Under a new law, 22,000 Māori roll voters in Rotorua will get three seats, the same number as the 56,000 general roll voters. Photo / Sarah Ivey, File
Under a new law, 22,000 Māori roll voters in Rotorua will get three seats, the same number as the 56,000 general roll voters. Photo / Sarah Ivey, File
OPINION
New Zealand is a young country, but one of the world's oldest democracies. For more than a century, Kiwis of all ethnicities have enjoyed freedoms and rights that, sadly, still remain the envy of many parts of the world.
Of this, we should be proud.
Billions of people acrossthe world don't have a meaningful say in who governs them and in decisions affecting their lives – either because they have no vote at all, or they are forced to participate in fake elections where the one approved candidate gets 99 per cent support.
In Ukraine, people are giving their lives to defend what freedoms they have to determine their own destiny.
One of the core principles of our democracy is one person, one vote. That we, as New Zealanders, are all treated the same. Our individual votes have equal power in deciding who governs the country and in decisions affecting our lives.
Astoundingly, this principle is currently under assault by the Labour Party, led by Jacinda Ardern.
Tamati Coffey, a Labour List MP based in Rotorua, has introduced a Local Bill for the Rotorua District Council that seeks to throw out the one person, one vote principle, as it is enshrined in the Local Electoral Act.
Under the Local Electoral Act, if there are Māori seats on the council, the number of those seats has to be determined proportionately according to the number of people on the Māori roll versus the number of people on the general roll.
There may be separate Māori seats, but each person's vote – whether they are Māori, Pākehā, or of any other ethnicity – is still given the same weight.
That's as it should be.
In Coffey's Bill, however, the 22,000 Māori roll voters in Rotorua will get three seats, the same number as the 56,000 general roll voters.
Each Māori roll vote is worth roughly two-and-a-half general roll votes.
If passed – Labour and the Greens are voting for it enthusiastically – this Bill will undeniably create two classes of citizens in Rotorua.
This is not a trivial change.
It shakes the foundation of what most New Zealanders regard as a basic human right to living in a free society – that my vote is worth as much as anyone else's.
It clearly discriminates against those New Zealanders who are not on the Māori roll.
Some might say, it's only Rotorua, and special circumstances apply there.
Nonsense. Rotorua today, the rest of the country tomorrow. Labour MPs speaking in favour of the Bill made it clear that they see this as just the start. Other councils would follow suit.
Coffey's colleague, Rino Tirikatene, has also introduced the Canterbury Regional Council Bill, which is arguably worse, in a different way. Under its provisions, 14 councillors will be elected democratically, then after the election, Ngai Tahu will appoint two more – by fiat, without even bothering with elections.
Once the principle of one person, one vote is abandoned at local government level, pressure will build for something similar at the central government level.
It is hard to think of a more divisive agenda for any government to be pushing.
To make matters worse, Ardern's Government is trying to push through this fundamental change in principle to our constitutional arrangements urgently, with as little debate as possible.
Submitters on the Rotorua Council bill had a grand two weeks to express their views.
Big, radical changes to our democracy are being peddled in obscure local Bills by backbench MPs – with the Minister of Justice, the Attorney General and others nowhere to be seen.
These rushed, sneaky bills have become the stock-in-trade of this government.
Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Mark Mitchell
It astounds me that the human rights lobby, constitutional lawyers, the Crown Law Office and other members of civil society are so relaxed about all this. Sadly, it speaks of a climate of fear that stifles open debate on these issues.
Have they forgotten Article 21 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
"The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures."
Equal suffrage.
The National Party opposes both the Rotorua and Canterbury proposals firmly.
Our country is imperfect. We have many inequities, a fraught history and much work to do. But no inequities will be improved by shifting away from the bedrock of our relative success as a nation.
A core element of the liberal democracy we enjoy is the fundamental principle of one person, one vote.
We should not casually throw it away.
• Paul Goldsmith is National's justice spokesperson.
