Local Councils Defy Central Government Agenda

Written By: - Date published: 4:16 pm, August 30th, 2024 - 38 comments
Categories: local government, Maori Issues, Maori seats, referendum, simeon brown - Tags: , , , ,

Reposted from Mountain Tui Substack post

One of the things that has got me interested recently is updates about Māori wards.

In April, Stuff’s Karanama Ruru reported that ~ 2/3 of our 78 councils had adopted Māori wards in NZ.

That meant that under the Coalition repeal of Labour’s law, those 44 would now be forced to voluntarily get rid of Māori wards or put it to a 2025 referendum. (One council has the choice to wait until 2028.)

Simeon Brown made his formal announcement earlier in the year:

The Coalition Government will reverse the previous government’s divisive changes that denied local communities the ability to determine whether to establish Māori wards.

No Right Turn has a running tab on the results, and we are also seeing direct updates from around the country

Two days ago, I noted we were 18 on 20 i.e. 90% of voting Councils kept the wards.

Today we are at 29 out of 31 i.e. 94%.

So far, only Kaipara District Council has chosen to disestablish their Māori ward. Upper Hutt rescinded its original decision to have them too.

Yet more interestingly, No Right Turn writes:

The opposition is (coming) from provincial and rural councils – National’s base.

In Palmerston North, the mayor and all National councillors opposed the government. In the Manawatū-Whanganui Regional Council, the most vocal opponent was Jono Naylor, a former National MP.

And the reason for this is simple: like the Māori seats, Māori wards work, and once they exist, everyone can see it. Which is I suspect what racist National was afraid of.

Now some of you may remember that Palmy North’s Grant Smith even went on to Sean Plunkett’s The Platform in May to try to explain why keeping Māori wards is actually good for NZ and communities – but he was taken down by an aggressive Plunkett who wanted nothing to do with hearing it.

Notwithstanding that, it seems the double speak campaign is faltering.

I particularly enjoyed the reporting coming out of the Horizons Regional Council vote (emphasis mine) –

Deputy chair Jono Naylor said the value of the council’s two Māori constituencies spoke for itself. “Our understanding around this table over the last almost two years has grown because of the presence of Te Kenehi [Teira] and Jim [Edmonds] at our table. We’re all the better for that.”

But he was deeply concerned that the decision would force a binding poll.

“I’m really disturbed by that – the actual racist nature of the legislation that makes us do that.

“We don’t have to have binding polls about any of our other constituencies. We just pick on the Māori one. If there was to be a poll, the only people who should be polled would be those on the Māori roll to decide for themselves if that’s how they want to do it.”

Naylor said the issue was not about treating everyone the same but about seeking equal outcomes.

“If we want Māori to prosper and have the same outcomes as non-Māori then sometimes we’ve got to do things a little bit differently.

“This is the right thing to do and our region is better if we keep following that path.”

Chair Rachel Keedwell said she was incensed by Government changes to Māori ward and constituency rules.

“I take the description of the legislation as being racist one step further.

“Not only do we not need a binding poll on any other type of constituency, but we don’t need one if we choose to disestablish the Māori constituencies. We only need it if we are choosing to establish it. That’s very one-directional…

Keedwell highlighted “the hypocrisy coming down from central government, interfering in how we choose to set our own representation arrangements”.

Astute points that cut right through to the heart of what is happening.

The report goes on to higlight community concerns about the costs to run community referendums.

And they’re valid –

Greater Wellington reports that their referendum will cost ratepayers $350,000. And Wellington’s one up to $200,000.

Simeon Brown’s response? After some authoritative admonishment to Councils, he lectures:

“Councils should not be afraid of asking their constituents what they think with a referendum – the ultimate form of localism.”

Sent via email.

Still – the results speak for themselves. 94% have rejected the Coalition government’s racist legislation effort.

And although Councils can anticipate Hobsons Pledge and Jordan Williams/David Farrar efforts to run interference during referendums next year, so far the sparks are bright.

PS Councils had pleaded before and during the select committee process for the government not to impose the Māori ward legislation and costs on them. The pro-localism National led government ignored it all.

38 comments on “Local Councils Defy Central Government Agenda ”

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  1. Cricklewood 1
    30 August 2024 at 4:27 pm

    Honestly these referendums are chance for the left to rally around the cause, organize and get out what should be a very motivated voter base. It'll win the election and cement the wards in place.

    • Champagne Socialist 1.1
      31 August 2024 at 10:30 am

      That's not how it works – the number of high profile media personalities with sharp tongues and cruel words will dominate the media and political narrative.

      Each time a NZ Council holds a referendum on Maori wards all kinds of organizations will come out of the dark corners they rest in during sunlight hours – Hobsons Choice, Better Wellington, The Tax Payers Union, Stop 3 Waters etc. Already these groups get disproportionate air time because they are connected, loud and overbearing. This is potentially going to happen over and over again at each referendum – it'll be like beating a horse to death and then just carrying on beating it's corpse into a bloody pulp.

      This is the intended outcome – it is not an accident – it is planned and intentional.

      Most Kiwi's won't bother looking into it too deeply and will go with the prevailing and loudest media narrative – if that narrative is 'let's give someone a kicking' then that's what they'll go with.

      Read The Lottery by Shirley Jackson to get insight into why un-necessary cruelty is such a powerful social force.

  2. thinker 2
    30 August 2024 at 6:55 pm

    As an Aucklander, we got the so-called super city forced on us.

    Then the RW thought they were going to talk and politick their way into rolling out the model nationally.

    But, unlike in Rogernomics time, people were too saavy.

    I think this might go the same way, hopefully. Although there's maybe bound to be some areas that fall over.

    I'm guessing though that the ones that don't pass the referendum would be those stuck in a time warp, and there'll be other chances for them.

    But, you're right Cricklewood, this a great chance for Labour to notice the parade and jump in front of it.

  3. tWig 3
    30 August 2024 at 7:49 pm

    Our Manawatu regional council stated boldly with its annual rates explainer that one third of those in its region are Māori.

  4. tsmithfield 4
    31 August 2024 at 8:10 am

    I think it is absolutely predictable that councils will vote to retain Maori wards regardless of what they really think. The reason is that it deflects local angst against them. They can say they are doing their best within the law to retain the wards, and then follow the law in holding referendums. If the referendum results in Maori wards being dropped then councils can just say they did their best.

    Either way, it isn't really defying the government. The government has said they have to either drop the wards or hold a referendum to retain them. So, putting it to a referendum is completely within the scope of the governments requirements.

    • Mountain Tui 4.1
      31 August 2024 at 9:58 am
      • 2/3rds of all Mayors and Chairs urged the government not to legislate – signing a public letter and going to press with that
      • National aligned Mayors consistently and publicly argued Maori wards are good for communities and for NZ productivity
      • Most Councils again argued against it publicly during Select Committee

      While I agree with you that in some ways it is easier for them to keep it and take it to the people, the context above is still important.

      And local government has a power differential with central government.

      Particularly here where National-ACT are much wealthier / have a bully pulpit this lot aren't afraid to use e.g at the recent LG event / and are backed by moneyed up pressure groups like Hobsons Pledge, Wright Family’s Sean Plunkett, Taxpayers Union, Free Speech Union + sympathetic media in NZME

      So for most, yes it's a defiance for what their powers will allow – but it doesn't mean that the outcome will remain, simply because the power of misinformation / fear campaigns like Brexit and 3 Waters are often effective – and it's been obvious for a while now that ACT and their backers will wage it.

  5. Gareth 5
    31 August 2024 at 8:57 am

    And the reason for this is simple: like the Māori seats, Māori wards work, and once they exist, everyone can see it.

    Then Maori wards will easily win the referendums, right?

    • Mountain Tui 5.1
      31 August 2024 at 9:50 am

      Of course not. Because interference and campaigns like "Stop 3 Waters" will use all the resources to tell people it's racist and bad for NZ.

      That's what the path of populism is about – taking it to the people so you can leave out enough nuance and detail so they vote the way you want AKA Brexit.

      • Gareth 5.1.1
        31 August 2024 at 9:52 am

        Is there any issue that you think it's appropriate to hold a referendum on?

        • Mountain Tui 5.1.1.1
          31 August 2024 at 10:42 am

          Since we're talking about unrelated connections, I'll add that you* in the statement below = rich interests and those that become on with their viewpoints.

          That's what the path of populism is about – taking it to the people so you can leave out enough nuance and detail so they vote the way you want AKA Brexit.

          • Gareth 5.1.1.1.1
            31 August 2024 at 10:47 am

            Again, do you think that all referendums are illegitimate?

            • Mountain Tui 5.1.1.1.1.1
              31 August 2024 at 11:12 am

              Do you like cheeseburgers? Or do you believe they should all be banned?

              That's the type of logic I'm seeing here.

            • roblogic 5.1.1.1.1.2
              2 September 2024 at 9:17 pm

              That is like asking if the free market is truly free. Only when there is a level playing field and the players are operating in good faith and the ref is able to enforce the rules.

    • Incognito 5.2
      31 August 2024 at 10:32 am

      The difference between can and does aka none is so blind as those who don’t want to see. You’ve been around here long enough to have picked up some political nous and thus it seems to me that you’ve got a political blind spot in your Right eye.

    • Mike the Lefty 5.3
      2 September 2024 at 12:14 pm

      If the argument wasn't corrupted into one where those opposed to Maori wards feel that Maori will somehow use their increased presence on councils to stick it to pakehas then the referenda would win.

      But we know that is how they operate.

      Whether it works or not is immaterial to their argument.

  6. Champagne Socialist 6
    31 August 2024 at 10:08 am

    This is a political trap. The government is gearing up to use Maori to divide the NZ electorate. These councils and their Mayors will now become targets for well funded and well organized media platforms and right wing activists – exactly as intended by Luxon and Brown.

    This has been carefully planned and orchestrated to generate culture war noise that can be used for electoral advantage. If you add the referendums for Maori wards to the referendum on the Treaty itself you start to see the bigger picture. The effectiveness of a divisive referendum can be seen from Brexit in the UK which gave the Conservatives a massive electoral windfall.

    The National government is getting ready to use race-baiting as one of it's primary electoral strategies. Initially this will target council elections and if successful will be used in the 2026 general election.

    The forward thinking, community minded councilors around NZ are about to get crushed as Plunket, Hosking, Laws and Duplicity ramp up their attacks through the media. This will be backed up with government reductions in funding and right wing electoral activists come council election time.

    The attacks on councils will be very similar to the attacks on the public service and curtailing council spending and rates will be the end game.

    The right are well organized, well funded and their strategists are at least 10 steps ahead of the left and middle NZ. If you get underneath the noise you can see what the destination looks like – it includes the destruction of progressive consensus in NZ and taking apart any moderation in the way the economy operates.

    • Mountain Tui 6.1
      31 August 2024 at 10:15 am

      Unfortunately I don’t disagree.

    • Res Publica 6.2
      2 September 2024 at 8:31 am

      The only antidote to that is to make up the overweening disparity in resources by being ferociously organized, disciplined, and building a countervailing narrative that can protect the progressive consensus.

      We have the talent. We have the capacity. We are on the right side of history here

      • Mountain Tui 6.2.1
        2 September 2024 at 2:48 pm

        But do we have the reach?

        Unless the grassroots can truly mobilise in sufficient numbers, in this pyramid we live within, the top ones have the most money and reach – including into media channels like NZME

        https://mountaintui.substack.com/p/when-matthew-hootton-was-right

        • Res Publica 6.2.1.1
          3 September 2024 at 8:18 am

          If it were easy, it wouldn't be any fun, would it? laugh

          To be fair, no. The Left does not currently have the same media and (dis)information outrage machine the right can spin up at the drop of a hat. Undoing that will be the work of several lifetimes.

          I think the left definitely needs to build and maintain an intellectual and media infrastructure to counterprogram the likes of Hoksing and the NZI, and build the leftist narrative a referred to in my first post.

          You're certainly doing more than a little to do just that with your efforts Mountain Tui. I wish I could write with even a tenth of your eloquence and clarity!

          In the meantime, what we can do is collectively have as many of those summer BBQ or dinner table conversations with our friends and family as possible. And hope that hearing from actual people with actual views instead of the Hobsons Pledge crowd will convince the silent majority to care enough to vote in favour of the wards.

          Or at the very least, give them something to think about.

          We forget sometimes that all politics is both very personal and very local.

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 6.2.1.1.1
            3 September 2024 at 8:27 am

            Hundreds of Wellington residents have piled on to social media to call for tea and toast to be put back on the menu of the city's maternity wards.

            https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/526706/outcry-after-hospitals-denies-new-mums-toast-and-tea-after-labour

            I link as an example of People becoming both motivated…and activated.

            • Mountain Tui 6.2.1.1.1.1
              3 September 2024 at 5:49 pm

              I saw that PsyclingLeft.Always but I think that it's interesting how the public only gets activated on certain cases e.g. cancer drugs, accommodation allowance, toast.

              In each of those cases, this government folded immediately, but for the most part, the public doesn't care about what is happening or the direction the government is taking us in, and I feel that that's a pity.

              • PsyclingLeft.Always …
                3 September 2024 at 7:15 pm

                Hi Mountain Tui, yes it does seem a great pity, and a lesson from History, that people wont get active until… ?

                To kind of paraphrase (with some humour : )

                "First they came for…and I did nothing

                Then they came for….and I did nothing

                But when they came for the Toast….I got mad as ! "

                There are quite probably many disparate groups who are also mad as hell about their particular Toast…somehow we need them to join together.

                Oh yea, there was this….Penny Simmonds and Waipa Incinerator….

                “The Minister’s announcement referenced the widespread public interest in the proposal as a factor in her decision.”

                “Don’t Burn Waipa thanks those who joined us on protest marches, came along to community meetings, wrote to MPs, wrote to the paper, bought signs and Tee shirts and made written submissions. Those efforts have paid off. This decision may have gone the other way without you.”

                https://dontburnwaipa.org.nz/

                Solidarity. And keep on great work Mountain Tui.

                • Mountain Tui …
                  3 September 2024 at 8:08 pm

                  This is an amazing example, PsyclingLeft.Always

                  https://dontburnwaipa.org.nz/

                  Great stuff yes

                  Thank you and yes if we can find some widespread solidarity that would be great. To me, the government doesn't care about these small items like toast, to them, they're just opportunities to show they "listen". I wish NZ would get angry about the big stuff – maybe one day – like Waipa.

                  • PsyclingLeft.Always …
                    4 September 2024 at 8:18 am

                    Cheers for that Mountain Tui. I highly rate your Input here on the Standard. I had a thought on the "disparate" groups etc…As you could see from Waipa Incinerator, there are Online Groups (I'm mainly Environmental , but of course Left related : ) I sign petitions etc..

                    Would you think its worthwhile, if you put up a Post on Who, What and Why? Maybe…. Like Minds, Alike, for Action?

                    The Waipa one was Action Station

                    https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/climate-change-chaos-dontburnwaipa

                    There is 350 Aotearoa

                    https://350.org.nz/?akid=415851.2246109.Q-FCPL&rd=1&source=em20240827header&t=1

                    “ActionStation Aotearoa”

                    And many others…

                    Power to you : )

                    • Mountain Tui …
                      4 September 2024 at 10:14 am

                      Thank you. Ironically there are issues that I don't wade into too much just because my base instinct is laziness and I am not yet sufficiently learned on matters of detailed climate or gender discussions. However, I am strongly pro-nature and pro-environment. The trees teach me the way and I am grateful.

                      I will ponder this one some more, and probably have to do some further research about it….but it's a good one. Thank you muchly smiley

                  • PsyclingLeft.Always …
                    4 September 2024 at 3:14 pm

                    Hi Mountain Tui, sorry, no reply button on your other comment so…I hear you on the detailed Climate ( I spent years attempting to reason with nutbar Climate deniers…sadly mostly a waste of my time : )

                    And the Gender one…fraught seems an apt word? Also seems intensely microfocused…

                    Anyway you wrote..

                    However, I am strongly pro-nature and pro-environment. The trees teach me the way and I am grateful.

                    Yep. I like that. From this..Good flows.The Japanese have Shinrin-yoku

                    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinrin-yoku

                    And every Culture since Forests have had similar.

                    Not laziness. Take it easy….

          • Mountain Tui 6.2.1.1.2
            3 September 2024 at 5:47 pm

            "In the meantime, what we can do is collectively have as many of those summer BBQ or dinner table conversations with our friends and family as possible. And hope that hearing from actual people with actual views instead of the Hobsons Pledge crowd will convince the silent majority to care enough to vote in favour of the wards.

            Or at the very least, give them something to think about.

            We forget sometimes that all politics is both very personal and very local."

            Very nice, Res Publica. Thanks for the encouragement and reminder.

  7. Mike the Lefty 7
    31 August 2024 at 10:12 am

    The local councils are in effect saying "one, two, three, four – we don't want your racist war!".

    So obvious that this government is driven by ideology rather than common sense.

    Even some of their allies are becoming irritated by it all.

    • Res Publica 7.1
      2 September 2024 at 8:36 am

      What will be interesting is if any councils will be willing to defy the government and refuse to comply with the law. Palmy is definitely investigating that as an option.

      If so, it may open the door for others to follow suit.

      And if that happens, how much political capital is our notional Prime Minister and his sniveling little lackey willing to spend on sacking a significant chunk of elected councils to protect what is essentially ACT party policy? They may be a feckless idiots both, but I'm pretty sure they're feckless idiots that can count.

  8. Kay 8
    31 August 2024 at 4:33 pm

    Obviously, only the really important referendum issues have to be binding- (or held in the first place) like a new flag, and Maori wards. Neither of those things have any negative bearing on the lives of citizens, but can certainly be considered wasteful spending.

    But a citizens initiated referendum about the pretty major matter of state asset selloffs in 2013 was not allowed to be binding, so of course, a result going against government policy was always going to fail. And we know what happened there.