Plucked from virtual obscurity by then-Prime Minster John Key completely off his own bat Patsy Reddy became Governor General from September 28, 2016, just before Key rode off into the sunset. She was a Brierley Investments corporate acquisitions specialist, then spy agency reviewer then a well-paid lead negotiator for the Crown.

Her recent Waitangi Day speech was appalling mainly because it revealed a disturbing lack of accurate historical knowledge on the subject canvassed - there is for starters no English Treaty only the legitimate Tiriti o Waitangi Maori text almost certainly drafted from the English ‘Littlewood Draft' that currently gathers dust in Archives New Zealand.

Certainly neither partnership nor principles are stated in the Treaty. As Governor General Dame Patsy seems blissfully unaware that her job as the Sovereign's representative - a mainly ceremonial role - requires her to act in an impartial manner. She has no mandate from the New Zealand public to get involved in contentious political and racial issues or debates. With the Waitangi speech she clearly overstepped the mark and if her intention was to promote racial divisiveness, disharmony and discontent then she succeeded.

Separatism and race-based privilege can have no place in NZ and those in high places lending credence to this nonsense need to be reined in. Incidentally, Winston Peters' speech ‘The Treaty as it was and should be' delivered at Paihia on February 3, 2017, is much closer to reality.

R Paterson, Matapihi.