GARY A. CLOVER’S STUFF NEWSPAPERS LETTERS
The coaltition government’s reversal of Nanaia Mahuta’s anti-democratic removal of citizens petitioning rights when a Council intends to change the voting system by introducing Maori wards has triggered Mr Gary A Clover to write a spate of letters to a few Stuff newspapers.
I counter his missives here because newspaper editors in general seem to censor letters that bring a balance to the debate?
NELSON MAIL 13th April 2024
Clover writes: “Maori wards are actually about iwi and hapu tribal representation and righting Treaty wrongs”
Response: And there we have it “tribal representation” - Tribalism is based on principles of inequality. Democracy is based on equality. So unity is only way forward.(1). Clover's comment clearly shows that tribal representation is separatism.
Democracy is based on giving equal rights to individuals. Giving special rights or privileges to groups, however configured, cannot be good. If you start treating one group of people either better or worse than others, it will end in tears.(2)
Equality before the law means everyone has to live by the same legal requirements – NOT that everyone has to be the same. To explain this, any sector of society ( race, religion, sex) can organise their affairs to suit themselves, as long as they stay within the one law that applies equally to everybody else. So a New Zealand woman or man of any descendent lives by the same rules as a Maori woman or man. No entitlement, preference or different rules based on their ancestral descendent.(3)
“Righting Treaty wrongs” -There is no wording in the Treaty (any version or translation) that states separate Maori representation, in fact the wording of Article 3 says Maori are granted the rights and privileges of British subjects - no special voting rights.
Further the NZ taxpayer has paid around $5 billion into dubious treaty settlements(4) on top of annual Maori funding of at least $1.16 billion(5) - how much more does Mr Clover and his fellow travellors want?
Clover writes: “Today 35 out of 78 councils have or want them because they add diverse indigenous views”
Response: I believe that if the constituents were polled there would be very few councils with Maori wards - Nanaia Mahuta changed the Act in 2021 which gave woke councils free reign to install Maori wards.(6)
A people that can name the canoes they arrived in are not in any way indigenous, and except for the Maori sovereigntists among them, there views are no different to other New Zealanders.
Clover writes: “How are they [Maori wards] ‘separatist”
Response: The fact that they are race-based and only Maori on the Maori roll can vote in Maori wards makes them separatist, and the candidates are obliged to advance Maori interests.(7)
Clover writes: Consider - Who in 1876 set up local councils, set the rules and culture, made all the decisions , and for 150 years excluded their iwi and hapu Treaty partners?”
Response: ”Setting the rules” - The ceding of sovereignty allowed for setting the rules, law and order is what some chiefs wrote to King William IV in 1831.( 8)
In the early stages of New Zealand Local Bodies, Council authorities were voted in by ratepayers and Maori landowners according to Sir Apirana Ngata(9) did not pay rates until 1894, from then until 1910 paid half rates levied compared to European counterparts. This could account for making all the decisions. As written above Article 3 would have given Maori the right to approach council if they had a concern.
“Treaty partners” - ‘It is constitutionally impossible for the Crown to enter into a partnership with any of it's subjects’ - Article 3 of the treaty gave to Maori the rights of British subjects, which put signatories under political control of the Queen, hence no partnership.(10)
Clover writes: “What other council ward decisions “require” referenda? None.”
Response: Referenda are required when the voting system is changed
Through the Local Electoral Act 2001, Labour’s direct democracy petition rights applied whenever changes to the local government voting system are proposed: firstly, as a result of council decisions to switch between FPP voting and STV, and secondly, through council decisions to introduce Maori wards with a new voting system based on the Maori Electoral Roll and the General Roll.(11)
THE PRESS 17th April 2024
Clover writes: “Since 1840 we've had an obligation to honour the spirit of the Treaty's tino rangatiratanga clause, guaranteeing tribes the right to collectively govern their own affairs.”
Response: The ‘spirit’ of the Articles in Te Tiriti are: Article 1 - The Chiefs cede sovereignty forever, Article 2 - All New Zealanders are guaranteed possession of their property, Article 3 - Maori people will be protected by the Crown as British subjects.(12)
Clover writes: Our signature on the UN's Convention on the Rights of Indigenous People bolsters our obligation.
Response: I would suggest that ‘our signature on the UN's Convention on the Rights of Indigenous People’ was fraudulent, a people that can name the canoes they arrived in cannot be indigenous.(13)
Clover writes: Ngai Tahu's tribal representation to right their Treaty wrongs is a sincere attempt to honour the tino rangatiratanga clause.
Response: Surely Ngai Tahu’s ‘treaty wrongs’ have been settled with at least 5 full and final settlements plus ongoing topups.(14)
Clover writes: How is it "separatist" when it works within councils? Or "undemocratic* when tribal electors vote for these councillors?
Response: Maori wards are ‘separatist’ because only those on the Maori roll can vote for the Maori ward candidate, These candidates only care about gaining advantages for their Maori supporters, not the community as a whole.
Clover writes: “Today 35 of 78 councils have or want Maori wards, and the 2021 consultation process showed the majority of submitters wanted them. As do I.”
Response: The reason that today 35 of 78 councils have Maori wards is because in 2021 Nanaia Mahuta under urgency changed the Act that allowed for petitioning by citizens to force Councils to initiate a public referendum. Without this restraint, 32 councils imposed Maori wards knowing that many of their constituents opposed them. Prior to 2021 there were only 3 Councils with Maori wards.
Earlier Council public referendums showed that around 80% of constituents were against undemocratic Maori wards.(15)
THE PRESS - 22nd April 2024
In the main Mr Clover just regurgitates his nonsense above and Stuff newspaper editors are content to publish it?
Clover writes: “Our democracy has been broad enough to include specialist unvoted-for voting appointments.”
Response: Councils can form sub-committees to review specific areas of council performance as well as ensure legislative compliance (e.g. audit and risk). These CAN include one or more appointees with specialist expertise (say, in accounting). These people may/may not have voting rights.
Specialist appointees are chosen for their expertise. They are not chosen for their ethnicity, nor are they chosen by any select group. They are accountable to the public at large. Their appointments are made for a set term (in contrast to the permanence of the race-based appointments).(16)
Clover writes: “Would Sir Kerry also abolish Maori parliamentary seats? “
Response: I don’t know if Sir Kerry would abolish Maori parliamentary seats or not? But I certainly would!
During the 1980s, the Maori seats became linked with the Maori sovereignty movement.
The Report of the Royal Commission into the Electoral System in 1986 noted that separate representation disadvantaged Maori in a number of ways. In recommending a change from the old first-past-the-post voting system to MMP, which eventuated, this commission predicted that MMP would bring more Maori MPs to parliament, which has also eventuated. This commission recommended abolition of the Maori seats if MMP was introduced.
The separate Maori parliamentary seats and separate Maori roll are long past their use-by date and should be abolished..
If Section 45 of the 1993 Electoral Act that provides for Maori representation was repealed - along with all other consequential clauses - the Maori seats would be abolished.(17)
Clover writes: “ Thirdly, Ngai Tahu are demonstrably the only tribe within ECan's area, so are entitled to represent all Maori interests.”
Response: Clover’s comment is a prime example of tribalism, in a democracy all individual voices are represented regardless of any affiliation, under tribalism only the strong voices are heard.
Clover writes: “Sir Kerry's viewpoint takes our race relations back 50 years. “
Response: And Mr Clover’s viewpoint takes New Zealand back to the musket wars.
Additional:
Mr Clover wants Maoris to have special rights and say in Councils and yet Maoris as a group have the largest rates debt in the country, further many Maori rates debt are wiped.(18) Should those who don’t pay rates have a say in Council affairs?
One has to wonder why Mr Clover, his fellow travellers, woke Councils and compliant media are so spooked by democratic referendums that should take place if a change in the voting system is contemplated, they say they have the numbers and yet are adamantly against democratic referendums??
References
2. https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/enlightenments/credo
3. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/equality
4. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/treaty-settlements-list
5. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/race-based-funding-cost
6. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/maori-seats-local-government
8. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/petition-to-king-william-iv
9. https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-NgaTrea-t1-g1-t1.html
10. https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/enlightenments/partnership
11. https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2001/0035/latest/DLM93301.html
12. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/the-littlewood-treaty
13. https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/enlightenments/maori-indigenous
14. https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/enlightenments/ngai-tahus-tangled-web
15. https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/enlightenments/polls-results
17. https://sites.google.com/site/treaty4dummies/home/maori-seats-central-government
26 April, 2024