Community leaders are calling for restraint after controversial church leader Brian Tamaki’s racial tirade against Indian migrants in the last few days.
In a Facebook live on October 11, 2024, the leader of Destiny Church, known for its far-right provocative worldview, described the immigration of Indians to New Zealand as an “invasion”. The video had garnered more than 26,000 views as of midday October 15, with at least 680 reactions and more than 300 people commenting.
Tamaki opens the nearly 13-minute-long video by saying: “I want to talk about two things I believe are important from the latest census data: India and Islam. That’s right, both start with 'I,' and the other 'I' I could add is 'invasion'.”
Filming himself walking through a scenic backdrop, Tamaki discusses the growing Indian population in New Zealand. According to the 2023 Census, the Indian community has overtaken the Chinese population to become the third-largest ethnic group, with 292,092 people identifying as Indian—a 22 per cent increase since 2018.
Facebook post by Brian Tamaki
Tamaki expresses concerns over Indians dominating various sectors, including petrol stations, restaurants, trucking, and the logging industry. “They are everywhere and anywhere.”
Indian community leader Jeet Suchdev expressed his frustration over the social posts that have now become part of the distressing discussions among Indian community.
“This is unacceptable. Such defamatory and discriminatory statements being said about the Indian community is very surprising in a country like New Zealand,” Suchdev told The Indian Weekender.
He urged the government to take action against such “hate speeches”. “Today Tamaki is talking about removing Indians, tomorrow he might talk about removing other ethnic communities from the country.”
Despite his remarks, Tamaki in his video insists he wasn’t being racist. “I’ve got some very good Indian friends.”
Tamaki further accused Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of encouraging an Indian "invasion" through immigration policies. His rant comes just days after Luxon met with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a summit in Laos.
“We are losing this country, and if we don't stand up and get New Zealand back, you know, what is it worth that we're going to give our children, a country that is India or a country that is China or Islam as the major religion of the day and New Zealand will not be recognisable”
Formed in 1998, Destiny Church was founded by Tamaki in a small garage in Auckland's Pakuranga. In the mid to late 2000s there were claims Destiny Church had close to 10,000 members and followers.
Last week on October 10, Tamaki posted on Facebook opposing the Shri Hanuman Youth Centre Project, which is currently seeking investors.
“We need to urgently ban the building of all mosques, temples, shrines,and idols in NZ! Too many have already slipped through!” he wrote.
He also criticised the construction of a 40-foot Hanuman statue at the Hindu Youth Centre near Auckland, asking, “Can you believe it? Are you outraged?”
Vinay Karanam, Regional Coordinator HOTA (Hindu Organisations Temples and Associations) stated that New Zealand has long been celebrated as a multicultural, multiracial, multilingual, and multifaith society, embodying true pluralism.
“These kind of videos and statements that promotes division contradicts the core values of Kiwi mana and mātāpono”.
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