Robin Bishop (Letters, January 3) thinks that a Maori ward on the city council would achieve no more than the present Tangata Whenua committee. However, a Maori ward is different because a councillor has the right to debate and vote on issues at all council meetings. The Tangata Whenua committee does not have that right.
It is surely sensible that somebody from the Maori community rather than a Pakeha councillor conveys Maori views to the council. With a Maori ward, the operation of the Tangata Whenua committee can always be changed. That is no big deal.
A principle of the American Revolution was that taxation without representation is unjust. The Maori community is paying the same rates as everybody else but has no representation on the council. Surely that is unjust.
Peter Dey
Welcome Bay
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