** Dr Annie’s nonsense rebutted by Kiwi Frontline

WHAT’S THE BIG FUSS ABOUT MĀORI SEATS ON COUNCILS?

Dr Annie Te One explains why embedding Māori representation in local government shouldn’t be such a big deal. - 7 September 2020

After the next local elections, Tauranga City Council will join Wairoa District Council and Bay of Plenty and Waikato Regional Councils in being the only local governments with designated Māori wards.

Debates over Māori representation in local government, whether about designated Māori seats or voting rights on committees, are ongoing. Many arguments against Māori representation are well known but confusion still exists about the whole topic. Below are some common questions and concerns, answered by Dr Annie Te One

ARE LOCAL GOVERNMENTS THE CROWN? BECAUSE IF THEY AREN’T, DO THEY HAVE OBLIGATIONS TO TE TIRITI O WAITANGI?
Dr Annie Te One: Local governments receive their powers from the Crown and are therefore expected to uphold the governing principles and responsibilities the Crown has. This includes responsibilities to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is referenced in important local government legislation, including section four of the Local Government Act 2002.

Kiwi Frontline:
The “Encouraging Maori participation in local government” site page clearly states: - Taken as a whole, they are an obligation to consider what steps the council can reasonably take to encourage and assist Maori to participate in local affairs. THESE PROVISIONS DO NOT CONFER SPECIAL RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES ON MAORI THAT ARE NOT ACCORDED TO OTHER TAUIWI (OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC).....
http://www.localcouncils.govt.nz/lgip.nsf/wpgurl/About-Local-Government-M%C4%81ori-Participation-in-Local-Government-Encouraging-M%C4%81ori-participation-in-local-government

DO MĀORI SEATS ENCOURAGE SEPARATISM AND RACIAL INEQUALITY?
Dr Annie Te One: No, designated Māori seats on local government are in fact aimed at working towards creating equality in decision-making and ensuring there is better collaboration with Māori. Māori wards and constituencies are one avenue through which councils can uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations and other statutory obligations to include Māori in decision-making. Currently, only about 10% of councillors are Māori, so having Māori seats is one way we can work towards more equal representation in local government.

Kiwi Frontline:
Designated race-based seats are separatist regardless of how the good Dr spins it.

There were no Treaty obligations towards Maori in 1840 other than ‘property ownership’ and protection, and these were accorded to all New Zealanders, not just Maoris.

Further, DEMOCRACY is based on the simple principle that all citizens must be treated the same under the law. Every individual has the same rights and indeed has the same responsibilities under the law.

WITHIN SOCIETY, PEOPLE MAY SHARE COMMON VIEWS AND INTERESTS WITH OTHERS, BE THOSE CULTURAL, RELIGIOUS, ETHNIC, SOCIAL OR PERHAPS SPORTING. All such groupings are basically tribal in nature.

But forming such groupings, call them what you may, DOES NOT GIVE THE MEMBERS COLLECTIVELY, ANY SPECIAL RIGHTS UNDER THE LAW.

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.

Therefore:

1. Governance and property rights issues must be BASED SOLELY ON CITIZENSHIP, not ethnicity

2. There must be NO PREFERMENT FOR ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP, BASED ON ETHNICITY

3. MATTERS OF CULTURE AND MATTERS OF GOVERNANCE ARE ENTIRELY SEPARATE, except for the basic right of freedom of expression and belief.

BUT MAYBE IF MORE MĀORI STOOD AS CANDIDATES THEY’D GET ELECTED—WHAT’S STOPPING THEM?
Dr Annie Te One: Many Māori do in fact stand as candidates in local elections, but many struggle to gain a support base if they seek to champion Māori political rights. Having designated Māori seats is one way Māori voices can be sure to be heard, while still giving Māori constituencies the exact same rights as the rest of the community to cast a single vote for a candidate they prefer.

Kiwi Frontline:
Maoris were granted the rights of British citizens in the 1840 Treaty (a huge boon, especially to the thousands of Maori slaves). Therefore their voices are heard as New Zealanders. Designated Maori seats or race-based appointments with voting rights in local government subverts New Zealand’s one-person-one-vote democracy that is based on citizenship, not ethnicity.

BUT IF YOU AREN’T VOTED IN BY THE PUBLIC, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE A SAY IN COUNCIL DECISIONS, SHOULD YOU?
Dr Annie Te One: Local governments already appoint, and pay, numerous experts who are not councillors to sit on committees and sub-committees. This is to ensure the decisions they make are well informed by experts in different fields. When the first forms of British-informed local government were set up in Wellington in the 1840s, they had surveyors (who were not councillors) present at all council meetings to help develop the city plans. Mana whenua have expertise over their lands and resources that is essential to council decision-making and will make for better-informed decisions that benefit the entire community.

Kiwi Frontline:
Maori are the only race in New Zealand who have the special status of being appointed to Local Governments as a race-based group – ALL other Appointments are not race based – but rather appointments due to expertise.

Race-based appointments cannot be validated or questioned by the community in any way; they cannot be overturned by a public referendum; THEY CANNOT BE VOTED OUT.

Race-based appointees inherently support “the hand that feeds them” i.e. their sponsors. This can lead to serious bias, rampant greed or even corruption (as no one is able to challenge them, maybe not even the tribal members they supposedly represent).

In most cases, these individuals are drawn from either the bureaucracy or the tribal elite.

MĀORI NEED TO WIN A SEAT BASED ON THEIR OWN MERIT, NOT THROUGH A DESIGNATED MĀORI SEAT.
Dr Annie Te One: Being elected to a Māori seat is Māori winning a seat based on their own merit.

Kiwi Frontline:
Maori candidates standing for these seats do not have to compete with other candidates from the general community, but they are, at least, open to some competition from other local Maori willing to and with the resources to stand against them every electoral cycle. Importantly, they are voted in, if only by those registered on the Maori electoral roll.

MANA WHENUA CAN BE INVOLVED FOR PŌWHIRI AND CEREMONY, BUT NOT WITH ACTUAL DECISION-MAKING.
Dr Annie Te One: Yes, mana whenua can and should be involved in council ceremonies, if they want to, but simply inviting Māori to open events is not the same as a Te Tiriti o Waitangi partnership. It also ignores the fact pōwhiri and ceremonies are part of wider Māori political practices that in many instances open the floor for political discussion and debate.

Kiwi Frontline:
As most Maori nationalists do Dr Annie repeats the lie of a Treaty ‘partnership’ – there is no hint of a ‘partnership’ in the true Maori language 1840 Treaty that approx 500 chiefs signed.

According to David Round (law lecturer Canterbury University) the 1840 Treaty simply said:

ARTICLE ONE - simply says, the chiefs cede all their rights and powers of sovereignty to the Queen.

ARTICLE TWO - simply says, the Queen confirms and guarantees to the chiefs and tribes and ALL people of New Zealand the possession of their lands, dwellings, and all their property.

ARTICLE THREE - simply says, the Queen's government extends its protection to the people of New Zealand and grants Maori the status of British subjects.

No Less, No More

From David Round's 'The Law Made Simple' page 62 in the book Twi$ting the Treaty

GIVING MĀORI A VOICE ON COUNCILS WILL GIVE THEM MORE SAY THAN OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, WON’T IT?
Dr Annie Te One: Māori are underrepresented in local government politics, so a concern they will have too much say is overstated. More importantly, though, Māori perspectives are not in opposition to the rest of the community; Māori voices come from the public and are good for everyone.

Kiwi Frontline:
YES IT CAN - as evidenced in Auckland City Council. The mayor has the power of allocating people to sub-committees formed to review issues and make recommendations to the full council. Such recommendations are usually agreed with, simply because councillors’ workloads cannot cope with checking what has been reviewed by others.

A racial-biased mayor can place the Maori appointees on their preferred sub-committees. In Auckland’s case, this has often meant that 2 out of the 6/8 people on a sub-committee are racially motivated (i.e. 33% or 25%). If the councillors’ votes are likely to be spit 50:50, then the Maori votes ensure the racial-preferred option wins every.

It is a strange thing about the Maori activist mantra - “what is good for Maori is good for everyone” – The reality is that ‘what is good for everyone, is never good enough for Maoris’?????

MĀORI ARE ONLY 3 PERCENT OF THE POPULATION IN OUR CITY AND THAT IS TOO FEW TO WARRANT A MĀORI SEAT.
Dr Annie Te One: Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not based on population. Partnership is not dependent on population. In fact, during the debates over Māori seats in Auckland in 2009, the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance argued that even if the Māori population were to decrease, Māori representation would be even more important to ensure Māori perspectives are maintained in local decision-making.

Kiwi Frontline:
As stated above there is no ‘partnership’ in the Treaty. Maori New Zealanders have representation in Local Governments as New Zealanders – it is only a few treasonous Maori nationalists that are clammering for separatist representation.

BUT TE TIRITI O WAITANGI DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT MĀORI REPRESENTATION IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
Dr Annie Te One: Te Tiriti o Waitangi is explicit that Māori tino rangatiratanga is reaffirmed. This means Māori have the right to be directly involved in the governance of natural resources and other matters in Aotearoa. Tools such as Māori seats, or voting rights on council committees and sub-committees, are one way of working toward tino rangatiratanga. Te Tiriti is also essentially about partnership, which can begin to be met through guaranteed Māori representation.

Kiwi Frontline:
Again, the 1840 Treaty was not about ‘partnership’ and had no guarantee of Maori representation wording, it was about the ceding of FULL SOVEREIGNTY.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And in 1840 - TINO RANGATIRATANGA = FULL POSSESSION

In the TOW, Article 1, THE CHIEFS CEDED SOVEREIGNTY (KAWANATANGA) completely and for ever and they knew it. (Read Colenso’s record)

It is utterly absurd therefore to say that in Article 2, THEY (*the chiefs) SOMEHOW RETAINED IT.

Therefore, whatever the meaning of “tino rangatiratanga” it means nothing remotely like sovereignty (*or race-based involvement in governance.)

The only tenable meaning is “full possession”.

Moreover, in 1840 it was assured to ALL the people of NZ (* Article 2, and not just Maoris.)

Courtesy: Bruce Moon - * asterisks: Kiwi Frontline

LOCAL GOVERNMENT IS DOING ENOUGH ALREADY, WITH MANA WHENUA CONSULTED ON NUMEROUS ISSUES.
Dr Annie Te One: Many local governments are engaging with Māori in various ways, but, with no accountability measures on what ‘consultation’ actually means, engagement does not always result in Māori voices being clearly taken into account. Mana whenua knowledge is essential and specific expertise, and needs to be treated as such. This can be acknowledged through paid positions, voting rights and guaranteed Māori seats, all of which demonstrate the value of Māori knowledge.

Kiwi Frontline:
Perhaps the good treatyist Dr could specify what special Maori knowledge, skills, expertise that part-Maoris supposedly have that other New Zealanders do not have. (Today many so-called Maoris have more non-maori ancestry than Maori)

Dr Annie Te One (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Mutunga) is a lecturer in Te Kawa a Māui/School of Māori Studies at Te Herenga Waka— Victoria University of Wellington.
https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/news/2020/09/whats-the-big-fuss-about-maori-seats-on-councils

Please see > Local Government Hijack > https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/maori-agendas/local-government-hijack

And > Maori Wards & Appointments Q&A > https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/maori-agendas/local-government-hijack/maori-wards-appointments-qa

Informative articles by patriotic Kiwis here > https://sites.google.com/view/kiwifrontline/maori-agendas/local-government-hijack/hijack-articles