It is a weird world when you get called a racist on social media and in Parliament for advocating that Council and Government should treat all people equally. I stand by my questioning of the Nelson City Council’s decision to introduce separate Maori representation and the Governments radical proposals for a Māori Health Authority with a veto over all heath decisions and the transfer of our $342 million of Nelson/Tasman water infrastructure to a new Christchurch entity half owned by iwi.
It is wrong that Council has decided to create separate Māori representation without any public consultation. It knew Nelson was opposed from the 12,298 to 3131 vote in 2012 when Council last proposed it. The Council, also without public consultation, has added iwi representatives onto its committees. The irony is the Council is now going to consult on the other wards.
The 1,720 voters in Nelson on the Māori roll will vote for one Māori Councillor. The other 38,402 voters will have one councillor per 3491 people. All votes should be equal and all Councillors should have the responsibility to represent all people.
Some Māori have said that this is just the first step and say the Treaty entitles them to 50% of representation. This contradicts Hobson’s words “He iwi tahi tatou. We are one people” and equal rights in a democracy.
The separate Māori representation on Nelson Council was enabled by Labour rushing through legislation in February, also without consultation. It was described by the NZ Herald as “law making at its worst” and “reeking of arrogance”, but strongly supported by Nelson’s Labour MP. It makes a joke of Labour's 2020 Election Manifesto on Local Government that states “Labour will ensure that major decisions about local democracy involve full participation of the local population from the outset.”
Nelson deserves better on decisions on how we are governed.
