The governance of our city has been put in place with the important Strategy and Operations committees remaining as "committees of the whole".
Our elected councillors will attend and vote at these committees, being joined by what many could call "unelected representatives", each of whom will also have full voting rights. Last term, there were only two: the representatives of Te Arawa.
This term, Te Arawa will be joined by one each from our Rural and Lakes communities, also having full voting rights. This is a good thing, as these three distinct communities of interest in Rotorua are of such importance that they should and must have a clear voice at council.
But where is the uproar? When Te Arawa were granted representation, many of our citizens erupted with rage, erected yellow signs, formed committees, threatened the demise of council and stormed the barricades to defend democracy.
But with the appointment of representatives from our Rural and Lakes communities, with the same voting status as those of the Te Arawa community, there has been not a murmur.
Sadly, I feel that the anger last term was not a response to a loss of democracy, but more a response as to who the community was that was being given a perceived democratic privilege. Perhaps it was racism after all.
Perhaps this time there has not been a murmur because our city has learned from the experience, and can reason that democracy was not being threatened after all. I hope so.
JOHN PAKES
Ngongotaha
