ACT is condemning Creative NZ's decision to award $60,000 to so-called poet Tusiata Avia.

“Creative NZ has decided it wasn’t enough to just fund a stage show based on Tusiata Avia’s work – they’ve now handed her a $60,000 personal award for her racist rants," says ACT Arts, Culture and Heritage spokesman Todd Stephenson.

"The council members who approved this sick, sick decision do a serious disservice to the awards’ other winners who will presumably now have to share a stage with a notorious racist. They need to review their process to ensure that taxpayer money is no longer used to support race-baiting.

“In her recent book, The Savage Coloniser, Avia makes the case for violent, vigilante justice to be dealt out against individuals based on their whiteness. The book is about murdering James Cook, his descendants, and white people like him.

“Tusiata Avia’s so-called poems are hateful diatribes, and while ACT recognises there may be a therapeutic value in allowing her to publish her nastiest thoughts, we don’t think taxpayers should be made complicit in sowing racial division.

“With a new Government looking to make spending cuts at low-value departments, Creative NZ is tempting fate.

“Don’t take it from me, read her poetry yourself. It’s my sincere hope that the media will print this excerpt from The Savage Coloniser in full so that taxpayers can see exactly what kind of racist vitriol they’re funding.”

Hey James,
yeah, you
in the white wig
in that big Endeavour
sailing the blue, blue water
like a big arsehole
F… YOU, BITCH.
James,
I heard someone
shoved a knife
right up
into the gap between
your white ribs
at Kealakekua Bay.
I’m gonna go there
make a big Makahiki luau
cook a white pig
feed it to the dogs
and F… YOU UP, BITCH.
Hey James,
it’s us.
These days
we’re driving round
in SUVs
looking for ya
or white men like you
who might be thieves
or rapists
or kidnappers
or murderers
yeah, or any of your descendants
or any of your incarnations
cos, you know
ay, bitch?
We’re gonna F… YOU UP.
Tonight, James,
it’s me
Lani, Danielle
and a car full of brown girls
we find you
on the corner
of the Justice Precinct.
You’ve got another woman
in a headlock
and I’ve got my father’s
pig-hunting knife
in my fist
and we’re coming to get you
sailing round
in your Resolution
your Friendship
your Discovery
and your f…ing Freelove.
Watch your ribs, James
cos, I’m coming with
Kalaniōpu‘u
Kānekapōlei
Kana‘ina
Keawe‘ōpala
Kūka‘ilimoku
who is a god
and Nua‘a
who is king with a knife.
And then
James,
then
we’re gonna
F….
YOU.
UP.
FOR.
GOOD.
BITCH

© Scoop Media