“This is mindless narrow-minded behaviour” and “we won’t give in to racism”.
Candid responses by Tasman District Council (TDC) following repeated “racist” damage to one of its five bilingual ‘Welcome to Tasman’ signs.
TDC says the targeted sign near Upper Buller had needed fixing several times in the past 18 months after damage which included removing all te reo Māori and sometimes leaving racist comments in their place.
“The sign has been chopped down, endured multiple holes through the sign [no confirmation of the cause of said holes] as well as previous attempts to remove or diminish the te reo text,” it says.
“In one case of vandalism in 2023, there was ‘let’s wipe out te reo Māori’ scrawled on the sign.
“This is mindless narrow-minded behaviour, and we can’t stand it at all.”
TDC says it respected and embraced te reo Māori and was proud to welcome people to the district with the language alongside English.
“If you are that offended by a welcoming message, which is also written in English, then it sounds like a you problem, rather than an us problem – or an all of ratepayers’ problem,” it says.
“No one is losing or giving up anything through the use of te reo Māori, in fact, we are gaining something.
“Whakamutua atu tēnei mahi nanakia. E whakaute ana mātou ki te ao Māori, te reo Māori me ōna āhuatanga. Kia kaha e hoa mā – Cut out the scoundrel behaviour. We respect the Māori worldview, language and culture. Do/be better guys.”
TDC says the only thing that was being achieved by the vandals was wasting ratepayers’ money.
It says sign repairs cost between $200 and $250 because the signs have been treated to enable graffiti removal.
“Previous repairs have been up to four times that amount, due to the nature of the damage. So overall, it’s in the thousands,” TDC says.
