The proposal of Otago Regional Council (ORC) senior staff to give local iwi two
(2) voting and paid seats on the ORC’s powerful policy committee, “is so
privileged, and so obviously racist, that it calls into question the
fundamental principles of democracy in Otago.”
On this Wednesday,
15 May 2019, the ORC will receive a senior executive management paper that
recommends that two positions on the council’s policy committee be reserved exclusively
for iwi (read Otakau runanga) representatives; that they be accorded full
speaking and voting rights; that they be paid on the same pro rata basis as
elected councillors; and that those positions be appointed by the local runanga
and sit on the very next ORC policy committee meeting.
“It’s an extraordinary assault upon democracy. It is a recommendation that embraces all the PC nonsense of our age but misrepresents both logic and
law in advancing such racial privilege.”
Cr Laws said that
the council “has only just received a secret report that outlines potential
illegalities in our resource consent processes, by privileging three groups –
local iwi, DOC and Fish and Game. Now, ORC wants to extend that privilege to
just one of those groups – and have them both make the council’s policy and
also be a central player in the processes that challenge such. It is an
absurdity.”
“Whatever
injustice Maori might have received in the past, can’t be corrected by
empowering their descendants to have additional powers and privileges, that are
simply unavailable to the ordinary Otago person.
And the greatest
irony is that this privilege is denied not only all Pakeha in Otago, all Asian
and Pasifikia folk, all other races and cultures, but also all non-iwi (Kai
Tahu) Maori. It’s a backdoor way of getting not Maori wards, but iwi-only
wards.
And no Otago
ratepayer or resident will get a say on that, unlike on whether we should have
Maori wards on the council.”
Cr Laws said that
the “abuse of process here, is breath-taking.”
“There’s a
financial cost to this policy. Was it put in the council’s annual plan for
public submissions and consultation? It was not. This has been presented to
council as a fait accompli.
“It is a decision
specifically designed to shut out every Otago person from sharing their
thoughts and their input.”
“It’s obvious that the ORC’s senior governance team – chairman Stephen Woodhead and deputy chair Gretchen Robertson – are a party to this staff recommendation. They see it as fostering Council-iwi relationships. There are a thousand and one ways of fostering a relationship. Offending every principle of democratic representation, is not one of them.”
Writer and former broadcaster Michael Laws, who served as an MP and
Mayor, is now a councillor on the Otago Regional Council.
7 comments:
IWI Government for N.Z.
All Councils will eventually bow down to the demand by IWI to UNELECTED MAORI APPOINTED REPRESENTATIVES WITH FULL RIGHTS ETC.
The realty of this is now well on the way to becoming universal in N.Z.
Very shortly a Hate Speech law written by a left wing activist will be firmly in place. Like many first and third world nations freedom of speech/articles/blogs/comments will vanish under a state censorship.
This action is another thrust by the rabid leftists to gain absolute power; it is directly out of the Neo Marist agenda.
The Maori Sovereignty movement of a 50/50 sharing of power will develop slowly, but surely, into a final Iwi domination of this country.
Impossible? Go back just a decade, and try to find any Councillors amd/or people, who would then have supported UNELECTED IWI representatives onto Local Bodies. It is the new Apartheid.
This begs the question! Just where did this all eventuate from, and what gave it this impetus? The answer is it came from us, when we voted in a new electoral system; one that will be instrumental of being “Representative of Minority views” called MMP.
If that was not enough, we also agreed to nearly half of our politicians being APPOINTED to Parliament were they became subject, not to the people, but to their party.
It was a critical removal of the democratic right to accept the citizen’s right to elect their choice of candidate for Parliament.
It fundamentally altered our voting system, and one which basically put the first nail into the coffin of elective Democracy.
The second nail in the coffin was the signing of the U.N. Declaration of Indigenous Rights. A political weapon that Iwi must have considered a gift, so vital is it to their aim of an all IWI Maori State (albeit the first).
The third nail is the act by consecutive governments to accede to the perennial financial demands for reparations (Blackmail) by Maori.
Local Body Councillors are capitulating to threats and intimidation and fear to allow unelected Iwi members onto Councils. Surely the majority of Ratepayers should have a voice in such a change?
It seems strange that the settlers who arrived in New Zealand; so brave and resolute in turning a savage tribal war ravaged hard land, into one of best and finest democracies on this planet.
Now their descendants are all too ready to surrender those hard won Western Civilisation freedoms, by hammering the final nails into New Zealand’s democratic coffin.
Brian
This decision was a blatant gerrymander, specifically designed to circumvent the provisions of the Local Government Act. The fact that the proposal wasn't put to public submission and consultation, let alone a referendum, strongly suggests that its backers were keenly aware of the lack of wider public support for it.
This nation desperately needs a reset, to prevent it from continuing to slide into a state of neo-apartheid. Democracy is founded on free and fair election to public office: the patronage, nepotism, graft and corruption that accompany the appointment, rather than election, of political representatives - whether on the basis of race or other demographic specifics - will ultimately destroy this country, if left unchecked. Do we have any politicians with the stomach to grasp the nettle? Sadly, I can see none.
I sent an email to all Councillors the only reply went like this:Dear Michael Deaker,
Please vote against include voting tribal appointees on the council’s policy committee.
As the head of a family which has 23 with part-maori ancestry, we believe that this is a backward step, anti-democracy, and will perpetuate the growing division in New Zealand, where we pride ourselves on all people being equal under the law. It also breaches the true and essential intent of the Treaty of Waitangi, which made all of us equal under the law at the time. We also believe that it helps perpetuate the use of tribalism to get special treatment, tribalism being totally anti democratic in the way it works. We know that from our knowledge of how our tribe (Ngati Kahungunu ) works. It is hierachical, and anti the rest of the community that has no maori ancestors.
Your sincerely
Cr Michael Deaker: Thank you Hone. I do not agree with you. M.
My reply:Thanks for responding. Your personal bias should be irrelevant, it should be the will of the majority of your constituents which should apply. Your appointed tribal appointees of course do not have to abide by this, they can apply their own personal self interest whenever they like, which they will.Sadly many Councils around the country do not understand the meaning of democracy.
I support Michael Laws statement if people who are wanting to be maori want to get on any council seat should put there name forward to stand as the treaty says which Maori signed that we are one, people of Otago need to vote against apartheid
Ian Brougham
This anti democratic way of getting Unelected iwi members on to councils seems to be happening all over New Zealand and is a very worrying feature for the future of our country the pc brigade has allowed this to happen and it will only get worse.
I too am in total agreement with Michael Laws view on affront to the basic principles of democracy in the Otago Regional Councils proposed appointment of two Maori councilors. It makes no difference if the proposed councilors are of any race, they must be elected by the public to gain a normal seat, not added to the council numbers between elections. After all, the existing members costs and elections were and are paid for by the public!
Why have proper elections? My understanding is that they are part and parcel of a democratic society, we must ensure it does not get surreptitiously eroded!
Ian Boot.
John Key, the Pied Piper of Aotearoa sold his people down the drain.
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