In late April 2024, Wellington School of Business and Government was honoured to host Distinguished Professor Dame Anne Salmond to deliver the Sir Frank Holmes Memorial Lecture in Policy Studies. Examining how Te Tiriti o Waitangi and democracy can work together and drawing on global studies of cross-cultural relations in nation states, Dame Anne, Professor of Māori Studies and Anthropology, and a former Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Equal Opportunity) at the University of Auckland, drew on her own research, and that of her peers. She took the audience through a timeline that moved from the democracy that existed before the signing of Te Tiriti through the land wars, the right for all in New Zealand to vote, and to the current day questions around what a fair, wise, and just government might look like: one that has the best interests of all New Zealanders at heart and in mind, and ignores the trap of “Pernicious Polarisation.” Over 150 people sat with every word Dame Anne offered, many questions were answered, with many more arising as a result of the thought-provoking, empathic, and all-encompassing public lecture.