Post by Kiwi Frontline on Sept 4, 2021 6:55:32 GMT 12
DEMOCRACY ACTION NEWSLETTER – September 2021
I hope this update finds you well, safe in your bubble, and managing these difficult times – once again. Let's all hope that the lockdown levels move quickly, and we can all focus on the future again soon.
I doubt that the Covid lockdown has slackened the pace of the Government’s plan to amalgamate the water operations of 67 councils around the country into four mega-entities. This is despite more and more Councils expressing concern not only at the content of the reform, but also at the alarming rate at which it is being pushed. In a statement from a recent Canterbury Mayoral Forum 10 mayors from the region collectively said they have “serious concerns” about the timeframe of the reforms and fear residents may not have enough time for meaningful engagement.
Concerns about these reforms are elucidated in the thought-provoking commentary ‘Ideological government indulges sectional political constituency’ by Gary Judd QC. This is a must-read, I recommend you take the time to do so......
..........Another issue you can have a say on are local body representation reviews, which several Councils are currently undertaking - including those that need to do so to accommodate their decision to introduce Māori wards. Andy Cranston, a councillor on the Gisborne District Council, which is to establish five Māori wards, recounts a recent conversation he had with a constituent.
Cr Cranston: “I did have a cringe moment in a recent conversation when I was queried about the difference between the Maori wards and the Pakeha wards. Hearing it described in those terms hinted at a separatism I am uncomfortable with and would like to avoid”.
You think, Councillor Cranston?? Did you not consider when voting to establish Māori wards that such a move would be divisive? And if you start dividing people on a racial basis... it's going to change the way people think and feel about who they should elect? And that many of us are very uncomfortable about institutionalising racial division?.....
Read the full informative Newsletter here www.democracyaction.org.nz/september_2021 PLUS three other articles of interest
I hope this update finds you well, safe in your bubble, and managing these difficult times – once again. Let's all hope that the lockdown levels move quickly, and we can all focus on the future again soon.
I doubt that the Covid lockdown has slackened the pace of the Government’s plan to amalgamate the water operations of 67 councils around the country into four mega-entities. This is despite more and more Councils expressing concern not only at the content of the reform, but also at the alarming rate at which it is being pushed. In a statement from a recent Canterbury Mayoral Forum 10 mayors from the region collectively said they have “serious concerns” about the timeframe of the reforms and fear residents may not have enough time for meaningful engagement.
Concerns about these reforms are elucidated in the thought-provoking commentary ‘Ideological government indulges sectional political constituency’ by Gary Judd QC. This is a must-read, I recommend you take the time to do so......
..........Another issue you can have a say on are local body representation reviews, which several Councils are currently undertaking - including those that need to do so to accommodate their decision to introduce Māori wards. Andy Cranston, a councillor on the Gisborne District Council, which is to establish five Māori wards, recounts a recent conversation he had with a constituent.
Cr Cranston: “I did have a cringe moment in a recent conversation when I was queried about the difference between the Maori wards and the Pakeha wards. Hearing it described in those terms hinted at a separatism I am uncomfortable with and would like to avoid”.
You think, Councillor Cranston?? Did you not consider when voting to establish Māori wards that such a move would be divisive? And if you start dividing people on a racial basis... it's going to change the way people think and feel about who they should elect? And that many of us are very uncomfortable about institutionalising racial division?.....
Read the full informative Newsletter here www.democracyaction.org.nz/september_2021 PLUS three other articles of interest