New Zealand took a step closer to the destruction of democracy last night with the first reading of Tāmati Coffey’s Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill which would allow Rotorua District Council to allocate greater electoral power to those who chance to have some Maori ancestry, Hobson’s Pledge Trustee Casey Costello says.
“The Bill allocates three ward representatives to the 22,000 Maori Roll voters in Rotorua and another three to the 56,000 voters on the General Roll. This assault on the fundamental principle of one person, one vote is an outrageous rejection of New Zealand’s proud democratic heritage.”
“Coffey sent the Bill to the Maori Affairs Select Committee, which he chairs, and said he would seek to restrict the Committee’s time to consider the bill to less than eight weeks, instead of the usual six months. Coffey is giving the public only two weeks to send submissions to the Committee, showing further contempt for democracy and the New Zealand public.”
“Last week, the Prime Minister attempted to reassure New Zealanders that Labour was very clear on what co-governance means and was critical of other parties trying to turn co-governance into ‘something it was not.’”
“This Bill codifies in law the value of a Maori vote as having greater worth and power than a non-Maori vote. This should be abhorrent to every New Zealander.”
“Hobson’s Pledge believes this is an appalling attack on democracy and will set a precedent for all councils. We will fight this legislation every step of the way to defend our democracy.”
“Labour’s agenda to have our wonderful nation divided by race is further exposed today. Maori, as recent polls confirm, are concerned with the same issues as all New Zealanders, being cost of living, housing, and health.”
“Instead of creating more of the division that only benefits the Maori elite, Labour should address those issues that all New Zealanders, Maori and non-Maori alike, say they care about more than who sits in which seats on councils,” said Casey Costello.
You can make a submission here https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/make-a-submission/document/53SCMA_SCF_BILL_121327/rotorua-district-council-representation-arrangements
Will somebody please bring a vote of no confidence in this government. It is completely out of control. I’m not anti-Maori, I’m married to one, but the way things are going in this country under Ardern there will be a takeover by our brown brothers soon.
Not all the brown brothers, just the top 1% of them who own-control the wealth and are in positions of power, and in practice probably only the top 0.1%.
Probably labour just lost 56,000 votes in rotorua alone. But what we have is not a government its a group of elitist rich maori running the country into the ground.,
An early election is what is needed now.