Te Puke Residents & Ratepayers Association

11/03/2021

Mike Lally -Te Puke

KatiKati – Waihi Beach Ward By-Election.

We now have ten candidates for the election to the KatiKati - Waihi Beach Ward in Western Bay after Councilor Christina Humphreys resignation. Voters in KatiKati & Waihi Beach hopefully understand the successful candidate elected can affect out comes in Te Puke. What is required is clear-thinking Councilors who are not short on ability. What candidates need to remember if elected they will become no more that puppets on a string because of quick rubber stamping of “Standing Orders” and the ‘’Manual of Delegated Authority’’ by unsuspecting councilors at the beginning of the term and unaware of what they were endorsing.
Councilors become bystanders; watching what is being in their name and having to face the public because whenever bureaucrats foul up. The effect of this is from the officers have the unspoken word because from now on it is all our prerogative.
One has only had to look at the proposed ‘’Long-Term Plan” which is an expensive a document which lacks financials and is cost plus document for the next ten years. Maintaining cash flow or better, increasing cashflow is the central trick in any economy. Our prosperity is built on cash flow and relies on it no end There is no provisions for productivity improvements in the Long-Term Plan which New Zealand has the lowest productivity in the modern world which affects and pulls our living standards down.
The mayor-Councilors and staff must this find difficult to understand otherwise provision would be in the plan.
All ratepayers must be concerned about the proposed increases in rates in the Plan.
Dr Andy Asquith a senior lecture at Massey University says a better caliber of candidate was crucial and there needed to be more training and development given to councilors, many who have of whom he said had a “gaping hole “in their skill set. One only must look at the of giving away Panepane Point by councilors recently to Matakana Maori. An asset owned by Western Bay ratepayers with a land value of $7 million dollars but a market value closer to say $12 million. More to come around the Tauranga Harbour of Western Bay land.
Ratepayers in KatiKati and Waihi-Beach need to elect a councilor who has fortitude and the integrity to take command and charge of what they were elected to do.
Vote carefully.

19/12/2020

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR – by Dr Muriel Newman.
It is not only the onset of socialism that is a grave concern. The Maori sovereignty movement is becoming bolder as they advance at pace, seizing power and control seemingly with the endorsement of the Government. Using the claim of a Treaty of Waitangi ‘partnership’ with the Crown, which the NZCPR has exposed as a lie, their ultimate objective is nothing short of supremacy – ‘taking the country back’ by co-governing New Zealand.
To make matters worse, our Parliamentary Opposition, which normally defends democracy and holds the government to account, remains wounded. It is too early to tell whether they will regain sufficient strength to be effective.
The Fourth Estate, which we have traditionally relied on to defend public freedom and rights, is also failing to protect us – the reporting bias shown by many outlets is clear to anyone aware of how language is being used as a tool of manipulation.
Whether Stuff in particular can survive, after its grovelling apology to Maori for centuries of contrived ‘misreporting’, remains to be seen, but a perceived increase in State control of the media is causing many New Zealanders to look to alternative sources for information and news.
The problem is that social media is also being censored to the point where it is increasingly difficult to access information that challenges the prevailing PC – woke – cancel culture agenda.
It is in this climate, with the avenues to disseminate rational arguments fast closing, that the NZCPR enters our fifteenth year of operation. I cannot think of a time when our role has been more important.
The NZCPR provides a unique research-based approach to public policy – getting behind the issues to uncover and disseminate the facts. It’s why our weekly columns are ‘long reads’ of 2,000 words, instead of shorter opinion commentaries. Our newsletters are designed to empower readers with the information they need to proactively engage in the debate.
The NZCPR has always subscribed to the view expressed so eloquently by former US President Thomas Jefferson: “An informed citizenry is at the heart of a dynamic democracy.”........
Read Dr Muriel Newman’s last NZCPR newsletter for the year here >
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
NZCPR.COM
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
On behalf of the New Zealand Centre for Political Research I would like to thank you for your wonderful interest and support over the last 12 months - and wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year!

13/11/2020

A person smiling for the camera Description automatically generated


A close up of a logo Description automatically generated

Dear NZCPR Reader,

This week…
In this week’s NZCPR newsletter, we outline how Jacinda Ardern is embedding the United Nations Agenda 2030 into our legal and regulatory framework, our NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Oliver Harwich expresses his concerns about New Zealand’s underperformance – and the difficulty in openly discussing it, and our poll asks whether you support the UN’s Agenda 2030 being incorporated into New Zealand laws and policies.

Last week’s newsletter…
In case you missed it, in last week’s newsletter we highlighted the Government’s dangerous plan to repeal the local body democratic safeguards that were put in place by Helen Clark’s Labour Government HERE, and our NZCPR Guest Commentator John Bain explained why he resigned from the Northland Regional Council over their decision to introduce Maori wards without consulting the community HERE.

Will you help?
To maintain our independence, the NZCPR has no ads, no paywall, no subscriptions, and no state assistance. That means we can only produce our weekly newsletters if our readers support us. Sadly, most don’t, which is why it is such a struggle to keep going. If you would like us to continue speaking out and providing our newsletters, then please support the NZCPR by clicking HERE.
And if you don’t like website forms, the direct donation details are:
Internet banking – NZCPR ASB Bank account 12-3099-0833814-00; postal address - NZCPR, PO Box 984, Whangarei.

Please share our articles…
Please feel free to share our newsletters as widely as possible. This can be done by forwarding the newsletter itself, or, if there are problems with spam filters, by sharing the newsletter link: www.nzcpr.com/newsletter. Content from the newsletter can also be copied into your own email. Social media share buttons can be found on each website article.

Register for the mailing list…
Anyone who would like to receive our free NZCPR Weekly newsletter is more than welcome to register for the mailing list HERE.

Ensuring your newsletter is delivered…
To ensure you receive our newsletters, please whitelist our newsletter mailing address - or add it to your ‘safe senders’ list. The address to whitelist is: [email protected]. If your newsletter fails to arrive, it can be viewed at the ‘Newsletter’ link on our NZCPR.com website.

Share YOUR views…
Speaking out in a democracy is crucial – please find useful addresses and links HERE.

Thank you for your on-going interest and support.

Warmest regards,

Dr Muriel Newman
NZCPR Founding Director

What’s new on our Breaking Views blog…
Breaking Views is administered by the NZCPR - the views are those of the authors. Here is a selection of this week’s articles…

Dave Witherow: Crime and Punishment
New Zealand has always had a very low crime-rate. We rank as the second-safest country in the world, and for the last twenty years our crime-rate has been trending downward. Criminal offenses involving fi****ms are especially rare…
Mike Hosking: Mainstream media the real casualty in US election drama
One of the casualties of the Trump era is the mainstream media, who, for reasons best known to themselves, continue through their own actions to damage their reputations, values and performance…
Frank Newman: By the Numbers - legalise cannabis referendum
There is a strange irony that Donald Trump and the pro-cannabis lobby have something in common - both groups have claimed victory when confronted with defeat, and both are claiming a mandate to fight on…
Professor Richard Epstein: A Flat Tax Is A Fair Tax
One of the most contentious battles of the 2020 election cycle involves the Illinois “Fair Tax” ballot amendment, which seeks to remove a provision in the Illinois constitution that requires all income taxes to be flat – at a rate of 4.95 percent…

NZCPR Weekly:

UNITED NATIONS AGENDA 2030
A picture containing calendar Description automatically generatedBy Dr Muriel Newman

Last year Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the guest speaker at a private gathering in New York hosted by Bill and Melinda Gates.

She told the audience that under her administration New Zealand had taken a lead and embedded the United Nations Agenda 2030 into our legal and regulatory framework:

“…my Government is doing something not many other countries have tried. We have incorporated the principles of the 2030 Agenda into our domestic policy-making in a way that we hope will drive system-level actions… I believe that the change in approach that we have adopted in New Zealand is needed at a global scale…”

The event was arranged by Goalkeepers, an organisation set up by the Gates Foundation in 2017 to accelerate progress towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s Agenda 2030.

In her glowing introduction of Jacinda Ardern, Melinda Gates told the audience that our Prime Minister “has released an international human rights plan in which New Zealand promises to take the lead on, among other things, gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment.”

She described our PM as “a true international leader who understands that the future of the world depends on eliminating inequality.”

It’s a shame Jacinda Ardern was not so upfront with New Zealanders when she decided to take the country down this experimental Agenda 2030 path. Most Kiwis would be completely unaware that not only have we adopted UN doctrine, but that we are apparently leading the world in gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment.

While the Ardern Government has not hidden the fact that it is committed to implementing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, they most certainly have not been open and transparent about the agenda that underpins those goals - nor the policy implications of “eliminating inequality”.

Agenda 2030 featured in the 2017 Confidence and Supply Agreement between the Labour Party and the Greens - although not by name. Instead, the parties made a commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that underpin Agenda 2030:

“The Green Party supports a transformative Government which implements the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. In this parliamentary term, the Green Party has a number of priorities to progress the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. The Labour-led Government shares and will support these priorities.”

And that is the path the Labour-led Government has taken the country over the last three years.

While this has led to Jacinda Ardern becoming the poster child for Agenda 2030 - the UN’s blueprint for modern socialism - New Zealanders have remained largely unaware that we are being used as a guinea pig in an international socialist experiment.

In a speech to the International Conference on Sustainable Development in New York in 2018, the Prime Minister signalled her intention to lead the world by fully incorporating the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into domestic affairs: “we have decided to try something no other country has done before and embed indicators like the SDGs into everything we do”.

She said her Government would no longer rely on traditional measures of progress such as ‘economic growth’, but would instead introduce new experimental indicators: “…we are establishing brand new measures of national achievement that go beyond growth… We have created a tool called the Living Standards Framework. It puts the notion of sustainable intergenerational wellbeing at the centre of the different decision making processes we have - policy advice, government expenditure and long term management of our assets.

“Our Statistics department is working on an ambitious project called Indicators Aotearoa New Zealand that aims to create a comprehensive set of indicators across the different dimensions of the current and future wellbeing of New Zealanders; economic, cultural, social and environmental.

“These new tools will help us deliver, and monitor the delivery of goals like the SDGs. Our first test of this new approach will be early next year. That’s when we will deliver our first budget using these new measures, and new approach. We’ve called it the well-being budget, and it will unashamedly look to invest in generational change…”

Just before the 2019 ‘wellbeing’ Budget was delivered, the Prime Minister explained to a Business New Zealand audience the Government’s new approach: “while economic growth is important – and something we will continue to pursue – it alone does not guarantee improvements to New Zealanders’ living standards… My hope is that this year, with the new Wellbeing Budget, you’ll see us setting a strong foundation for both our country and our people.”

The mainstream media doesn’t appear to have made much of Jacinda Ardern’s commitment to Agenda 2030, but that’s not surprising given their lack of balance.

This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator Dr Oliver Hartwich, the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Initiative, describes how difficult it is becoming in this country to speak out openly - especially against the government:

“Our small population size has fostered a social conformity that makes it hard to speak one’s mind. With two-degrees-of-separation, you cannot afford to burn bridges.

“Most of us no longer dare question if it is grounded in reality and anyone who does is called unpatriotic and petty. So, at the risk of being torn to pieces, let me do it anyway.”

Dr Hartwich is especially critical of policy failures relating to housing. As he says, if there is one thing New Zealand is not short of it is space for building houses. Yet the high cost of sections in New Zealand, combined with overly bureaucratic planning laws and excessive building regulations, have led to a housing market that is “the most expensive in the developed world”.

The lack of affordable housing has become such a scandal over the years, that successive governments have prioritised fixing it. But to little avail, so entrenched is the ideological framework that created the problem in the first place.

The housing crisis has its roots in the forerunner of Agenda 2030, the United Nations’ Agenda 21, which for over 20 years, heavily influenced private property rights in New Zealand. ‘Smart growth’ policies designed to prevent ‘urban sprawl’ have been imposed by council planners up and down the country, resulting in a severe shortage of land for housing. The effect is plain to see – escalating section prices that have contributed to the housing affordability crisis.

Agenda 21, with origins dating back to the first Earth Summit in Sweden in 1972, was established by the United Nations in 1992. Based on the notion that humans are destroying the planet, it seeks to control our lives using the benign-sounding but far reaching policy mechanism of “sustainable development” - meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising those of future generations.

In 2015, when the UN updated Agenda 21 to Agenda 2030, they highlighted 17 sustainable development goals to control every aspect of our lives. From an end to poverty, to the intensification of cities, and the elimination of inequality, the UN has mapped it all out.

The following summary of the Agenda 2030 goals from the UN website doesn’t do justice to the complexity of the restrictions being proposed – full details can be found HERE:

- Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms
- Goal 2. End hunger and promote sustainable agriculture
- Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all ages
- Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education
- Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
- Goal 6. Ensure sustainable management of water and sanitation
- Goal 7. Ensure access to sustainable energy
- Goal 8. Promote sustainable economic growth and decent work for all
- Goal 9. Promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization
- Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
- Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements sustainable
- Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
- Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change
- Goal 14. Sustainably use the oceans
- Goal 15. Promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and halt biodiversity loss
- Goal 16. Promote inclusive societies and institutions for sustainable development
- Goal 17. Strengthen the global partnership for sustainable development

The UN’s concept was big and bold – they wanted change that would require all sectors of society to mobilise for a decade of action: “to secure greater leadership, more resources… embedding the needed transitions in the policies, budgets, institutions and regulatory frameworks of governments, cities and local authorities… and people action, including by youth, civil society, the media, the private sector, unions, academia and other stakeholders, to generate an unstoppable movement pushing for the required transformations.”

Central to Agenda 2030, and justifying the need for ‘urgent’ action, is the “climate emergency”. It is being used to claim that humanity is destroying the planet, and to justify more regulation and control. That’s why every wildfire, drought, flood, or storm is touted as ‘evidence’ that a global warming Armageddon is just around the corner - and only avoidable if nations take action to implement the UN’s goals, including a significant redistribution of wealth from rich to poor nations.

In reality, this is the new face of socialism – first, Agenda 21. Now its Agenda 2030. Next it will be “Agenda 2050”. It will never stop because “equality” will never be equal enough for new age socialists like Jacinda Ardern.

While old school socialism pitted the working class against the ruling class - with an underlying premise that the rich were getting richer by exploiting the poor - socialism has now morphed into a struggle for equality. The underlying premise nowadays is that it’s fair to take from those who have, to give to those who have not.

It's developed into an obsession over wealth equality, instead of the most important principle of all - equality of opportunity.

This is an issue that is now dividing nations. But the difference between New Zealand and most other counties is that here, there is no open debate. We are being transformed into a socialist state, but without full disclosure by the politicians driving this radical change.

There has been no effective media inquiry about these developments, nor has there been any effective scrutiny from opposition politicians.

As a result, as Dr Hartwich notes, it has become increasingly difficult to freely debate these issues – especially now the media has become so openly biased to the left. In fact it’s a tragedy for our society that the Fourth Estate, that used to stand as a guardian of the truth, has now become part of the problem, with so many in the media crossing the line from critical analysis and reporting facts, into political advocacy.

In light of the present-day scarcity of balanced views, it is indeed ironic that while our access to information has never been easier than it is now, access to the truth has never been harder.

Let's make no mistake that behind the smiles, sits the most radical socialist government in our history, with a Prime Minister intent on embedding the objectives of the world’s most socialist organisation into our policy and legislative framework.

To fight back, we have to start calling out socialism for what it is - but to call it out we first have to lift the veil and expose what is happening.

Next, we have to decide whether we want to become a socialist society that takes from those who achieve to give to those who don’t - or whether our ambition is for New Zealand to be an opportunity society, where everyone has the chance to better themselves and their families.

In other words, should New Zealand go down the path to socialism based on the United Nations’ Agenda 2030, or should we respect people’s individualism and freedom, and ensure they are given the opportunity to get ahead?

If it is the latter, then we collectively have a lot of standing up and speaking out to do before the next election!

THIS WEEK’S POLL ASKS:
*Do you support the UN’s Agenda 2030 being incorporated into New Zealand’s laws and policies?

*All poll comments will be posted on our NZCPR.com website during the week.

*In last week's poll only 1% of NZCPR readers agreed with Labour that local government petition rights should be repealed – 99% disagreed.

*Feedback can be viewed on the NZCPR.com website.



NZCPR Guest Commentary:

WE DON'T KNOW HOW UNLUCKY WE ARE IN NZ
By Dr Oliver Hartwich
A person wearing a suit and tie Description automatically generated
“Another policy disaster is the 30-year erosion of New Zealand’s once world-leading education system, reformed and dismantled under various governments.

“In no other country has the pendulum swung so far from traditional school knowledge towards more esoteric ‘21st century skills’. Today, while nearly every school leaver gets a certificate, many of them – about two fifths – are functionally illiterate and innumerate.

“The dumbing down of our school system is a scandal. And while those responsible probably had the best intentions, the bigger scandal is that they now try to explain away this poor performance.

“It frankly baffles me that when someone points out our poor education results, they are routinely criticised of elitism, Eurocentrism or other such nonsense. The truth is that teaching a broad, knowledge-rich and stimulating education would help precisely those children without elite or privileged backgrounds.

“The education system’s pursuit of noble and progressive goals has tragically sacrificed the future of Kiwi children. In doing so, it is not just cementing but widening ethnic and class divides…”

*To read the full commentary please visit the NZCPR.com website.

New Zealand Centre for Political Research
PO Box 984 WHANGAREI
Ph: 09-434-3836, Fax: 09 434-4224, Mob: 021-800-111
[email protected]
www.nzcpr.com

*To unsubscribe from the NZCPR mailing list, send this email - don't forget to reply to the confirmation message.
*If you are having problems unsubscribing, please email [email protected] with "REMOVE" in the subject line.
Please note it’s important that you contact us over unsubscribing problems because it’s often caused by the fact
that it was an older address that was registered, not your current one, and we will need to search for that.
*To change your address please email [email protected] with "ADDRESS CHANGE" in the subject line
– don’t forget to advise the new address to be added and the old one to be removed.
*PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL

The reality is that New Zealanders do not want to be defined by race – including most of those of Maori descent. The only people who want to divide the country by race are a small but vocal minority of dangerous activists pushing for Maori sovereignty.

17/10/2020

Robyn --
Education Ministry imposes anti-white race theory

The Ministry of Education has launched a wide-reaching programme called Te Hurihanganui which is presented as “anti-racism” but is actually anti-white.

Introduced as creating a system based on a Maori worldview, Maori sovereignty, Maori family relationships, and the Treaty of Waitangi, the programme holds that you, I and everyone else is responsible for “Maori educational success”.

Maori language, culture, philosophy and principles will be imposed while criticising non-Maori constructions and definitions of Maori.

The Ministry said: “Building critical consciousness means reflecting critically on the imbalance of power and resources in society, and taking anti-oppressive action to do something about it for the better. It means recognising white privilege, understanding racism, inequity faced by Maori and disrupting that status quo to strengthen equity”.

This anti-white philosophy is known as critical race theory.

This is the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interests at the expense of people of colour.

The next Government should remove anti-white race beliefs from the Ministry responsible for educating our children and grandchildren, and send a message that the days of race-based taxpayer funded indoctrination that sows division are over.

See https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/overall-strategies-and-policies/te-hurihanganui/
Is Ihumatao deal waiting for political blockage to clear?

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed on Monday on NewsTalk ZB that politics had prevented a deal on Ihumatao progressing.

That comment raises the question that if a deal exists in some form, and if the political blockage is removed, will Ms Ardern explain to voters before the voting period ends why they think it is appropriate to meddle in private property rights with taxpayer money.

Our petition for the Government to allow both Te Kawerau a Maki and Fletchers to proceed with their lawful business at Ihumatao has collected 3237 signatures. If you have not done so already, please sign our petition at http://chng.it/xPN6P55k
Our coastal petition is growing

Our petition which asks Parliament to amend the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 to restore public ownership of the coastal area, put all claims through the High Court, and repeal customary marine title, while affirming customary rights has picked up 25,586 signatures. We need your support. The petition may be signed at https://www.change.org/beaches4all
Frequently asked questions

What is Hobson's Pledge? Hobson’s Pledge supporters think it is absurd to argue in the 21st century that people who chance to have a Maori ancestor, always with other ancestors too of course, should have superior rights to those who don’t. And utterly absurd that there are politicians who want to be taken seriously who still push this nonsense.
What are the issues we're facing today?
What are our campaigns?

Join the debate on Facebook. You may visit this page at https://www.facebook.com/hobsonspledge/

Visit our website at http://www.hobsonspledge.nz/

Grow the movement. Forward this email to your friends and family

Donate. Visit https://hobsonspledge.nationbuilder.com/donate

Buy a book. Visit http://www.hobsonspledge.nz/resources



Hobson's Pledge Trust
http://www.hobsonspledge.nz/

Hobson's Pledge Trust · PO Box 12240, Napier 4144, New Zealand
This email was sent to [email protected]. To stop receiving emails, click here.
You can also keep up with Hobson's Pledge Trust on Twitter or Facebook.

Created with NationBuilder, software for leaders.

Our vision for New Zealand is a society in which all citizens have the same rights, irrespective of when we or our ancestors arrived.

29/09/2020

At Orewa I told the troubling story of Ihumatao.

New Zealand First has blocked Labour from selling out on Ihumatao three times because it would allow any ragtag bunch of protesters, who have failed in court, to occupy land and invoke the protester’s charter.

New Zealand First made it clear to Labour that we would not agree to them giving in to the protestors.

Giving into protesters would make a mockery of Treaty Settlements being “Full, Fair & Final”.

It would make a mockery of our law. And it would make a mockery of attempts for racial harmony because Maori who had failed in court would be rewarded for breaking the law and demanding land that is not theirs.

Selling out on Ihumatao will lead to decades of division. It will lead to ongoing fights that have already been settled in court. It will lead to the breaking of all the promises politicians have made about the Treaty and righting wrongs by creating another set of wrongs that already divide our country.

National and ACT cannot form a government. And certainly not, when both National and ACT have already sold out on the Foreshore and Seabed in 2011.

That’s why already 3500 Maori claims have been made for New Zealand’s Foreshore and Seabed. With Iwi fighting Iwi and the taxpayers paying the legal costs.

Unless we act now there will be no end to this.

New Zealand First, as we have already done in Government, will use our casting vote to stop the recklessness of Labour and the Greens on Ihumatao.

That’s why I am asking you to donate generously to New Zealand First this election. Only New Zealand First can stop Labour & the Greens selling out on Ihumatao.

Every little bit will help our message reach as many people as possible.

Please contribute here.
DONATE







Authorised by E. Witehira, 251E Rawhiti Rd, RD4, Hikurangi, Northland, 0184

25/08/2020

Tauranga Ratepayers Please Fight Council Racism
By Mike Lally
The Western Bay of Plenty District Council is divided into three wards for electoral purposes. However, in November 2017, Councillors voted (nine for, three against) to establish additional race-based wards which would guarantee seats for Maori.
This move was taken despite the Council’s two established vehicles for tangata whenua to discuss and address issues of significance in their communities. The Te Arawa Ki Takutai and the Tauranga Moana Partnership Forums make ‘recommendations’ to all Council committees. The Forums and their members are funded by ratepayers and enjoy a position of privilege over all other residents.
Should the Council succeed in its plan, Maori Wards could result in Councillors representing 17% of residents holding power equivalent to those representing 83%. The Maori Councillors would have immense clout in deciding how the taxes paid by the majority of ratepayers would be spent. Does that sound fair?
But Western Bay is not alone in heading down this dangerous path. Four other Councils have also recently voted to create race-based wards. It certainly appears that our country’s commitment to democracy and citizen equality is fast becoming a complete charade.
The People Take Action
Fortunately, the law currently allows such decisions to be put to a referendum if 5% of eligible voters sign a petition. In the Western Bay, this required signatures of 1,708 people.
So after the Council vote, concerned ratepayers quickly joined forces, printing petition forms and gathering signatures. People were generous in offering assistance and funding for the inevitable expenses. Most signatories were checked against the electoral roll to ensure that he or she was eligible to vote in Western Bay.
We were inundated with people wanting to sign and we quickly collected more than 4,500 signatures – significantly more than required to force the Council to listen to the people. It is noteworthy that supporters included Maori residents who also had no desire for such racist policies or structures. Makes you wonder if anybody in Council is listening to them?
It was heartening for me to see democracy at work. Most New Zealanders undoubtedly want a level playing field with one set of rules for everyone, regardless of who our ancestors were.
Backdoor Attack
We can’t afford to relax, however. Dave Cull, Mayor of Dunedin and President of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), rejects the notion that the people should be allowed a say. He is calling on the Government to remove the provisions allowing petitioners to call for public referendums on Council proposals to establish Maori wards.
In criticising the current petitioners, Cull seems to think that freedom of speech and democracy are not good for our communities. I’m sure the likes of Hi**er, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Mao Zedong and the Gang of Four, Kim Jong-un, Putin and numerous other tyrants would agree with him. Just remember how very successful at destroying their countries and their people they were or are.
Despite being democratically elected and living in a wonderful country (thanks to its democratic political system), Cull certainly shows preference for a more discriminatory arrangement.
No Need for Racial Division
In my time as a Western Bay Councillor, there were two people of Maori ancestry who were also voted onto Council. They did not require any system of apartheid to get elected. They won their seats because they worked to convince voters that they had ability, enthusiasm and the interests of their communities and district at heart. They did not get there because of their bloodlines or the colour of their skin.
But Western Bay Council choses to ignore this. Their obsession with granting special privileges to one section of the community over all others is divisive. It is also insulting to all Maori, suggesting that they are incapable of achieving without patronage. This thinking has no place in our egalitarian society.
Western Bay residents are not alone in fighting this scourge. New Plymouth rejected Maori wards in 2015. Other regions with residents recently achieving successful petitions against racist councils are Manawatu, Whakatane, Palmerston North and Kaikoura.
In the resulting referendums, all voters can send a clear message to their Councils that establishing racist wards is wrong and totally unacceptable.
Tauranga ratepayers take a lesson from Western Bays mistakes.