Stop Co-Governance signs come under attack in Whangārei

Objectors have taken to Stop Co-Governance signs around Whangārei, including this one on privately owned land alongside State Highway 1, Portland. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Recent paint attacks on roadside ‘Stop Co-Governance’ signs in Whangārei might be a mark of how divisive some people find the messages and that they’re willing to risk a criminal conviction to wipe them out.

People who deface signage risk charges under the Summary Offence Act for tagging or being found on a property without reasonable excuse right through to charges under the Crimes Act for burglary or intentional damage. Penalties range from fines through to 10 years’ imprisonment.

The Stop Co-Governance signs, which appropriate the slogan from the DB Breweries (DB) Tui beer advertising campaign, use the sceptical “Yeah Right” catchphrase to negate lines such as “Co-governance is in the Treaty” and “No cultural group receives special rights in NZ”.

About 200 of them appeared on roadsides around New Zealand last year, put up by supporters of Christian evangelist Julian Batchelor’s Stop Co-Governance campaign. Batchelor reportedly vowed to erect 800 more this year.

Several of the signs are around Whangārei and one in particular prompted a Māori mum to voice her concerns to the Northern Advocate about the negative effect of the messaging on young people.

The mum, who didn’t want to be named, said her daughter spotted one on Tarewa Rd directly opposite Terenga Paraoa Marae on their way to school one day.

It read: “If iwi want separate everything they should have to pay for it”.

One mum says her 10-year-old daughter was "really sad" to learn what the slogan on this sign means. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Her daughter, who is in immersion schooling and was “very educated on the Treaty (of Waitangi)”, asked her what it meant, the woman said.

“Having to tell [my daughter] that there are some people out there who think Māori shouldn’t have any rights under the Treaty or that we shouldn’t have a voice made her feel really sad.

“Telling her that people don’t really like us was not a nice conversation to have,” the woman said.

The mum believed the signs should be banned.

“If it was the other way around and the signs were attacking Pākehā, there would be an uproar.”

Told about the incident, the chair of the Whangārei District Council’s Te Karearea standing committee, Deborah Harding, agreed that “seeing these signs repeatedly does have the potential to negatively affect the wellbeing of some of our community”.

She had previously spoken out against the signs, calling them “divisive and unhelpful”.

The council’s vision was for an “inclusive, resilient, and sustainable district”.

“The billboards do not reflect that vision, and nor do they align with the work council and hapū have been doing to build relationships,” Harding said.

This Stop Co-Governance sign, at Waikaraka, Whangārei, has been painted out. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Mayor Vince Cocurullo echoed the comments but also said, “Councils are all about democracy” and that as per the overriding Bill of Rights Act “everyone has a right to express their own opinion”.

“The law is not clear in terms of where freedom of expression becomes hate speech, or even what hate speech is. Nor does it show clear definition of ‘advocating discrimination’”, Cocurullo said.

Meanwhile, the NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said it had received one communication about the signs in Northland since they went up. It wasn’t logged as a complaint but as a request for the sign to be taken down. As the sign was on private property, the matter was referred to the council.

Police said they had not received any reports about this specific signage in Whangārei - either about them causing concern or being painted out. However, the Whangārei District Council (WDC) said it had received eight complaints about the signs, resulting in people being told to remove or modify the signs to comply with the council’s Control of Advertising Signs bylaw.

WDC health and bylaws manager Reina Mussle said two of the signs - the one on Tarewa Rd and another on Kiripaka Rd - were taken down because they were put up without the council’s permission - a breach of the bylaw. Six on private land were modified to comply.

Had the signs not been removed or taken down, the council could have seized and refused to release them until the owner paid for the removal and storage costs, Mussle said.

There was nothing council could do about the messaging on the signs as it didn’t reach the high threshold under the bylaw to be considered “offensive and discriminatory”. In any event, that bylaw was trumped by a section of the Bill of Rights Act allowing for freedom of speech.

The act also trumped Local Government New Zealand’s published expectations of councils, which required elected members to “ensure a safe and thriving environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging” and to recognise the status of Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi, including “the rights of Māori to participate as citizens alongside all other citizens in the public life of communities”, Mussle said.

A Stop Co-Governance sign on Heads Rd, Waikaraka, was also recently painted out. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Contacted by the Advocate for comment, Batchelor said he assumed the recent paint attacks on signs locally were by “iwi” and “showed their true colours”.

Regarding the signs that the council had asked be removed, Batchelor said the campaign had been unfairly targeted.

“The bylaw stated that only one sign per site was allowed. We complied but not before noticing that many other businesses and private enterprises have two or more signs up, and council have done nothing about these breaches. Conclusion? The council does not believe in one law for all, clearly.”

Brewer DB immediately distanced itself from the campaign when the signs first appeared, telling media it was “looking into” what it could do to put a stop to them. However, the company did not respond when approached by the Advocate for an update this year.

Sarah Curtis is a news reporter for the Northern Advocate, focusing on a wide range of issues. She has nearly 20 years’ experience in journalism, much of which she spent court reporting. She is passionate about covering stories that make a difference