Bob Edlin: Public bodies in NZ embrace karakia.....

Paganism has been enshrined in Latvian law – but public bodies in NZ embrace karakia without being mandated by Parliament

Our Cambridge Dictionary defines the word “pagan” as


… a person who belongs to a religion that worships many gods, especially one that existed before the main world religions:

We checked the meaning of “pagan” after reading an article in The Critic headed

The return of the strong gods?

Craig Jepson: Condescending to Māori

In 2020/21 I helped organise a petition to challenge council’s decision to establish a Māori ward. It received tremendous support and we easily passed the threshold needed to force council to hold a binding referendum on the matter.

Then, former Labour minister Nanaia Mahuta introduced retrospective legislation in February 2021, deliberately pre-dating our petition and invalidating it. This prevented our community from exercising its lawful and democratic right.

Frank Newman: Councillor shows why Māori wards are not needed

Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Kaipara District Council and was one of several people who spoke during the Public Forum session, which is an opportunity for a member of the public to address councillors on whatever their topic of interest may be.

Yesterday, the topic of interest was a motion to either retain or disestablish the Kaipara’s Māori ward.

I was part of a team from Democracy Northland who in December 2020 set about gathering signations to force the Council of the day to hold a binding referendum. Some months earlier the council had created a Māori ward without consulting the community at large.

The outrage that followed was such that we set about challenging that decision by using the petition right available at the time.

Don Brash: I admire Craig Jepson

Until a few days ago, I had never heard of Craig Jepson, and I suspect that that is also true of most New Zealanders. He has suddenly become almost as well-known as Meng Foon, the Race Relations Commissioner. Both men are hugely admired by some; and viscerally disliked by others – though those who admire Meng Foon no doubt detest Craig Jepson and vice versa.

For those who haven’t been following the media lately, Craig Jepson is of course the recently-elected mayor of the Kaipara District. He had the effrontery to point out to a Maori member of his council that reciting a karakia, or any other kind of prayer, at the beginning of a council meeting was quite inappropriate, given that the council is a secular institution.

Chris Trotter: Kaipara: A Struggle For Political Legitimacy And Cultural Power.

The question dividing Kaipara’s electors, and the rest of New Zealand, is one of political legitimacy and cultural power. Whose protocols should prevail: the standing orders of the local council; or, the tikanga of the local iwi?

In strictly legal terms, the standing orders of the Kaipara District Council, as interpreted by the elected head of the council – Mayor Craig Jepson – must prevail. The order of business, and the manner in which that business is conducted, is for him – and for him alone – to determine.

Except, in the rolling maul that is New Zealand’s racial politics, the letter of the law no longer counts for very much. As events in Kaipara have proved, it’s all about who can mobilise the most outrage – especially in the news media and online. On that score, the woman at the centre of the controversy, the woman representing the Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori Ward, Pera Paniora, is well ahead on points.