PoO was somewhat bemused to learn that Napier mayor Richard McGrath’s executive assistant had quit her job, saying she could no longer work for him due to his “disregard for Treaty principles”.
According to Stuff:
Vanessa Smith-Glintenkamp, who was employed in the role under former mayor Kirsten Wise in May 2023, wrote to McGrath and the Napier City Council chief executive Louise Miller last Thursday saying she would resign.
Her email was sent in the evening, hours after a heated council meeting in which McGrath failed to remove Māori committee members’ voting rights.
A copy of her email has been obtained by Stuff.
We wondered – here at PoO – how that happened.
The Stuff report does not specifically say the emailed resignation had been sent to the mayor, but presumably it was.
The report does say it was “also” sent to Napier City Council chief executive Louise Miller.
But rather than guess at who decided to share the news with Stuff, let’s find out what has driven Vanessa Smith-Glintenkamp to quit her job.
“Following recent events, I believe my role has become untenable,” Smith-Glintenkamp wrote.
“While I understand these are complex issues, my experience has been that, as a councillor and now as mayor, you have chosen to disregard the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi… I cannot continue to work for a person or organisation that holds such values,” she wrote.
“Aotearoa welcomed my family as immigrants. We have brought skills and optimism to this country, and I do not wish to be associated with views that undermine inclusivity and respect.”
There is nothing in those words to indicate what the mayor might have done to disregard “the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi” or to be accused of undermining “inclusivity and respect.”
Let’s press on to find out:
“The principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are embedded in law and in the fabric of this whenua. Attempts to diminish them will be a long and difficult battle. I have fought similar battles in my home country and witnessed justice prevail over injustice. I will not stand by quietly and enable behaviour that disrespects tangata whenua,” she wrote.
But then – curiously – Nelson Mandela is brought into considerations.
“In his 1993 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Nelson Mandela said: ‘Thus shall we live, because we will have created a society which recognises that all people are born equal, with each entitled in equal measure to life, liberty, prosperity, human rights and good governance.’ These words guide my actions every day and will continue to do so.”
Smith-Glintenkamp told McGrath and Miller her decision had not been easy and said it “has been an honour and privilege to serve the previous Mayor of Napier”.
“I have loved my job, but my values compel me to take the right and just path. I will continue to serve the country that welcomed my family 20 years ago and wish you well on your journey to understanding,” she wrote.
She said her final day would be January 8 and she would continue working until then unless the council preferred to put her on “gardening leave”.
Smith-Glintenkamp did not wish to comment.
Pity.
If she had agreed to comment, she might have explained what the mayor had done to offend her.
We are left to guess – and our guess is that she has taken offence at the newly elected mayor proposing not to include “mana whenua voices and voting rights” on standing committees.
And why not?
He was elected by the citizens of his city.
He was proposing to remove voting rights from people on standing committees who have not been elected.
This (it’s fair to suppose) took into account two Māori councillors being voted on to the council for the first time in Māori wards.
The mayor failed to win support.
But how were treaty principles undermined by a proposal to require standing committees to be comprised of elected councillors?
During the 2022–2025 triennium, two representatives from Ngā Mānukanuka o te Iwi for the first time sat on each of the council’s four standing committees with full voting rights.
As a separate development, in October 2021 the council resolved to introduce Māori wards for the 2025 local body elections.
That along with the continuance of the committee voting entitlements has resulted in a substantial strengthening of the Māori voice.
But Māori representatives do not have voting rights on every council in New Zealand. Some councils grant full voting rights on committees, others allow advisory participation, and many rely on Māori wards for electoral representation rather than committee appointments.
Māori input is channelled on other councils through iwi liaison groups or advisory boards rather than direct committee membership.
In Napier, the upshot of Mayor McGrath’s proposal was that just six councillors were able to entrench a powerful mix of
Her email was sent in the evening, hours after a heated council meeting in which McGrath failed to remove Māori committee members’ voting rights.
A copy of her email has been obtained by Stuff.
We wondered – here at PoO – how that happened.
The Stuff report does not specifically say the emailed resignation had been sent to the mayor, but presumably it was.
The report does say it was “also” sent to Napier City Council chief executive Louise Miller.
But rather than guess at who decided to share the news with Stuff, let’s find out what has driven Vanessa Smith-Glintenkamp to quit her job.
“Following recent events, I believe my role has become untenable,” Smith-Glintenkamp wrote.
“While I understand these are complex issues, my experience has been that, as a councillor and now as mayor, you have chosen to disregard the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi… I cannot continue to work for a person or organisation that holds such values,” she wrote.
“Aotearoa welcomed my family as immigrants. We have brought skills and optimism to this country, and I do not wish to be associated with views that undermine inclusivity and respect.”
There is nothing in those words to indicate what the mayor might have done to disregard “the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi” or to be accused of undermining “inclusivity and respect.”
Let’s press on to find out:
“The principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi are embedded in law and in the fabric of this whenua. Attempts to diminish them will be a long and difficult battle. I have fought similar battles in my home country and witnessed justice prevail over injustice. I will not stand by quietly and enable behaviour that disrespects tangata whenua,” she wrote.
But then – curiously – Nelson Mandela is brought into considerations.
“In his 1993 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Nelson Mandela said: ‘Thus shall we live, because we will have created a society which recognises that all people are born equal, with each entitled in equal measure to life, liberty, prosperity, human rights and good governance.’ These words guide my actions every day and will continue to do so.”
Smith-Glintenkamp told McGrath and Miller her decision had not been easy and said it “has been an honour and privilege to serve the previous Mayor of Napier”.
“I have loved my job, but my values compel me to take the right and just path. I will continue to serve the country that welcomed my family 20 years ago and wish you well on your journey to understanding,” she wrote.
She said her final day would be January 8 and she would continue working until then unless the council preferred to put her on “gardening leave”.
Smith-Glintenkamp did not wish to comment.
Pity.
If she had agreed to comment, she might have explained what the mayor had done to offend her.
We are left to guess – and our guess is that she has taken offence at the newly elected mayor proposing not to include “mana whenua voices and voting rights” on standing committees.
And why not?
He was elected by the citizens of his city.
He was proposing to remove voting rights from people on standing committees who have not been elected.
This (it’s fair to suppose) took into account two Māori councillors being voted on to the council for the first time in Māori wards.
The mayor failed to win support.
But how were treaty principles undermined by a proposal to require standing committees to be comprised of elected councillors?
During the 2022–2025 triennium, two representatives from Ngā Mānukanuka o te Iwi for the first time sat on each of the council’s four standing committees with full voting rights.
As a separate development, in October 2021 the council resolved to introduce Māori wards for the 2025 local body elections.
That along with the continuance of the committee voting entitlements has resulted in a substantial strengthening of the Māori voice.
But Māori representatives do not have voting rights on every council in New Zealand. Some councils grant full voting rights on committees, others allow advisory participation, and many rely on Māori wards for electoral representation rather than committee appointments.
Māori input is channelled on other councils through iwi liaison groups or advisory boards rather than direct committee membership.
In Napier, the upshot of Mayor McGrath’s proposal was that just six councillors were able to entrench a powerful mix of
- Unelected Maori representatives with voting rights on standing committees, and
- Councillors elected in the two Maori wards.
He consistently argued that all people deserve equal political rights, regardless of race or background, and his leadership of the African National Congress was rooted in democratic ideals – not in political privilege rooted in heritage..
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
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