Letters: We need a council that reflects the community

Mayor Hamish McDouall and new councillor Brent Crossan. The new Whanganui District Council is sworn in at the Royal Wanganui Opera House.

We need a council that reflects the community
I love our peaceful democracy. We only need to look around the world to see the grim fate of failed democracies. Of course, these are days of relative prosperity and we should be alert to the cracks that could be the flash points for strife.

Locally our democracy is failing to deliver a council that reflects our community.
VW Ballance pointed out that we can all stand and vote equally but there is a weakness in his solution that, "Maori need to field suitable candidates ... and Maori need to vote for them".

There were good Maori candidates, but if you are a third of the population, that support alone won't get you over the line. I don't think it is good enough to be all right with all white, it means a disenfranchised minority.

We have had Maori seats in Parliament for 152 years. Along with MMP, this has produced one of the most representative parliaments in the world - to the great benefit of our society.

So let us continue a civilised debate locally until we solve the very real problem that our council is not reflective of our community. I can't see how it can threaten anyone to have a guarantee of Maori representation reflecting their important status and proportionality in the community.
KEITH BEAUTRAIS
Westmere

Iwi move
Which of the Whanganui District Council councillors will accept the mayor's patronage and sit as chair of one of the council committees? Which of the councillors is prepared to accept the pay, privilege and power that goes with the position?

Which of the chosen councillors would then accept the mayor's wish for iwi representation, with full speaking and voting rights, on their committee?

Those councillors who do will have to explain to the people of Whanganui what system of governance would then exist here. Because in accepting the mayor's wish, they would be forsaking the very basic principles of democracy. Democracy does not come with optional extras such as those proposed by the mayor.

In conclusion, the mayor should be ashamed that he would even think of placing the councillors in such a position. Asking them to forsake the very system under which they were elected in return for the baubles of office.
GJ MOLES
Castlecliff

Prejudice
Here we go again. Angela Stratton (November 8) thinks it would be wonderful if only we're allowed to know about all the people who were here before the Maori. What she is actually saying is, "No, no, no, there is no way brown people found New Zealand before white people did". This is a subtle form of white supremacy.

And like many with this prejudice, she is unaware of it and it's quite harmless. But when taken into the governmental situation, as in colonial times here in Aotearoa NZ, such attitudes become dangerous to the native peoples. And modern statistics confirm this.
POTONGA NEILSON
Castlecliff

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