KAIPARA SAYS NO
The Kaipara District Council has
voted to disestablish its Māori ward. It
is only one of two councils to do so.
Kaipara’s Māori ward will be gone
at the end of the current term. Councillors voted 6 to 3 to disestablish the Māori
ward, and it is not hard to see why. The council's own Māori ward councillor
demonstrated the ugly side of Maori activism. Cr Paniora disrupted the meeting
continuously, and clearly set out with an intention to do so. During the
meeting, she opened up an external door to allow entry for a very loud wide-eyed
wahine wearing a Palestinian scarf. The disrupter was manhandled out by Police who
formed a line to prevent Cr Paniora from repeating her nonsense.
Ironically just days earlier Cr
Paniora told Michael Laws in an interview on the Platform that she expects to
win a general seat at next year’s local body election. That begs the question –
then why do you need a reserved Māori seat? Answer: You don’t.
Voting for disestablishing the Māori
ward were Mayor Jepson, and Crs Larsen, Howard, Lambeth, Manderson, and Nayar.
Against were Crs Paniora, Vincent,
and Wilson-Collins. (Cr Williams abstained.)
WDC SAYS YES
In contrast to the Kaipara
decision, the Whangarei District Council voted down a motion to disestablish
the Māori ward 9 votes to 4.
Also in contrast to the Kaipara
meeting, the assembled activists showing support for Māori wards were
respectful and orderly (probably because the outcome was fully expected).
Those who voted against
disestablishing the Māori ward were: Mayor Cocurullo, and Crs Halse, Couper,
McKenzie, Harding, Ruka, Holmes, Peters, and Connop. (Cr Benny was absent but
had previously supported Māori wards.)
Voting against having a Māori
ward were Crs Golightly, Reid, Olsen, and Yovich.
Further details of the Kaipara
and Whangarei meetings have been published on https://letterbox-nz.blogspot.com.
NRC SAYS YES
In a near-unanimous decision, the
NRC has voted to retain its Māori ward. In favour were Crs Crawford, Craw,
Lucas Jones, Macdonald, Robinson and Stolwerk. Cr Blackwell voted against.
During the meeting, Tui Shortland
challenged the government's right to require councils to give voters the final
say on the matter. That was supported by Crs Macdonald, Jones, Shortland, Craw,
Robinson and Stolwerk. One wonders how much ratepayer money will be wasted obtaining
a voluminous legal opinion to explain to these councillors that Parliament is
sovereign and higher up the pecking order than they are. Presumably, activist councillors
like Tui Shortland will dispute the sovereignty of the Crown.
The Minister of Local Government
has not said what the consequences would be if a council refuses to hold a
referendum but it is highly likely that the council would be replaced with government-appointed
commissioners. That is a reasonable response to councils that act in such a
defiant and unlawful manner.
What is remarkable is how little
respect NRC councillors have for the democratic process. Most seem to hold the
view that electors should NOT have a say about how their representatives are
elected. Both the current and the previous council have actively sought to
exclude the public from having a say on Māori wards.
THE PUBLIC WILL DECIDE
It is the public, not
anti-democratic councillors, who will have the final say about Māori wards. The
binding referendums will be held at the same time as the local body elections
in October next year. That means the people will determine whether they want Māori
wards on their council.
The question is, will the
mainstream media allow both sides of the issue to be debated? In 2021, local
media refused paid advertising of the petition form from Democracy Northland calling
for a referendum to be held on Māori wards, despite the law at the time permitting
the public to do so.
Recently, NZME refused to
run a paid advertisement by Hobson’s Pledge and said it was reviewing its
advocacy advertising policy after coming under pressure from activists,
including a Māori news agency.
For that reason, having
publications like LETTERBOX will be more important than ever.
The good thing to come from the
WDC and NRC meetings is there is now a clear line in the sand defining those
who support Māori wards and those who don’t.
Next year’s local body election
will be a critical moment for the future of local government. Not only will the
public have the final say about Māori wards, but the public will have a say on
whether they want to re-elect activist councillors that want to deny the
public their right to have a say.
