KEY POINTS:
With my God-fearing colleague Garth George suddenly reincarnating himself as a born-again Greenie, I'm hoping he won't spot me jumping the fence too and borrowing a story from his favourite book.
It's the tale from Genesis about God thwarting the plans of Noah's descendants to build a tower from Babel to heaven, by making them all suddenly speak different languages and incapable of understanding one another. If some of Auckland's ethnic minority groups get their way, this could be a vision of world-class Auckland, 2011.
In submissions to the Royal Commission of Inquiry on Auckland Governance, representatives from Manukau and Waitakere ethnic boards and the Pacific-sector council of the Labour Party want "ethnically" selected councillors - either appointed or elected - representing them at local government level.
Where would you start?
To quote from the Manukau City website: "'Manukau is the third largest city in New Zealand and one of the most culturally diverse areas in New Zealand, with over 165 ethnic groups resident in the city. Just under half of Manukau residents identify their ethnic grouping as European, with 17 per cent as Maori, 27 per cent as Pacific and 15 per cent as Asian. The balance is made up of a mix of other ethnic groups."
I'm guessing the rest of the melting-pot metropolis of Greater Auckland is not far behind as far as racial and cultural diversity is involved. The Waitakere Ethnic Board's recipe is for an "ethnic ward with two or three possible representatives [which] will increase immensely the ability of council to serve the ethnically diverse ratepayer communities". But which three ethnicities?
Labour's Pacific-sector council goes further, supporting "a mix of elected members as well as appointed members for specialist key stakeholders, ie, Maori, Pacific, Asian, business, environmental etc ... " with consultation "in the languages of the diverse communities of the Auckland region".
The Waitakere Pacific Board wants "enhanced proportional representation" ensuring "Pacific People" get representation based on population numbers. "It will continue to be detrimental to the growing Pacific population and the integrity and image of Auckland ... if the 'red necks' continue to rule ... "
It says existing councillors are all "dominated, tainted and influenced by the Palagi values, beliefs, needs and aspirations".
Coming through is an obvious frustration at being in a minority. But who hasn't been there? As for Palagi values and aspirations, are they really the negatives that the submission makes out?
As a liberal, the last thing I want to be accused of is being one of the "red necks", but whatever the short-comings of our present form of democracy, I'm sure selecting candidates on an ethnic or racial basis is not the right solution. Where would it start and end? Why just Pacific councillors, when you could have Samoan and Tongan and others? As for Asian, is someone from Sri Lanka or Pakistan representative of someone from, say, Hong Kong? And then there's us Pakeha. I'm historically English on my great-grandfather's side, and my mother was a Perth-born Mendelssohn, her father descended from somewhere in middle Europe and Jewish to boot. Could I have a candidate to represent my mongrel lineage as well please?
Call it a romantic delusion if you like, but I believe in the idea that migrants to New World colonies such as New Zealand and the United States came here, at least in part, to escape old labels. Embedding Old World ethnic/racial differences into the heart of our electoral system does the very opposite. It perpetuates and institutionalises these artificial boundaries and betrays the pioneers' dreams. The Pacific peoples are not the only minority to have had it hard to begin with. The appalling treatment of the first Chinese settlers resulted in recent apologies from the Crown. But the much more numerous Irish came in for plenty of stick too, especially those who happened to be Catholic as well. Auckland's Bishop Liston faced sedition charges for sympathising on the persecution of his people at home.
Of course, with legislative provision for Maori seats, you can see where the idea has come from. As a pragmatist, I understand the historical background of the existing racial division of seats within Parliament, and can live with it as long as Maori deem it necessary. But to redesign our whole democratic system based on ethnic typecasting can only be a one-way ticket back to Babel.
