Bob Edlin: Abuse hurled at Mayors and Councillors......

Check out the abuse hurled at Rotorua’s mayor over ‘sacred’ lake and a sewerage pipe – but can we brand it “racist”?

The word “racism” was missing from the headline on a Post report by Joel Maxwell – Māori councillors gather for challenging year in face of rampant abuse, ‘decimation’.

But the first of three points highlighted declared:

• Māori councilllors and mayors face “rampant” racist attacks from community members, says a Māori councillor and Local Government NZ advocacy group member.

“We cop it every day, and that’s part of the challenge – do you have the courage to stand again, knowing it’s going to be even more polarising?” says New Plymouth District councillor Dinnie Moeahu.

He said abuse of Māori councillors was “rampant”.

Māori councillors were fighting to bring communities together and create understanding but were “up against it”, he said.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, you hear stories, very confronting stories, from Māori elected members about the abuses they receive, at times, on the daily.”

Moeahu is the only councillor named in the report, but there can be no doubting that councillors are increasingly subjected to abuse.

In another report today, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell has shared some of the profanity-laden online abuse she has received over a sewerage pipe near “a sacred lake”.

Click to view - Messages Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell has received from people opposing a sewerage pipeline being built near Lake Rotokākahi. (Source: Local Democracy Reporting)

The purpose of the $32 million Tarawera Sewerage Scheme is to connect about 440 Lake Tarawera households to the public wastewater network to reduce lake pollution from septic tanks.

Isn’t that environmentally commendable?

The Environment Court certainly has given the scheme its blessing by dismissing applications to halt construction of the final 1.4km of pipeline past Lake Rotokākahi.

The council has said it now intends to restart work as soon as possible.

Maori opponents of the project seem to be concerned not about sparing Lake Tarawera from pollution but about the offence the pipe will cause to ancestors buried in a wāhi tapu area during the 1886 Mt Tarawera eruption.

Tapsell was the subject of a protester’s emotional outburst in a public meeting this week, criticising the mayor for the council’s handling of the sewerage scheme.

Tapsell later spoke of security and safety concerns, “considering the written and in-person threats I’ve received regarding Lake Rotokākahi”.

She estimated she had forwarded police and Netsafe about 23 threatening messages she received since protests against the scheme began.

Screenshots showed recent messages included profanity and suggestions she “hang” herself or be attacked on sight.

“Wouldn’t be surprised if you end up dead,” said one.

She said she wanted the scheme to protect the environment and allow mana whenua to return to their land and rebuild papakainga and marae destroyed in the Tarawera eruption.

This required the modern, safe sewerage system the council was delivering in the “best place possible”, following the road to the treatment plant in town.

Dinnie Moeahu might not regard this as a racist attack, although Tapsell is Māori, because the abuse apparently is coming from Māori – but:

Māori elected members faced challenges above and beyond those faced by other councillors, he said, with some people now feeling emboldened to share their real views on Māori.

And what about appointed members? Are they being spared the abuse that is heaped on councillors who campaigned for votes to win their positions?

Something Maxwell didn’t mention in his race-fixated article is that mayors and councillors of all races and sexes increasingly are being subjected to abuse.

Last year Local Government New Zealand conducted a poll of council Mayors, Chairs and chief executives. This showed that nearly two thirds had faced aggressive and abusive behaviour online; nearly three quarters (74%) had experienced this behaviour during public, in-person meetings.”

Women elected members are significantly more likely than their male colleagues to experience gendered abuse, sexualised comments, threats to their family, and threats of sexual violence.

Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.