Based on her research and writing, Salmond has frequently commented about cultural interactions in New Zealand. In the Otago Daily Times, in 2019 she stated: "White supremacy is a black strand woven through our history as a nation", but that at the time of early arrivals to Aotearoa there were "ideas of justice and kindness, equality and mutual respect." She later re-examined the narrative around the landing of Captain Cook in New Zealand in October 1769 and noted that while there were clearly casualties inflicted on local Māori that could have been avoided, there was evidence that Cook was not a "white supremacist, contemptuous of Māori and willing to kill them at random." This conclusion was challenged by academics who said that her approach had been too "frugal with the concept of white supremacy", rather than using it as an analytical framework for "understanding colonialism...and the part that individuals play in perpetuating that system." Salmond responded and disputed that the Doctrine of Discovery was uncontested at the time and that prior to leaving, conflicting instructions were given to Cook. One set said he was to show respect to the "Natives of several lands where the Ship may touch...[and]...no European Nation has a right to occupy any part of their country or settle among them without their voluntary consent", and another said he was to be civil to peoples he encountered, but, "with the consent of the natives, to take possession of convenient situations in the country in the name of the King of Great Britain." Salmond noted that in his journal, Cook admitted to an "error of judgement."
