KEY POINTS:
Press release from Manurewa Councillors Colleen Brown and Anne Candy:
Manurewa Councillors Colleen Brown and Anne Candy are delighted with the final outcome of the council debate on the flying of flags from council flagpoles.
The flag issue arose when the Treaty of Waitangi Committee were asked to consider the flying of the Maori flag during Waitangi celebrations. As there is no council policy informing the committee of how to make a decision on the matter, the committee asked for a report on the protocols and issues surrounding the flying of any other flags other than the New Zealand and Council flags.
'A few Councillors have hijacked the clear process Council has for dealing with such matters and tried to create policy through press releasees, ' said Councillor Colleen Brown.
'I'm glad we had enough collective commonsense to see through the tactic and respect not only the decision made by the treaty committee, but also the relationships with Maori forged over the years by successive councils, 'she added.
Councillor Anne Candy said, 'I am impressed with the open-mindedness of new Councillors serving on the treaty, the majority of whom supported the original decision to ask for a report on protocols. The relationships with Maori have taken decades to build up and in the end Council acknowledged this through their voting last night.
Both Councillors are of the opinion that the new policy will allow for new opportunities for the city to acknowledge some of the many important relationships they hold with not only sister cities but Pacific nations and visiting delegations.
