Comment: Pushing through decisions risks dividing district

Dr Reynold Macpherson

Six months ago, at the mayor's instigation, the Te Arawa Partnership Plan proposed to give the iwi two unelected representatives on the Rotorua District Council, plus 50 per cent control of the Resource Management Committee and their own parallel administration. The plan was flatly rejected by Rotorua ratepayers.

Council officials have since provided finance and staff to support several hui, including one on December 14. With respect, we invite Te Arawa to reaffirm the principles of democracy.

In recent times the council, with the support of the mayor, has increasingly paid lip service to due process and pushed through numerous decisions and changes to delegations for discretionary spending. So, we may ask, where to from here?

Given the mayor's increasingly unilateral decision making, our guess is that she will ram through her preferred model of representation at the last meeting of the year on December 18, hoping that the political fallout will fade over Christmas.

Such tactics would be ill-advised and will most likely backfire. Many councillors have recently come to the conclusion that this council has over-stepped the mark with the lack of due process. The lack of consultation prior to controversial near split-vote decisions is creating a legacy of division. Ramming through unelected representation will push the boundaries of democracy, and once again, divide our district. Public tolerance of such behaviour is fading.

Whilst we acknowledge this commentary is speculative, and we do hope we are proved wrong, we would nevertheless put money on the mayor risking another ram-through. Why?

The mayor has recently claimed publicly and vehemently that the issue of Maori wards - which was unanimously rejected by council just last month - is not related to the proposal of appointing additional unelected Maori to council. Rubbish! Both are race-based approaches.

In a democracy, no one may be discriminated against (or advantaged) on the basis of race, religion, ethnic group, or gender.

The mayor should be well aware that if she tinkers with the fundamentals of democracy, she will be picking a fight with the vast majority of all of our people.

We believe that unelected ethnic representation is so controversial it would need to go out for public consultation.

Any attempt to ram through ethnically privileged representation will be extremely divisive in our community.

The mayor now needs to explain why she has provided preferential support to only one iwi during the last six months, basically to refine their political demands, while apparently denying that opportunity to the majority of ratepayers of Rotorua. While Maori may make up 24 per cent (11,500) of the electors of Rotorua, not all are affiliated to Te Arawa.

The key issue here is that each citizen's rights in a democracy are equal, and can't be taken away or diluted or given disproportionate power. The mayor's continuing campaign, without any mandate from the community, must be actively opposed. For this reason we are establishing the Rotorua Pro-Democracy Society to defend our democratic rights. Our objective is a democratic society served by good governance that defends our democratic rights.

Our strategy will be to use all legal and peaceful means possible to protect the democratic rights of all citizens. We welcome your support.

If the mayor promotes her agenda to allocate disproportionate power on the basis of ethnicity, and succeeds in getting the support of the majority of councillors on December 18, please be assured that this issue will not go away. We will, with public support, maintain our resistance through to the next council elections in 2016. There is too much at stake.

Finally, we ask, what Christmas present will you be getting from the council this year?

-Mike McVicker is a district councillor and Reynold Macpherson teaches political philosophy.