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Councillors last night shot down a proposal that would have banned two Maori flags from flying on the Manukau City Council's buildings.
In a heated debate, some accused councillor Jami-Lee Ross of racism for asking that tino rangatiratanga and kingitanga (Maori King Movement) flags never be flown on municipal buildings.
However, he wanted a provision for any other flag in "extraordinary circumstances".
On the face of it that seemed like "discrimination," those opposed to Mr Ross's position said.
The council was discussing a staff report on a flag policy that was requested by the council's Treaty of Waitangi committee.
It follows Transit's refusal to fly the tino rangatiratanga flag from the Auckland Harbour Bridge, and makes the council - which has a 15 per cent Maori population - the biggest in the country to have debated the issue.
Mr Ross said the city and national ensigns were "perfectly appropriate," and the three months allocated to draft a report on the issue would end up as a waste of ratepayers' money.
"I don't believe the council needs a flag policy," he said.
"The council should focus its attention on its scheduled policy programme and deal with real issues such as crime and infrastructure" - issues which he said his constituents were more worried about.
He said if Maori expected their flags flown, each of Manukau's 185 ethnic communities would want to do the same thing.
"We need to keep it very simple and just fly the New Zealand flag because it represents everyone in Manukau City."
Mr Ross was backed by councillors Daniel Newman and Bob Wichman, who argued that every dollar counted when the council was trying to control spiralling rates.
The defeat was a crushing 13 to 4 against Mr Ross's motion.
Treaty committee chairman Alf Filipaina told Mr Ross it was strange that he supported any other flag except for "those Maori-sounding ones".
Mayor Len Brown voted against Mr Ross, saying Manukau City had worked hard on its relationship with Maori and the council should respect the committee's decisions.
