Then, former Labour minister Nanaia Mahuta introduced retrospective legislation in February 2021, deliberately pre-dating our petition and invalidating it. This prevented our community from exercising its lawful and democratic right.
No doubt the people of Kaipara would have resoundingly rejected the introduction of Māori wards had they not been muzzled from doing so. Mahuta’s actions suggest she, too, knew what the outcome would be.
Māori do not need racially designated wards to ensure council representation. Māori had better representation in the 2019-22 council (two councillors out of nine, or 22%) than they do now. That was achieved without a Māori ward.
My critics say that by removing the Māori ward we are not fulfilling Treaty obligations to Māori. That is incorrect.
Māori are fully able to engage in the processes of local government and have an absolutely equal chance of capturing votes in council elections. Democracy is more genuinely enacted when Māori and all our community unite to elect the best person, regardless of race, to represent the interests of all ratepayers fairly and equally.
It is condescending to Māori to claim that somehow, they are not good enough to be elected on their own merits in a general ward.
All members of our community should have an opportunity to stand for office on equal footing. If you are the best candidate, you will be elected – something that has been demonstrated by (Māori) mayors Tapsell (Rotorua), Whanau (Wellington) and Tepania (Far North), and by a great many elected members who identify as Māori in councils up and down the country.
The call for Māori wards relies on the false narrative that Māori have no voice and are unfairly disadvantaged and oppressed.
Most Kiwis, and indeed most Māori, know that this narrative is false. Which is why few vote in the Māori ward or for the likes of Te Pati Māori. I maintain that most Māori in our district do not see themselves as oppressed. They know they will succeed if they work, send their kids to school, take up free dental care and can take their kids to the doctor.
This country needs to respect and celebrate all cultures. We need to maintain our wonderful democracy and not slide down the path to becoming just another failed ethno-state.
If I yearn for anything associated with the past, I yearn for the strengthening of the goodwill that has always existed. That which I have experienced during my working life in the North. I want Māori and all members of the Kaipara community to excel and do well. Our communities have always worked together, played together, and loved one another.
We do not want to be divided by race.
Views expressed in this column are my own and do not necessarily represent a consensus position of Kaipara District Council.
Craig Jepson, a small business owner, is the Mayor of the Kaipara District Council. This article was first published HERE
Māori do not need racially designated wards to ensure council representation. Māori had better representation in the 2019-22 council (two councillors out of nine, or 22%) than they do now. That was achieved without a Māori ward.
My critics say that by removing the Māori ward we are not fulfilling Treaty obligations to Māori. That is incorrect.
Māori are fully able to engage in the processes of local government and have an absolutely equal chance of capturing votes in council elections. Democracy is more genuinely enacted when Māori and all our community unite to elect the best person, regardless of race, to represent the interests of all ratepayers fairly and equally.
It is condescending to Māori to claim that somehow, they are not good enough to be elected on their own merits in a general ward.
All members of our community should have an opportunity to stand for office on equal footing. If you are the best candidate, you will be elected – something that has been demonstrated by (Māori) mayors Tapsell (Rotorua), Whanau (Wellington) and Tepania (Far North), and by a great many elected members who identify as Māori in councils up and down the country.
The call for Māori wards relies on the false narrative that Māori have no voice and are unfairly disadvantaged and oppressed.
Most Kiwis, and indeed most Māori, know that this narrative is false. Which is why few vote in the Māori ward or for the likes of Te Pati Māori. I maintain that most Māori in our district do not see themselves as oppressed. They know they will succeed if they work, send their kids to school, take up free dental care and can take their kids to the doctor.
This country needs to respect and celebrate all cultures. We need to maintain our wonderful democracy and not slide down the path to becoming just another failed ethno-state.
If I yearn for anything associated with the past, I yearn for the strengthening of the goodwill that has always existed. That which I have experienced during my working life in the North. I want Māori and all members of the Kaipara community to excel and do well. Our communities have always worked together, played together, and loved one another.
We do not want to be divided by race.
Views expressed in this column are my own and do not necessarily represent a consensus position of Kaipara District Council.
Craig Jepson, a small business owner, is the Mayor of the Kaipara District Council. This article was first published HERE
4 comments:
The STATE deliberately divided us by race when, without a referendum, forced the 1975 TOW Act onto us, and the STATE hasn't stopped it's "apartheid agenda" since then.
It beggars belief that the much-vaunted "proud' Maori race can tolerate so much condescension - hope to God it's not all the Pommy DNA. They were a proud people too once - Rule Britannia - Just can't wait for this appalling woke phase of humanity to pass.
Hear,hear.
No one noted that with the recent debacle at the HB Regional Council the Chair who is Maori voted for Maori wards.
Conflict of interest?
2028 is too long to wait to sort this out.
It seems the radical Maori and their supporters only want things like representatives on Councils , if it is handed to them on a plate. Don't want to do the mahi to get themselves elected the way everybody else does. Keep playing the victim card and the naive 'white guilt' idiots buy into lt. Others are nervous to say anything against them, because of the intimidating, abusive bullying behavior that is now all too common from some groups of people that we witness daily now
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