By Roger Childs

Mayor Little

Well compensated bureaucrats in Wellington—33 employees on the Wellington City Council Rich List earn $200,000.or more

The Wellington Ratepayers’ Alliance put a full-page advertisement in The Post on Wednesday May 20 listing the rich list. All 33 bureaucrats earn more than Mayor Andrew Little staring with Town Clerk Matt Prosser on $531,616. Most are called “Chiefs” or “Managers”. At number 34, the Mayor gets 201,947.

There are similar rich lists on other city and district councils.

The top Maori official

Chief Maori Officer, Karepa Wall takes home $280 000 a year, $78,000+ more than Andrew Little. This situation raises many questions:

  • What does he do for his generous salary?
  • How many staff does he have and do they all have some Maori blood?
  • Are there Chief Officers for other ethnic groups such as Samoans, Tongans, Chinese, Indians etc …
  • On what basis does the Wellington City Council justify having a Chief Maori Officer and his staff?
  • Is this another example of special rights for Maori?

In the Treaty?

Can this situation be justified by Te Tiriti? As it happens none of the three Articles in the 1840 document mention such rights in local government. The Treaty basically promised equal citizenship rights for all New Zealanders, including the Natives as Maori were called at the time. 

With so many other special rights for present day part-Maori, who are mainly descended from colonists and settlers, the situation is in breach of Article One of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights which the country signed up to in 1948.

Equality for all New Zealand citizens is long overdue.