Glenn Inwood: Democracy crashes into Wellington City Councillor

The following opinion article was offered first to The Post. They declined to publish, for reasons not given. It’s their call on what they put in their newspaper. We consider the points we raise in relation to Councillor Nikau Wi Neera’s stance on the Airport share sale requires discussion and is something that all Wellingtonians need to understand.

Party Ideology has no part in Local Government

It is any surprise that public confidence in the Wellington City Council is at an all-time low when considering the debacle around the sale of the ratepayer-owned shares in Wellington airport? The flip-flopping of councillors illustrates the point.

What should concern each and every resident is the spurious, anti-democratic reasoning behind councillor Nikau Wi Neera’s racial backtrack on the sale of the shares. Wi Neera was among those who were “staunchly against” selling, according to The Post. He voted against the proposal, presumably on the basis that public assets should remain in public ownership. At least the airport generates income for the council. It is one of the few assets that aren’t a liability.

As reported by The Post on 19 September, Wi Neera will not support a notice of motion that could scupper the share sale because, in his view, holding such a meeting would “lead to the disenfranchisement of our mana whenua representatives.”

In his mind, such a move would “jeopardise” the rights of mana whenua to “govern with us”. It is this kind of twisted logic that most reasonable voters would seriously question.

Wi Neera, who was voted onto council with 872 votes in the Te Whanganui a Tara Māori Ward, the future of which will be decided by referendum, believes that to take the share-sale vote to the full council for the ultimate decision, thereby excluding the two non-elected, iwi-appointed representatives from a final say on the matter, will undermine the “constitutional document of our nation.”

It would appear that he believes the Treaty of Waitangi should trump constitutional democracy.

Wi Neera’s position is anti-democratic when he ultimately says that tangata whenua should have rights over and above ordinary New Zealanders.

He said therefore he cannot support a meeting that doesn’t allow iwi-appointed representatives to have what is probably the deciding vote.

What many Wellington people are unaware of is that two iwi – Ngāti Toa Rangatira and the entity representing the post-settlement governance entity Taranaki Whānui ki te Upoko o te Ika – each appoint someone to protect and advance their interests at council level.

Currently that is Liz Kelly, representing Ngāti Toa, and Holden Hohaia, from Te Upoko o Te Ika. They don’t represent the interests of all Māori because that is apparently what the Māori ward seat was created to do.

Each one earns the same annual pay as the elected council representatives, and they each have a vote on the council committees on which they have a seat. However, they do not get to vote at full council meetings, and that is the correct course of action, under the law.

Te Upoko o te Ika has shown an interest in purchasing the council shares, so ratepayers can expect that Mr Hohaia is in favour of a sale, and he voted that way at the committee level.

It is apparent, however, that since the Long Term Plan was approved by council, considerable opposition has developed towards any selling down of the council’s airport shareholding. There is now a majority of councillors who are against the sale. That includes councillor Wi Neera.

Irrespective of the arguments in favour of or against the sale, it is perfectly reasonable for a vote of such importance to be made by the full council, and to either confirm or reject the sub-ordinate committee’s decision.

It is what Better Wellington believes most residents and ratepayers expect. It is elected representatives who are there to decide the important matters concerning their council, not those who are appointed or anointed.

The decision was made some years ago on having iwi representatives and the public accepts such representation, at the committee level. But, that cannot extend to the full council. Allowing unelected representatives to have full voting rights on the council would go against Kiwis’ view of New Zealand democracy. We elect people to govern and make those decisions. They are the people who have stood in front of the crowds and meetings during an election to convince people that they’re the best ones to represent the city. That same level of scrutiny has not been provided in respect of the iwi representatives.

It can be argued that Wi Neera’s position is anti-democratic when he ultimately says that tangata whenua should have rights over and above ordinary New Zealanders.

Unfortunately, his viewpoint has developed for many years without question. It is one of the tenets of the Green Party, which Mr. Wi Neera represents on council, along with some of his fellow councillors, Mayor Tory Whanau and Deputy Mayor Laurie Foon included. He was elected on the Green Party ticket, and he’s also been a member of the Māori Party, both of which fundamentally believe that Māori did not cede sovereignty when signing the Treaty. It explains his position.

That is why Better Wellington’s over-arching principle is that party politics should play no role in local government. The interests of the city must take precedence over an elected councillor’s loyalty to a political party. This is about the state of our democracy when party ideology trumps any rational decision making in the best interests of the city. Wellington city is the loser as the airport share-sale saga lurches along.

This article was first published HERE.

Glenn Inwood is a Wellington-based writer and commentator and is a partner in an international consultancy specialising in ocean resource management.