1000 BCE — Mesopotamia, Aegean, later Greek cities (advanced mosaics predate Romans)
  86. Metallurgical alloys beyond bronze (e.g., arsenical bronze) — c. 4000–3000 BCE — Near East (arsenical bronze preceding tin bronze in some areas)
  87. Mechanical screw (Archimedes’ screw — water lifting) — c. 3rd century BCE — Hellenistic Egypt/Greece (Archimedes credited)
  88. Demonstrable geometry/theorems (formal Greek geometry) — c. 6th–3rd century BCE — Greek mathematicians (Thales, Pythagoras, Euclid later compile)
  89. Steam-powered device (aeolipile precursor concepts) — Hero of Alexandria — c. 1st century BCE–1st century CE (Hero’s work straddles 0 AD; some devices attributed to 1st century AD) — Hellenistic Egyptian/Greek engineering (note: many devices are around 1st century AD — still I include basic steam experiment roots in Hellenistic period)
  90. Public baths / organized bathing culture (large bathhouses) — c. 2000–500 BCE — Indus Valley (planned bathrooms), later Greek/Hellenistic public baths
  91. Ink (carbon and plant-based inks for writing) — c. 3000–2000 BCE — Egypt (carbon inks), China (early inks later refined)
  92. Bronze mirrors and polishing techniques — c. 3000–2000 BCE — China, Mesopotamia, Egypt
  93. Kiln technology for high-temperature firing (pottery & bricks) — c. 6000–3000 BCE — Near East, China (advanced kilns by Neolithic/Chalcolithic times)
  94. Bricks (sun-dried & fired bricks) and standardized brickmaking — c. 7000–3500 BCE — Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, Egypt
  95. Urban planning & grid city design (e.g., Mohenjo-Daro) — c. 2600–1900 BCE — Indus Valley Civilization (planned streets, drainage)
  96. Stone working: polished axes, adzes (Neolithic polishing) — c. 7000–4000 BCE — Neolithic cultures worldwide (Europe, Asia)
  97. Basketry and woven containers — c. 15,000–8000 BCE — global hunter-gatherer cultures (many origins)
  98. Composite materials in construction: bitumen mortars, plasters — c. 4th–3rd millennium BCE — Mesopotamia, Egypt (bitumen used for waterproofing and mortars)
  99. Cultural systems of education & schools (scribal schools) — c. 3rd millennium–2nd millennium BCE — Sumer, Egypt (temple/scribal schools)
  100. Ceremonial & organized religion structures (temples, priesthood administration) — c. 10,000–3000 BCE (formalized by 4th–3rd millennium BCE) — early complex societies (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Mesoamerica later)

It’s fascinating how ancient so many of these inventions or innovations are.

I then asked it to assess which of these were known to exist in Maori civilisation before Abel Tasman. Now this is ChatGPT so it may have some stuff wrong. But again very interesting to see in one list what was and wasn’t present.

  1. Control of fire — Yes. Fire used for cooking, warmth, craft.
  2. Stone tools (Acheulean handaxe tradition) — No (not that tradition). Māori used sophisticated Polynesian-style stone tools (adzes etc.), but Acheulean is palaeolithic African technology not relevant.
  3. Oldowan stone tools — No. (Deep Palaeolithic categories don’t apply; Māori used later Polynesian stone tool traditions.)
  4. Clothing (sewn or draped garments) — Yes. Cloaks (korowai) and garments made from harakeke (flax) and other fibres. Te Ara
  5. Language (complex spoken language) — Yes. Fully developed Polynesian language (te reo Māori).
  6. Controlled use of pigments / body decoration — Yes. Body paint (e.g., kiwi oil, pigments) and tattooing (tā moko). Te Ara
  7. Sewing (bone/antler needles) — Yes. Flax fibres were prepared and sewn/whatu techniques used (bone awls/tools for weaving). Te Ara
  8. Bow and arrow — No. Māori did not use bows and arrows pre-contact; hand-to-hand weapons dominated. Te Ara
  9. Fishing hooks / nets — Yes. Kupenga (nets), matau (hooks), hīnaki (eel traps), weirs and pots were widely used. Te Ara
  10. Pottery (earliest ceramic vessels) — No. Māori did not manufacture pottery in New Zealand (Lapita pottery existed earlier in Polynesia but the craft was lost before NZ settlement). Te Ara
  11. Domestication of dogs — Yes (introduced). Polynesian dogs (kurī) were brought to New Zealand by ancestors of Māori (they were present historically). Te Ara
  12. Natufian agriculture beginnings (wild cereal cultivation) — No. (Specific Near East development; not in Māori pre-contact context.)
  13. Agriculture / systematic farming (Neolithic Revolution) — Partial / different form. Māori practiced horticulture (particularly kūmara and other Polynesian crops) but not “Neolithic revolution” of the Fertile Crescent. Kūmara cultivation was a full horticultural system. Te Ara
  14. Animal domestication (sheep, goats, cattle, pigs) — No (these Old World domesticates were not present). Māori had kurī (dog) and kiore (Polynesian rat) introduced by ancestors; no domesticated ungulates pre-contact. Te Ara
  15. Permanent settlements / villages — Yes. Māori lived in permanent/seasonal settlements including pā (fortified villages). Wikipedia
  16. Masonry / dry-stone construction — Mostly No. Māori built earthworks (pā), terraces and stone fish-traps in places, but not large ashlar masonry like Old World civilizations. (Some stonework used for terraces, storage and fish-traps.) Facebook
  17. Plough (early ard ploughs / digging sticks) — No ploughs; planting used digging sticks (kopi/rau) and mounding methods for kūmara.
  18. Irrigation systems — No large irrigation networks; Māori horticulture used local gardening techniques (mounds, pits) rather than large engineered irrigation.
  19. Wheel (potter’s wheel) — No. Māori did not use wheels or wheeled vehicles pre-contact. (Transport was by waka/canoe and on foot.) Te Ara
  20. Vehicle wheels / wheeled carts — No. (See #19.)
  21. Sail (sailing boats) — Yes. Waka were sailed; Polynesian ancestors developed oceangoing sailing canoes/waka. Te Ara
  22. Bronze metallurgy (copper+tin alloys) — No. Māori did not practice smelting or metallurgy; worked stone, bone, shell and pounamu (greenstone) instead. Te Ara
  23. Metallurgy: copper smelting / working — No. (See #22.)
  24. Writing — cuneiform — No. Māori used rich oral traditions; there was no indigenous writing system in NZ pre-contact. Te Ara
  25. Hieroglyphic writing — No. (Same as #24.)
  26. Urbanism / first cities (state-level societies) — No. Māori had organized tribal societies and fortified pā but not cities on the Old World model. Wikipedia
  27. Standardized weights and measures — No formal minted system. Māori used customary measures and exchange (trade mechanisms), not standardized metal weights.
  28. Legal codes (early laws & administration) — Functionally Yes (customary law). Māori had tikanga and customary law enforced by rangatira/tohunga — not written codified law.
  29. Currency / commodity money (weighed metals) — No minted currency. Exchange used items of value (pounamu, feathers, food, service); trade and gifting systems (reciprocity).
  30. Sewage/drainage & urban sanitation — No large infrastructural sewage systems. Māori settlements used hygienic practices appropriate to their settlements; some drainage/earthworks at pā.
  31. Stone masonry with dressed blocks (ashlar) — No. (See #16.)
  32. Pyramid construction and large-scale stone monuments — No. (No pyramids; monumental carved whare (meeting houses) and earthworks/pā existed.)
  33. Papyrus (writing material) — No. (No papyrus; information recorded orally and on carvings, weaving, and other material culture.)
  34. Sundial / shadow clocks (timekeeping by sun) — No formal sundials; Māori tracked time by natural cycles (tide, moon phases, stars, seasons).
  35. Water clock (clepsydra) — No.
  36. Glassmaking (early beads & glass objects) — No glass manufacture. (Glass introduced later by Europeans; Māori used shell, bone, stone, obsidian/ Tūhua and pounamu.) Te Ara
  37. Alphabetic proto-writing — No. (See #24.)
  38. Phoenician alphabet (basis of modern alphabets) — No.
  39. Iron smelting (beginning of Iron Age) — No. Māori did not smelt iron; iron arrived after Europeans and quickly adopted. Wikipedia
  40. Cast iron / early high-temperature ironworking (China) — No.
  41. Horse domestication and chariotry — No. (No horses; Europeans later introduced horses.)
  42. Wheelbarrow (early single-wheel transports) — No. (No wheeled devices in pre-contact NZ.)
  43. Seaworthy keel and hull improvements (shipbuilding advances) — Yes. Polynesian waka had advanced hull forms and keels suited to Pacific voyaging; Māori built large waka taua. Te Ara+1
  44. Alchemy precursor techniques (calcination, distillation beginnings) — No documented alchemical practice;Māori used herbal knowledge and cooking/processing techniques.
  45. Paper precursor: papyrus / birch-bark / bamboo slips — No material analogue in NZ; Māori used barkcloth (tapa is an Oceania fabric but not widespread in NZ), carvings and woven panels for record/knowledge, and oral transmission.
  46. Calendar systems (lunisolar & solar calendars) — Yes (timekeeping by moon/tide/season). Māori had calendrical knowledge tied to lunar months and seasonal cycles (maramataka).
  47. Astronomy (systematic star charts, planetary observations) — Yes. Polynesian navigation and star knowledge were highly developed and used for voyaging. Te Ara
  48. Mathematics: positional number systems & arithmetic tables — No formal written number systems; complex practical counting and measurement systems existed orally.
  49. Geometry for surveying & construction — Yes (practical geometry). Skilled earthworks, terraces, and wharenui measurements show applied geometry.
  50. Surgical instruments & basic surgery (trepanation, wound care) — Yes (herbal medicine & surgical practice).Māori had tohunga rongoā and practised healing techniques and surgery (traditional remedies and practices).
  51. Brewing beer / fermented beverages — No brewing of cereal beers; fermented products were not a major part of Māori diet (some fermentation of plant foods may have occurred).
  52. Leavened bread & advanced baking — No. Māori cooking used roasting, steaming in hangi; no bread baking tradition pre-contact.
  53. Domesticated rice cultivation — No. (Rice is Old World; not present.)
  54. Silk production (sericulture) — No. (Silk not produced in NZ.)
  55. Iron ploughshare improvements — No iron/metal ploughs. Gardening used hand tools and digging sticks.
  56. Coinage (minted coins) — No. (See #29.)
  57. Alphabetic writing transmission to Greeks (Greek alphabet) — No.
  58. Acoustic architecture / amphitheatre design — No formal amphitheatres; Māori used meeting houses and natural amphitheatres for performance.
  59. Concrete-like mortars (early hydraulic cements) — No. (No large cement technology.)
  60. Road engineering / paved roads (planned routes) — No wheeled-road networks; there were well-worn paths and trackways; waka and waterways were primary transport. Te Ara
  61. Postal relay / mounted courier systems — No mounted couriers (no horses); messages and trade moved by foot and waka over established routes.
  62. Crossbow (early Chinese trigger-based weapons) — No.
  63. Casting (lost-wax bronze casting for statues & tools) — No bronze casting. Māori carved and shaped stone, bone and wood — no metal casting.
  64. Mass textile production (warp-weighted looms) — No looms; weaving done by finger-weaving and other hand methods using muka from harakeke. Te Ara
  65. Glassblowing — No. (Glass not produced.)
  66. Roadway surveying & civil engineering (arches, bridges) — Limited. Māori constructed causeways, bridges and pā earthworks but not large stone arches; local engineering adapted to landscape.
  67. Stirrup / true stirrup — No. (No horses or stirrups.)
  68. Decimal and numeration developments (e.g., Brahmi numerals precursors) — No written numerals; oral counting systems served needs.
  69. Surgical anaesthesia precursors (opium, mandrake, herbal sedatives) — Yes (herbal sedatives/rongoā). Māori used plant-based medicines and rituals in healing.
  70. Concrete domes and corbeling (early roofing techniques) — No. (Roofs of whare built with timber and thatch; corbelled stone tombs not a feature.)
  71. Harp / lyre / stringed instruments — Limited. Māori had musical instruments (flutes, conch, pūtātara/trumpets, percussion); stringed instruments were not a prominent pre-contact technology.
  72. Spherical / nautical navigation knowledge (star navigation) — Yes. Polynesian navigation traditions carried to New Zealand; celestial and ocean knowledge used. Te Ara
  73. Paper-like record systems: wax tablets & codices — No. (Oral tradition & carvings instead.)
  74. Acupuncture / early traditional medical systems (China) — No Chinese acupuncture; Māori had rongoā (traditional Māori medicine).
  75. Rudder (steering oar) — Yes (steering oar). Waka used steering oars and paddles. Te Ara
  76. Mechanical automata precursors — No. (No documented mechanical automata.)
  77. Concrete/ cement road paving in Mesopotamia/Egypt — No.
  78. Sophisticated shipbuilding: multi-deck / long-distance ships (Phoenicians) — Yes (ocean-going waka). Polynesian voyaging canoes were highly developed for long-distance travel. Te Ara
  79. Central heating precursor: hypocaust — No. (No hypocaust systems.)
  80. Tally sticks / accounting systems — Yes (oral & mnemonic systems). Resource rights and obligations were recorded orally and by physical tokens in some Pacific contexts; Māori used oral record and material culture for accounting.
  81. Glass mirrors (metal-backed glass / polished metal mirrors) — No. Polished shells and polished pounamu/stone used as reflective surfaces in some contexts.
  82. Sluices, dams & basic hydraulic engineering — Some small scale water management (e.g., eel traps, weirs and freshwater resource management) — Yes in specific contexts. Te Ara
  83. Horse harness: bit, breastplate, early harness improvements — No. (No horses.)
  84. Compound bow (laminated bows) — No. (See #8.)
  85. Mosaic art & tessellation techniques — No true stone mosaic tradition; decorative carving and patterned weaving were prominent.
  86. Metallurgical alloys beyond bronze (arsenical bronze) — No. (No smelting.)
  87. Mechanical screw (Archimedes’ screw) — No.
  88. Demonstrable geometry/theorems (formal Greek geometry) — No formal written geometry; practical geometric knowledge existed.
  89. Steam-powered device (aeolipile precursor concepts) — No.
  90. Public baths / organized bathing culture — Some communal bathing in streams/hot pools — Yes culturally, but not structured Roman-style baths.
  91. Ink (carbon and plant-based inks for writing) — No writing system; pigments were used for painting and tattooing. Te Ara
  92. Bronze mirrors and polishing techniques — No metal mirrors; polished stone/shell used.
  93. Kiln technology for high-temperature firing (pottery & bricks) — No pottery kilns in NZ (pottery absent). Te Ara
  94. Bricks (sun-dried & fired bricks) — No fired brick architecture.
  95. Urban planning & grid city design (e.g., Mohenjo-Daro) — No cities on that scale; well-planned pā and villages existed.
  96. Stone working: polished axes, adzes (Neolithic polishing) — Yes. Highly developed stone adze production (basalt, pounamu) and polishing traditions. Te Ara+1
  97. Basketry and woven containers — Yes. Raranga (weaving) for baskets, mats, ropes, garments from harakeke. Te Ara
  98. Composite materials in construction: bitumen mortars, plasters — No widespread use of bitumen mortars;wooden and thatch construction predominated.
  99. Cultural systems of education & schools (scribal schools) — Yes (oral schools). Tohunga and elder transmission, and training (e.g., navigation, carving, tohunga knowledge) — oral pedagogy rather than scribal schools.
  100. Ceremonial & organized religion structures (temples, priesthood administration) — Yes. Marae, waharoa, tohunga/priestly roles and ceremonial practices were central. Wikipedia

So of the 100 historic inventions or innovations, around 26 were present with Maori.

November 7, 2025 9:10am by Alwyn Poole

Bringing the benfits of Hamilton Island to the Far North – to benefit the whole country.

I have just had the privilege of spending a week on Hamilton Island off the north Queensland Coast. It was easy to get to – Auckland-Sydney-Hamilton Island (where 5 significant flights arrive every day).

It is a tiny place – 5km long by 3.5km wide. But the airport hosts planes with up to 300 passengers, the ferry from Airlie Beach is 45 minutes.

The hotels – we stayed at the Reef View – are high quality and very well serviced.

We ate at 10 different venues- every meal and all wait-staff were of high quality.

We took two boat trips. One was to Whitehaven Beach – which was beautiful re the fish life and the Monitor Lizards. The other was an all day adventure to a part of the Great Barrier Reef – where we snorkeled for 4 hours and had a superb time.

As a declaration of interests – I own three, very small, tourism businesses in the Bay of Islands.

My strong opinion is that NZ needs a SUN destination in the same way that Queenstown provides a Winter destination and is also working hard to be an all-year round venue.

The Far North is the poorest part of NZ with appalling education, NEET, employment and social welfare stats. A few rich (and semi-rich) people go to the Bay of Islands, buy some form of property and then try and make sure no one else arrives in paradise.

Here is a summary of what Hamilton Island means to the Queensland and Australian economy.

Simeon Brown and Chris Bishop have done some good work with proposed roading improvements to the Far North.

A much more significant improvement would be to make the Kerikeri Airport fully international and have flights coming in from Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, Singapore, Hong Kong – every day. In ten years Northland could go from the poorest to the wealthiest NZ province.

Alwyn Poole
[email protected]

November 7, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 07 November 2025

  

November 6, 2025 3:00pm by David Farrar

Didn’t cost taxpayers a cent

Radio NZ reports:

The long-delayed International Convention Centre in Auckland has formally been handed over to SkyCity several years behind schedule.

It marks a major milestone in a project, that when works began in 2015, was supposed to take 38 months.

“We’re delighted to finally have the keys,” SkyCity chief executive Jason Walbridge said.

The convention centre has not just taken extra time, it has also taken extra money.

Here’s the great thing – thanks to Steven Joyce the convention centre delays and cost blowouts have not cost taxpayers a cent. He worked out a deal where the private sector took all the risk.

So Auckland and New Zealand will benefit from having a dedicated convention centre that can attract global conventions – and no billion dollar bill for taxpayers!

November 6, 2025 11:00am by David Farrar

Science is back

The 2025 Marsden Fund grants have been announced, and finally they are now overwhelmingly going on hard science, rather than politics. I’ve updated my comparison table below.

20082017202320242025
Science88%80%72%73%92%
Humanities8%11%13%7%6%
Maori3%5%8%17%3%
Identity1%2%5%3%0%
Political0%3%2%1%0%

As the Royal Society got more woke, less and less went on science, and more on woke projects and the like. In 2023 and 2024, 1 in 4 grants went to non-science areas. Now with a new ministerial direction, this is down to 1 in 12.

This is why who makes up Government does matter. Here’s some of the great projects being funded that may have missed out previously for nonsense such as $360,000 to collect disabled indigenous stories about climate change!

  • Breaking the N₂ Barrier: Ion-Beam-Engineered Vanadium Oxynitrides for Ambient Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis
  • Combating drug resistance in cancers using shape-shifting inhibitors of DNA-mutating enzymes
  • Genetic and structural basis of antibiotic resistance spread: targeting a bacteria-bacteriophage partnership
  • Harnessing beneficial host-microbe interactions in the respiratory tract to improve infectious disease outcomes

We should thank Judith and Shane for getting science funding focused back on science!

November 6, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 06 November 2025

  

November 6, 2025 7:00am by David Farrar

Repeating a mantra without thought

Stuff reports:

Lal wants the same for others, including those with barriers to education: Māori and Pasifika peoples, women, people of colour, LGBTQI+ and disabled students.

Those on the left repeat slogans like this as a creed, and seem to ignore the reality. Oh certainly Maori and Pacifika have worse educational outcomes than others, but in no way do women. To the contrary here is how men do compared to women in education:

  • 11% less likely to get NCEA Level 1
  • 7% less likely to get NCEA Level 2
  • 14% less likely to get NCEA Level 3
  • 25% more likely to leave school with no qualifications
  • Twice as likely to be a high (special) needs student
  • 27% less likely to get UE
  • Three times more likely to be stood down, suspended
  • 5 times more likely to be excluded or expelled
  • 42% less likely to be in tertiary education
  • 36% less likely to obtain a diploma
  • 37% less likely to obtain a bachelors degree
  • 25% less likely to get Honours
  • 37% less likely to get Masters
  • 26% less likely to get a PhD

If these differences were the other way around, they would be the subject of media stories almost every week.

It is also very questionable if LGB NZers face significant barriers to tertiary education, as the data suggests twice as many LGB young people go to tertiary education than non LGB.

I’m all for reducing barriers to education, but they should be based on reality, not ideology.

For the avoidance of doubt, the abuse Aria Lal has received is disgusting, and something no-one should have to put up with.

November 5, 2025 3:00pm by David Farrar

A business leader on Luxon

Stuff reports:

But Ottrey had only positive things to say about the Prime Minister, remarking that Luxon – who used to lead Air New Zealand as chief executive – was “so great at engaging” with her team and and other businesspeople.

“He’s so great at engaging with all of the people that we have here, but also, he knows his business, and he knows what it is to help companies like us trade with the world. We need to do that in New Zealand because that’s our way to prosperity.”

Ottrey is also a business advisory councillor for APEC, the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit – this year hosted in South Korea – where Luxon spent the past few days. The event brings together leaders from nations on the Pacific rim, including the two largest economies: China and the United States.

While the size of New Zealand’s economy pales in comparison to those superpowers, Luxon managed to score face-time with the leaders of both countries. President Donald Trump even went so far as to tell reporters: “I like your man from New Zealand.”

Luxon also oversaw a relationship upgrade with the host nation, South Korea, which is currently New Zealand’s fifth largest trading partner. And while those sorts of deals involve a team of officials and don’t happen overnight, Ottrey gave Luxon’s administration credit.

“The way the Government is moving, increasing the number of bilateral and multilateral arrangements we have is really, really good for our businesses, because it gives us opportunities… and removes barriers to do businesses in those countries,” Ottrey told Stuff.

It’s a useful reminder that the PM has a very strong business background, and can use it to benefit New Zealand.

November 5, 2025 2:15pm by David Farrar

RIP Dick Cheney

The 46th Vice-President of the United States has died, aged 84. He was arguably the most powerful Vice-President in the history of the United States. This was partially because he had no interest in becoming President. If you look at all elected former VPs, you have:

  • Vance – will stand for President in 2028
  • Harris – stood for President in 2024
  • Pence – stood for President in 2024
  • Biden – stood for President in 2020
  • Gore – stood for President in 2000
  • Quayle – wanted to stand in 1996, bad had bad health
  • George HW Bush – stood for President in 1980 and 1988 and 1992
  • Mondale – stood in 1984
  • Agnew – disgraced
  • Humphrey – stood in 1968
  • LBJ – stood in 1964
  • Nixon – stood in 1960, 68 and 72
  • Truman – stood in 1948

His lack of ambition to be President is part of why Bush gave him so much authority. The rest was probably his background. He had been Chief of Staff to a President and Secretary of Defence to another.

He was probably more hated by the left than Bush. Many saw him as the power behind the throne. I used to joke that Bush was unlikely to be assassinated, because that would result in President Cheney.

He once joked he didn’t mind being called Darth Vader, as that was one of the nicer things Democrats called him.

November 5, 2025 11:00am by David Farrar

Fair appointments by Little

Andrew Little has announced his appointments for WCC. There are six Labour Crs, four Green Crs and six independents. Let’s look at how he has allocated things.

  • Deputy Mayor: Labour:
  • Committee Chairs: Labour 1, Greens 1, Independents 1
  • Subcommittee Chairs: Independents 3, Greens 1
  • Committee Deputy Chairs: Labour 2, Independents 1
  • Subcommittee Deputy Chairs: Labour 2, Independents 2

Not much to criticise there. Seems to be a good start that he wants to unite, not divide. I also like that the appointments are only for 18 months, so that he can shuffle around if things are not working.

He’s also put a stop to the nonsense of fencing off the ocean, so again a good start.

November 5, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 05 November 2025

  

November 5, 2025 7:00am by David Farrar

She could have got him killed

The Herald reports:

A rookie constable leaked police intelligence to her gang member boyfriend shortly after starting her new career, the Herald can reveal. …

Knowing her boyfriend’s gang affiliation, Smith sent him the name of someone she described as a “snitch”.

She had arrested someone for minor traffic and theft offences in August 2022. 

After transporting him to the police station, Smith sat in on an intelligence-gathering interview conducted by one of her colleagues.

During the interview, the suspect disclosed the addresses of properties in west Auckland that he believed were being used to manufacture drugs.

After the meeting, Smith messaged her Killer Beez boyfriend and disclosed the identity of the “snitch” she had arrested.

“His name’s [redacted] he was giving intel at work … names of some cook houses out west,” Smith wrote in a message.

This is incredibly serious. Revealing the identity of a snitch to a gang member could result in the snitch being wounded or killed. She should face serious criminal consequences for what she did.

November 4, 2025 3:00pm by David Farrar

The sociopathic president gets sacked

The Herald reports:

The Oxford Union is, in its own estimation, “the world’s most prestigious debating society”, where international guests and speakers have sat for pointed interviews and stood for lively debate in its hallowed halls since 1823.

Guests have included Bernie Sanders, Ronald Reagan, Ricky Gervais, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein and Michael Jackson – and, just this May, Charlie Kirk, the firebrand conservative American activist who was killed in September.

Today, the Oxford Union president-elect, a 20-year-old student who appeared to celebrate Kirk’s killing, has been removed from office. 

He lost a confidence vote that has drawn attention among student members and thousands of alumni from around the world who are eligible to cast ballots by proxy.

Sky News reports that 501 voters had confidence in George Abaraonye, while 1228 wanted to remove him.

Pleased to see Oxford Union members know right from wrong.

What was shocking about Abaraonye’s reaction is that Kirk wasn’t some unknown political figure to him. He had actually met and debated Kirk at Oxford just a few months earlier. I can understand (but still condemn) such a reaction in response to the shooting of a stranger whose politics you disagree with, but you almost have to be a sociopath to have actually met someone, had a very civil debate with them, and them instinctively celebrate the fact they have been shot.

November 4, 2025 11:00am by David Farrar

Dave Armstrong on the dysfunctional parties of the left

Dave Armstrong writes:

Meanwhile, who would have predicted the tumult on the left? Labour has largely avoided controversy, helped by having a safe, if unspectacular, pair of hands in the form of Chris Hipkins – and no new policy to bicker about. But the Greens and Te Pāti Māori are starting to look like models of dysfunction.

Greens have lost one third of their caucus in under two years, and Te Pati Maori are trying to deselect some of their own MPs.

Hipkins will be hoping things get so bad for the coalition that Labour and the Greens get the required number of seats to govern without TPM.

He can hope for that, but 0 out of 67 polls since the election have shown that as possible.

The problem for Labour will be the scaremongering tactics the right will use if Labour suggests working with TPM. Peters and Seymour are masters of stirring up anti-Māori sentiment, as we have seen this term.

Here Armstrong conflates things. Being anti-TPM is not being anti-Maori. TPM do not speak for all, or even most Maori.

November 4, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 04 November 2025

  

November 4, 2025 7:00am by David Farrar

Hope for Wellington

The Post reports:

Two long-discussed Wellington roading projects — worth a combined $6.4 billion — have taken a major step forward, with investment cases signed off and fast-tracking confirmed.

Newly released plans show the Wellington tunnels project – which includes a second Mr Victoria tunnel – is expected to cost up to $3.8b and a new Petone to Grenada highway $2.6b.

Four lanes for both tunnels will make sure a huge difference in Wellington. And a direct link between Petone and the Northern Suburbs will also be massive.

But the catch is you’re likely to have to pay for it.

The investment cases for the high-profile projects included them being toll roads. Bishop also said congestion charging was on the table.

Great – we should pay for it. When it takes me an hour to get from Kilbirnie to Johnsonville, I’d happily pay $10 to make it less than half an hour. Hell I’d pay $30.

November 3, 2025 3:34pm by David Farrar

The TPM putsch is on

Back on September 12 I blogged:

Reliable sources tell me this is much bigger than I realised. There is a huge split in TPM, basically between the Tamihere aligned MPs and the rest. I have been told that some existing MPs are facing deselection, and that this is behind what we are seeing with the Whip sacked and Ferris defying the co-leaders.

This was some weeks before the infighting went public. My reliable sources were indeed reliable.

The latest is:

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere is suggesting two of the party’s MPs should resign as he accuses them of “greed, avarice and entitlement”. 

In a social media post this afternoon, Tamihere names Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Te Tai Tonga MP Tākuta Ferris as seeking to challenge for the party’s leadership.

This is something that is called democracy in most parties. However TPM is different in that they have four leadership positions – two co-leaders, the president and the general manager. Three of those four are held by Tamihere family members – Tamihere, his daughter and his son-in-law.

He urges them to do the “honourable thing”, which he likens to Hone Harawira’s 2011 split from the Māori Party. 

“I guarantee Kapa-Kingi and Ferris will not do the same thing because their conduct is not based on mana, is not based on integrity and honesty or on principle. Their conduct is based on greed, avarice and entitlement.”

This from the guys whose charitable senior management team get an average salary of $500,000!!

I remind people yet agains that every single poll since the election has shown the only way Chris Hipkins could form Government is with the support of Te Pati Maori.

November 3, 2025 3:00pm by David Farrar

Yardley says abolish the BSA

Mike Yardley writes:

As someone who has worked in broadcasting for over 30 years — and has admittedly been the subject of several failed complaints to the BSA — I believe it has had its day. It should be abolished.

Alternatively, perhaps it should fold its tent and transfer oversight of broadcasting standards to the Media Council. This self-regulatory body is funded by its industry members.

This is my preferred model. One industry led self-regulatory body for all media. No appointments by Government.

the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has surely bitten off more than it can chew by trying to broaden its remit.

With so much media content shifting to newer platforms, far beyond terrestrial and satellite television bands and AM/FM radio frequencies, the BSA is in a battle for its survival. Its authority is steadily diminishing, and this taxpayer-funded entity is facing an existential struggle to remain relevant.

But to try and argue that it has jurisdiction over digital-only content such as Sean Plunket’s The Platform is absolute over-reach.

It is huge over-reach.

November 3, 2025 11:00am by David Farrar

They forgot the price tag!

Radio NZ reports:

Hipkins bristled at questions over why neither the policy document, nor accompanying media release, included any figures – including the $200m capital injection later announced by finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds.

“It was certainly in earlier materials. So I think it was just simply an oversight that it wasn’t contained in the press statement.

“As you would have seen, Barbara mentioned it in her introductory remarks, so it was clearly part of the announcement we made on Monday.”

Pressed over how that occurred, Hipkins suggested reporters were overreacting: “Oh, don’t be so lazy. We’re not gonna provide everything to you in advance, and have you not bother to show up to the announcement.”

So they forgot to include the $200 million cost in both the policy and the press release. Or they didn’t forget, and it was made up on the spot. Mickey Mouse either way.

I’ve been thinking more about how it will play out on the basis that this is not to be a maximise wealth fund, but a must be invested in NZ companies we approve of fund. Here’s how it will go.

  • Labour previously had procurement rules that contracts are preferred to companies with a Maori or Pacific owner. So the ethnicity of the owners will no doubt be a criteria for the fund.
  • The Greens will insist the fund can only invest in industries they approve of, and not in any company that produces greenhouse gas emissions (which is almost all of them)
  • Te Pati Maori will insist that the fund only invest in companies that agree with their interpretation of the Treaty of Waitangi

I suspect you’d end up getting a better return sticking the money in a term deposit!

November 3, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 03 November 2025

  

November 3, 2025 7:00am by David Farrar

A win for sanity in the UK

Stuff reports:

Britain’s biggest police force has announced it will no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents.

The Metropolitan Police said it hoped the move would provide a “clearer direction for officers”, allowing them to focus on criminal investigations.

The force said incidents would still be recorded for intelligence purposes but officers would not get involved in “policing toxic culture war debates”.

The announcement came after Graham Linehan, the comedy writer who was arrested at Heathrow by five armed officers over messages posted on social media, was told he would face no further action.

Both are very good things.

The Police should only investigate crimes, not hurt feelings.

And you should only be arrested for a tweet if it is seriously threatening violence against an individual.

November 2, 2025 3:00pm by David Farrar

What labour wants to stop

Radio NZ reports:

A high school offering traditional activities and languages for Pasifika girls will open its doors to 120 students in Term 1 next year.

Sisters United Academy, sponsored by Auckland youth organisation Sisters United, is one of the latest charter schools to be announced by the coalition.

It will teach students in years 9 to13, with those in years 12 and 13 offered flexible combinations of classroom learning, internships, tertiary study, overseas opportunities, or work experience.

Sisters United co-founder Kendal Collins said the new school would be a game changer for her community.

“It’s really a future focused school for our girls and Pasifika-led and culture-centered, so the students learn through their culture, their storytelling, it’s through the language.

“Each girl gets to learn their heritage language through the school and it’s not just an add on. The culture is embedded into every subject that they learn. It’s very personalised.” …

“This is something that’s been needed within our community for so long now and this charter school opportunity is the perfect way to really show that our kids need to learn in a different way and that these different schools that are coming out, is such a blessing because not everybody suits the mainstream system.

“Our goal is to create an environment where our girls are so excited to turn up everyday because they love what they’re learning, they love who they’re learning with and they love the teachers who are teaching them.”

Labour and Greens are vowing to close down all charter schools. They don’t want this flexibility in the state education system. They want such flexibility to only be available in expensive private schools with huge fees.

November 2, 2025 11:00am by David Farrar

A fascinating survey of West Bank Palestinians

Some reasons for optimism and pessimism in the poll of Palestinians in the West Bank.

  • Only 26% support and 46% oppose what Hamas did on 7 October 2023
  • Only 31% support kidnapping of civilians and 57% oppose
  • 52% support a two state solution, 28% support a Palestine covering Israel with no Jews and 16% support a single state with Jews and Palestinians.
  • Support for a possible two state solution rises to 75% when given details
  • However 56% believe Israel has no right to exist.
  • 43% support negotiations, 25% non violent resistance and 17% armed struggle
  • 39% wants Gaza governed by a Fatah-Hamas coalition, 24% by the Palestinian Authority, 17% a technocratic government and 8% Hamas

There are real differences of opinion between Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. One shouldn’t think of them as a monolithic bloc. In East Jerusalem more Palestinians want Israeli citizenship than Palestinian for example.

November 2, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 02 November 2025

  

November 2, 2025 7:00am by David Farrar

Postal voting is very insecure

The Spinoff reports:

Over in Papatoetoe in the south of the city, police are investigating alleged election fraud after a surprise result that saw every member of a new political ticket elected in a landslide. The vote counts in the suburb stand out. Whereas turnout slumped almost everywhere else in the city, including next door Ōtara, in Papatoetoe, it rose by 7%. Incumbent board members received roughly the same number of votes that saw them elected comfortably in 2022. But they were beaten soundly by all four members of the Papatoetoe-Otara Action Team, who were all voted onto the board by 1,000-plus vote margins over their nearest rivals.

It’s possible the team simply ran the best local campaign in recent memory. Their opponents don’t think so though. They’re making a range of allegations, including that voting papers were stolen from people’s letterboxes. Labour candidates have obtained signed statements from voters who say they never received their papers, but were still recorded as having voted. Complaints have also been lodged over people allegedly being instructed on how to vote inside polling booths and at a Sikh temple. Police again say their investigation is in its “very early” stages.

I have no idea if there was fraud in that election, but I will say that postal voting is very very insecure, and much more open to fraud than other methods – including Internet voting.

You can indeed take hundreds or even thousands of postal voting papers from letterboxes, open them, fill them in, send them to the Returning Officer, and there are no checks. The person whose ballot papers they are doesn’t get notified that a vote has been cast on their behalf. It is only if they check, does the fraud get detected.

So again I have no idea what happened in that board election, but postal voting fraud is very easy to do, quite hard to detect and even harder to prove who is responsible. If you do detect multiple votes all for the same candidate, that is not enough to prove it is them behind it. You would need physical proof such as fingerprints or DNA on voting papers, handwriting analysis (hard just for ticks) or CCTV footage of someone grabbing voting papers from letterboxes or putting large numbers into a NZ Post letterbox.

One easy anti fraud measure would be to have the Returning Officer e-mail a resident once their voting paper has been received. Most people have provided an e-mail address to the Electoral Commission, and a simple law change could allow it to be used to notify people their vote has been received. This would allow people early on to alert the Returning Officer that someone has voted on their behalf.