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.

Cam Slater: Spit in the Face of Protests

Heather du Plessis-Allan has a column in yesterday’s paper about how nervous Government ministers are about protests and robust debate. It’s a whole lot of unnecessary hand wringing and tut-tutting if you ask me.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Don't underestimate the power of the Māori Party

So we had the National Māori Action Day protest today.

The protests took place across the North Island this morning and they were big, impressively so.

There were an estimated 300 cars at the Auckland protest, there were about 50 on the Southern Motorway- which created a 3km backlog- and there were over 100 people at each of the Hamilton, Whakatane, Rotorua, Tokoroa, Taupo and Palmerston North gatherings.

David Farrar: The story that never appeared

Liam Hehir writes:

Ponder the fact that there won’t be a story like this and wonder about why that is. It is genuinely weird, right?

Te Pāti Māori’s Crossed Guns Post Incites Online Controversy AUCKLAND – Te Pāti Māori has become embroiled in an online controversy following a social media post featuring an image of crossed guns.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: National will hope tomorrow's protest crowds stay small

I'll tell you what's going to be really telling tomorrow with those Te Pāti Māori protests- it's how big they are.

It's basically going to be an indication of how much pushback and resistance the new Government's going to get on its plan to roll back the Treaty out of law like they plan to do.