Post by Kiwi Frontline on Mar 5, 2018 16:20:52 GMT 12
MĀORI SUCCESS UNDERMINES MĀORI WARD CAMPAIGN LAUNCH
OPINION: The day the National Party caucus picked a Māori leader and deputy undermined the launch of a campaign by supporters of Māori wards in Palmerston North and Manawatū.
A key argument of supporters of Māori wards is that Māori candidates need some affirmative action to get ahead in politics.
But no affirmative action is needed in Parliament, where there are 29 MPs with Māori ancestry, with 22 who got there by merit and seven by way of reserved seats.
"Vote yes" committee member Teanau Tuiono said that Māori representation on councils honours the Treaty of Waitangi.
But he would be hard-pressed to point to where the treaty talks about Māori representation, or even partnership, because it doesn't.
The best that Māori ward proponents can say is that there will be one or two seats and we have to do it because of the treaty, which, frankly is not sufficient information to make an informed decision.
If council decisions are mainly to do with roads, clean drinking water, sewage, drainage, libraries, sports facilities and cultural centres, all of which are for the benefit of everyone, what benefit would a Māori ward bring?
Māori wards increasingly appear to be a solution looking for a problem to solve.
www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/101935701/mori-success-undermines-mori-ward-campaign-launch
OPINION: The day the National Party caucus picked a Māori leader and deputy undermined the launch of a campaign by supporters of Māori wards in Palmerston North and Manawatū.
A key argument of supporters of Māori wards is that Māori candidates need some affirmative action to get ahead in politics.
But no affirmative action is needed in Parliament, where there are 29 MPs with Māori ancestry, with 22 who got there by merit and seven by way of reserved seats.
"Vote yes" committee member Teanau Tuiono said that Māori representation on councils honours the Treaty of Waitangi.
But he would be hard-pressed to point to where the treaty talks about Māori representation, or even partnership, because it doesn't.
The best that Māori ward proponents can say is that there will be one or two seats and we have to do it because of the treaty, which, frankly is not sufficient information to make an informed decision.
If council decisions are mainly to do with roads, clean drinking water, sewage, drainage, libraries, sports facilities and cultural centres, all of which are for the benefit of everyone, what benefit would a Māori ward bring?
Māori wards increasingly appear to be a solution looking for a problem to solve.
www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/opinion/101935701/mori-success-undermines-mori-ward-campaign-launch