Speaking to Duncan Garner, Steve Gibson, the Hastings councillor described the region’s new water structure as “Three Waters in drag” and said the core problem is not Māori, but unelected influence.
“Nothing to do with Māori, it’s to do with the unelected officials running the show,” he said. His warning is that power is being shifted away from elected councillors and towards people the public cannot remove.
Gibson says the public already rejected co-governance. Labour, he argues, lost the 2023 election with Three Waters hanging around its neck, and Māori wards were rejected in referendums, including in Hastings. But councils are bringing it back anyway through advisory forums, appointed representatives and governance structures that sit further and further from the ballot box.
Gibson points to Article 3 of the Treaty, which promises equal citizenship under one system, not separate authority based on ancestry. “Where is the word co-governance or partnership in that?” he asks.
Councillor Hana Montaperto-Hendry said there was “nothing to be scared of in appointing a mana whenua representative”. Gibson’s answer is that the public is told there is nothing to fear, even as unelected voices gain more say over public assets and services.
He warns that if this model keeps spreading, iwi and other unelected appointees will gain the power to shape systems that charge the public for water without direct electoral accountability.
He also argues that too many councillors are too frightened of being called racist to resist it, blaming what he calls “woke women” and “emasculated men” for helping keep the agenda alive.
Meanwhile, a separate Far North dispute is also worth watching, after claims that as many as 15 unelected iwi and hapū representatives were sitting around the table with only six elected members in one committee setting, prompting calls for intervention and a request from Local Government Minister Simon Watts for officials to engage with the council, though he said the threshold for formal intervention remains very high. Garner said the mayor refused an interview and told him to “f*** off”.
Read more over at The NZ Herald and on YouTube
The Centrist is an online news platform that strives to provide a balance to the public debate - where this article was sourced.
Gibson points to Article 3 of the Treaty, which promises equal citizenship under one system, not separate authority based on ancestry. “Where is the word co-governance or partnership in that?” he asks.
Councillor Hana Montaperto-Hendry said there was “nothing to be scared of in appointing a mana whenua representative”. Gibson’s answer is that the public is told there is nothing to fear, even as unelected voices gain more say over public assets and services.
He warns that if this model keeps spreading, iwi and other unelected appointees will gain the power to shape systems that charge the public for water without direct electoral accountability.
He also argues that too many councillors are too frightened of being called racist to resist it, blaming what he calls “woke women” and “emasculated men” for helping keep the agenda alive.
Meanwhile, a separate Far North dispute is also worth watching, after claims that as many as 15 unelected iwi and hapū representatives were sitting around the table with only six elected members in one committee setting, prompting calls for intervention and a request from Local Government Minister Simon Watts for officials to engage with the council, though he said the threshold for formal intervention remains very high. Garner said the mayor refused an interview and told him to “f*** off”.
Read more over at The NZ Herald and on YouTube
The Centrist is an online news platform that strives to provide a balance to the public debate - where this article was sourced.
9 comments:
This is nonsense.
Regarding the Treaty principles "Review" which clauses were inserted into existing legislation, all that needs to happen is that they are removed.
It is the same with the Councils: Parliament has the power to stop non-elected representatives and they choose not to.
We are just being taken for a ride.
We need to reject the rhetoric. We need to stop listening to the election promises. We need to tell them to stop misleading us.
We need to insist that New Zealand is returned to a democracy.
Under a democratic system, part-Maori are simply other New Zealanders. A case for having special rights can only be made through the affirmation of all New Zealanders. A binding referendum on whether we are a democracy or an apartheid nation seems to be the way forward.
The part-Maori Hastings council lady is wrong. We do need to be scared as the Far North Council recent exposé shows us. This is a takeover by a minority. There is no other explanation. We need to be scared because, no matter what sensible solutions are agreed to by rational councillors, they are simply overturned by unelected part-Maori who have an agenda to seize power by 2040.
Democracy is "by the people, for the people" If you have appointed people alongside elected people you no longer have democracy. Might as well stop elections and have the bureaucracy appoint the non operational people
We need a Counrty wide ultimatum to Luxon and all National MPs. Stop all co-governance now or you will be toast come Nov!
To anon 8.44,
Couldnt agree more with you
As it stands, our ‘democracy’ appears to consist of randomly selected individuals whose primary loyalty, at the national level, is to the party that owns them. The average voter probably has no idea of the capability of the individual candidate. In short, the voter votes for the party, not the candidate.
And that is why our governing system has deteriorated so catastrophically over the last 40 years. No party has proven itself honourable or reliable. Promises made are usually abandoned the day after the election. (The mugs fell for it again Martha!). Until we find and implement a system of MP selection fit for the role, and that totally excludes political parties, things can only get worse. Welcome to the third world.
Why we keep trying to (and successfully it looks like) enact racist rules & laws is beyond me
How come a certain kind of racism is not only okay in the country, but demanded by many??
It’s insane & hugely divisive
Find me any country in the First World where citizens are elected to Councils or Governments, and then another lot of racially biased people are added to suit the personal views of mayors or ministers ?
If you can name such a country, it will certainly be running on apartheid lines.
There is no constitutional reason why Maori should be given this power now - it hasn't been acceptable for the last 186 years - just because a woke judge said "like" a partnership doesn't make it a partnership.
Why do we tolerate such appalling lack of diminishing democracy in NZ ?
To a large extent the general population doesn't know what is surreptitiously happening because the mainstream media are equally biassed.
It has to stop, and Luxon and his allies are reneging on their election promises and encouraging this instead stamping on it.
Clearly National are not to be trusted again, leaving us with a dilemma at voting time.
What drives the likes of Watts, Luxon to encourage and allow racist policies ?
Have they been threatened ?
Why are they deliberately going against the wishes of most of the population ?
It just doesn't make sense as they know they are being pilloried here and internationally.
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