A sitting councillor, Davina Smolders has come forward in an interview with Duncan Garner on his podcast and described what is happening inside the Far North District Council. This is no petty disagreement over policy. It is a fundamental shift in who is exercising power and the complete overriding of democracy.
Click to view
We are calling for Minister for Local Government Simon Watts to step in and appoint a Crown Observer.
Why? Because Councillor Smolders says on key council committees, unelected iwi and hapū representatives now outnumber elected councillors. These are not advisory positions where they simply provide input. These are unelected people directly making decisions that flow through to full council; decisions that determine spending, priorities, and the rates that local families are forced to pay.
That means the people driving key decisions are, in many cases, not elected by the public, not accountable to voters, and not removable through any democratic process.
This is a direct challenge to the basic idea of representative government in New Zealand.
Councillor Smolders has done exactly what you would expect from someone taking their role seriously. She has raised concerns internally, attempted to work through the proper channels, and ultimately gone to central government asking for intervention.
She has called for a Crown Observer to be appointed so that there is independent oversight of what is happening and some restoration of accountability. Local residents have backed that call. Their concerns have been put clearly and directly to the Minister of Local Government, Simon Watts.
And nothing has happened.
Minister Watts has been made aware that a large number of unelected people have effectively taken over a council and he has done nothing. No intervention. No sense of urgency.
Is anyone else in the Government aware of this? It isn't a trivial issue. It is extremely serious and yet it isn't being treated with the seriousness it deserves.
Inaction is a decision. If the Government refuses to act when there are credible concerns about democratic accountability breaking down, then it is effectively endorsing what is happening.
We have reminded them countless times before, but I'll say it again, this Government was elected with a mandate to remove co-governance. They promised to remove it. That this is happening on their watch is unacceptable. Broken promises.
This should concern people well beyond the Far North, because it will not stay contained. If arrangements like this are allowed to continue without scrutiny or pushback, they will be replicated. They will become normalised as other groups realise they can get away with just walking in and taking over.
This is how power shifts in practice... through quiet changes that most people only notice once the balance has already tipped. When they look around and notice there are more unelected members in the room than elected ones.
We have launched a petition to force this issue into the open and demand action. We are calling on the Minister to appoint a Crown Observer to the Far North District Council immediately, to investigate what is happening and to ensure that democratic accountability is upheld.
This is not even an extreme demand. It is the minimum you would expect when serious concerns have been raised and the integrity of decision-making is in question.
If everything is above board, then there should be no resistance to independent oversight. If it is not, then the public deserves to know.
What is not acceptable is silence and inaction. Wake up, Minister Watts!......The full article is published HERE
Elliot Ikilei is the spokesperson for Hobson's Pledge.
That means the people driving key decisions are, in many cases, not elected by the public, not accountable to voters, and not removable through any democratic process.
This is a direct challenge to the basic idea of representative government in New Zealand.
Councillor Smolders has done exactly what you would expect from someone taking their role seriously. She has raised concerns internally, attempted to work through the proper channels, and ultimately gone to central government asking for intervention.
She has called for a Crown Observer to be appointed so that there is independent oversight of what is happening and some restoration of accountability. Local residents have backed that call. Their concerns have been put clearly and directly to the Minister of Local Government, Simon Watts.
And nothing has happened.
Minister Watts has been made aware that a large number of unelected people have effectively taken over a council and he has done nothing. No intervention. No sense of urgency.
Is anyone else in the Government aware of this? It isn't a trivial issue. It is extremely serious and yet it isn't being treated with the seriousness it deserves.
Inaction is a decision. If the Government refuses to act when there are credible concerns about democratic accountability breaking down, then it is effectively endorsing what is happening.
We have reminded them countless times before, but I'll say it again, this Government was elected with a mandate to remove co-governance. They promised to remove it. That this is happening on their watch is unacceptable. Broken promises.
This should concern people well beyond the Far North, because it will not stay contained. If arrangements like this are allowed to continue without scrutiny or pushback, they will be replicated. They will become normalised as other groups realise they can get away with just walking in and taking over.
This is how power shifts in practice... through quiet changes that most people only notice once the balance has already tipped. When they look around and notice there are more unelected members in the room than elected ones.
We have launched a petition to force this issue into the open and demand action. We are calling on the Minister to appoint a Crown Observer to the Far North District Council immediately, to investigate what is happening and to ensure that democratic accountability is upheld.
This is not even an extreme demand. It is the minimum you would expect when serious concerns have been raised and the integrity of decision-making is in question.
If everything is above board, then there should be no resistance to independent oversight. If it is not, then the public deserves to know.
What is not acceptable is silence and inaction. Wake up, Minister Watts!......The full article is published HERE
Elliot Ikilei is the spokesperson for Hobson's Pledge.
12 comments:
Wasn’t it the FarNorth where some 30 years ago a group like a society for the blind was similarly captured and stripped of its assets?
One would say send in the military….but our military are now ideologically aligned with the people doing the takeover
Minister for Local Govt, Simon Watts, is out of his depth. If his primary role is Luxon’s official Net-Zero Climate Alarmist keeping Ardern’s “Nuclear Moment” intact, how on earth can he be expected solve real issues in the Far North. The clock is ticking and Luxon has squandered his opportunity to repair the damage created by the last dreadful Govt.
Utterly despicable, and National is complicit by their lack of action. They do not deserve to be the dominant party in government. Like the space they occupy, a vote for them is wasted.
Asking what the Government are doing about it is a fair question. But equally, what is the judiciary doing? Surely what is happening is unlawful?
And Simon Watts is handing 3 Waters over to local Councils saying that it not a central government issue.
In other words, he is allowing Maori to take over all our water assets using committees loaded with unelected Maori.
Vote for National again ?
No way !
Could it be that out of pure inertia a whole, respected, established, national civilisation could transform itself into a decaying petty tyranny, almost overnight? (Well, 40 years say.)
Yes indeed. But it does take the determined joint efforts of the major political parties to sing from the same song sheet for a few decades. And that, Alice, is exactly what we see, if we open our eyes. But by all means vote for one or the other this year. It won’t make any difference, but you will feel quite virtuous no matter where you put your ticks.
This sent to our National MP:
"We have been aware for some time that the FNDC is out of control when it comes to co-governance but today became aware of the latest state of play and it is appalling."
"Things are going badly wrong in the Far North, and the Government, which you are a part of as our representative MP, is choosing to sit on its hands and let it happen.
A sitting councillor, Davina Smolders has come forward in that interview with Duncan Garner on his podcast and described what is happening inside the Far North District Council. This is no petty disagreement over policy. It is a fundamental shift in who is exercising power and the complete overriding of democracy.
This is an order of magnitude worse than we described previously and directly impacts us as ratepayer and citizens.
We are asking you and your Government to step up and take responsibility for having ignored the threat to our Country's future.
We want you to honour everything that our parents and grandparents fought for and which many died for, stop messing around and do what you were given a mandate to do at the last election.
Please put pressure upon Minister Watts to deal with the situation in our Council and also do the same with your party peers to step up and stop all this co-governance now, not as a promise for the coming election. You leave it that long and our Country will be down the toilet, literally.
We cannot put it any stronger as we are polite people but believe us when we say we have had enough of the vacillation and avoidance of this issue. It is of paramount importance to us that equal citizenship and rights be restored immediately, if not sooner."
Response: - The usual boiler plate words capped with: "We understand the community’s concerns surrounding the issues you have mentioned .
We are in communication with the Ministers office." i.e. Probably filed in the round bin!
Anon 7.46
It always make me angry that you never get any decent reply to a well constructed letter to any MP.
You can bet that the MP concerned has not actually read the letter, let alone considered the content. .
If we really want to communicate with an MP we need to see them face to face, or to protest in the streets.
I think that we are coming that stage.
Anon 7.46 again, yes Anon 9.23, quite correct, response comes from a staffer in most instances except we have had cogent, timely responses from Shane Jones and David Seymour who clearly respect Joe Public better than those who occupy seats in the Uni-Party (i.e. National & Liebour). The staffers simply act as buffers IMHO.
Yep, written to my local National MP, backbencher, expressing my concerns about anti-democratic practices rife in this country, stock standard reply and nothing more heard. Me thinks they have been hobbled or just don't care. My prediction is he won't be there come December.
In the Northern Advocate it said: "Northland MP Grant McCallum said he expected all parties involved in the council’s governance to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and respect. “I strongly recommend Local Government New Zealand engage proactively with the Far North District Council to provide support as needed,” McCallum said.
With all due respect, what Planet is Mr MCallum on?
LGNZ is a huge party and contributor to the problems.
Post a Comment
Thank you for joining the discussion. Breaking Views welcomes respectful contributions that enrich the debate. Please ensure your comments are not defamatory, derogatory or disruptive. We appreciate your cooperation.