Post by Kiwi Frontline on Feb 9, 2021 12:15:56 GMT 12
THE ABUSE OF POWER – by Dr Muriel Newman.
On election night, Jacinda Ardern promised to govern for all New Zealanders. Yet here she is, barely three months later, using Parliamentary urgency to crush a fundamental democratic right of New Zealanders.
Not only that – she is misleading the country about the reasons for the law change.
The announcement by her Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta that the right of ratepayers to veto decisions by councils to establish Maori wards would be abolished, is an unprecedented attack on local government democracy.
The reasons given for the law change are lies – there is no nice way to describe it.
In her press release the Minister says, “Polls have proven to be an almost insurmountable barrier to councils trying to improve the democratic representation of Maori interests. This process is fundamentally unfair to Maori. Increasing Maori representation is essential to ensuring equity in representation and to provide a Maori voice in local decision making.”
Yet the facts tell a different story.
According to a survey carried out by Local Government New Zealand in October 2020, the proportion of Maori elected to local authorities is now 13.5 percent. With the 2018 census showing Maori as 13.7 percent of the adult population, there is no under representation.
Quite simply Maori seats are not needed to increase Maori representation because Maori are quite capable of getting elected in general seats.
Since it is inconceivable that the Minister of Local Government would not be aware of these statistics, the question is, why would she be claiming that Maori are under-represented – unless her view of fair representation is where Maori occupy half of council seats. If 50:50 partnerships is her intention, then she should state it. She should not mislead the public – although that is becoming a hallmark of the Ardern government.
Local government veto rights were introduced into law by Helen Clark’s Labour Government in 2002 as a constitutional safeguard to protect the voting system.
In any democracy the voting system is sacrosanct and needs protecting to prevent those in power from manipulating it. That’s why democratic convention requires decisions to change the electoral system to have a higher threshold than ordinary decisions......
Continue reading Muriel’s latest NZCPR newsletter here > www.nzcpr.com/the-abuse-of-power/
On election night, Jacinda Ardern promised to govern for all New Zealanders. Yet here she is, barely three months later, using Parliamentary urgency to crush a fundamental democratic right of New Zealanders.
Not only that – she is misleading the country about the reasons for the law change.
The announcement by her Minister of Local Government Nanaia Mahuta that the right of ratepayers to veto decisions by councils to establish Maori wards would be abolished, is an unprecedented attack on local government democracy.
The reasons given for the law change are lies – there is no nice way to describe it.
In her press release the Minister says, “Polls have proven to be an almost insurmountable barrier to councils trying to improve the democratic representation of Maori interests. This process is fundamentally unfair to Maori. Increasing Maori representation is essential to ensuring equity in representation and to provide a Maori voice in local decision making.”
Yet the facts tell a different story.
According to a survey carried out by Local Government New Zealand in October 2020, the proportion of Maori elected to local authorities is now 13.5 percent. With the 2018 census showing Maori as 13.7 percent of the adult population, there is no under representation.
Quite simply Maori seats are not needed to increase Maori representation because Maori are quite capable of getting elected in general seats.
Since it is inconceivable that the Minister of Local Government would not be aware of these statistics, the question is, why would she be claiming that Maori are under-represented – unless her view of fair representation is where Maori occupy half of council seats. If 50:50 partnerships is her intention, then she should state it. She should not mislead the public – although that is becoming a hallmark of the Ardern government.
Local government veto rights were introduced into law by Helen Clark’s Labour Government in 2002 as a constitutional safeguard to protect the voting system.
In any democracy the voting system is sacrosanct and needs protecting to prevent those in power from manipulating it. That’s why democratic convention requires decisions to change the electoral system to have a higher threshold than ordinary decisions......
Continue reading Muriel’s latest NZCPR newsletter here > www.nzcpr.com/the-abuse-of-power/