E nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga rangatira, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena tatou katoa.
He protehi tenei na matou ki te tino kuare me te porangi o te kaunihera o Waitakere. He mahi nanakia nei ki te iwi Maori.
Waitakere City Council has decided not to include in their submission (on behalf of all residents within Waitakere City) Maori seats at the governance level. Instead they have proposed that a Maori forum be established, which is the same as we have today and ineffective for a SuperCity Model.
IHI (Iwi Have Influence) West is contacting Bob Harvey for speaking rights at the Council meeting to restate our kaupapa on Mana Whenua and Maori representation and insist that Waitakere City Council include this as part of their submission. Council needs to recognise the many West Auckland communities that joined the hikoi to support the inclusion of 3 guaranteed Mana Whenua and Maori Seats...
Please join us in a rally to lobby the Councillors to include guaranteed Mana Whenua and Maori representation in their submission.
Wednesday 24th June 2009
5.15pm
Waitakere City Council
6 Henderson Valley Road
Henderson
Mauria mai to kaha me to reo ki te tutuki pai i nga wawata o nga iwi.
About Us
- Gagged Westie
- Auckland, New Zealand
- GRASSROOTS ACTION GROUP Contact us at westiegag@gmail.com
If it were widely known that these plans deny women the right to have their say, I imagine the populace would think we were going back to pre-1895.
ReplyDeleteAnd indeed we are, because by denying Maori women the right to decide what happens in their lives, we are effectively re-enacting colonial mistakes.
When Aotearoa-New Zealand was governed from Westminster, it was pretty clear that without local knowledge, and by ignoring the rights of local people, those who made the rules were doing more harm than good. This model simply did not work. Which is why this country is now self-governing, a move widely accepted as the best solution.
So why are we now trying to put in place the very things which failed and caused such distress? Why does this government feel that in the worst economic climate we have ever experienced, that it is appropriate to spend billions of dollars on something which is clearly against the will of so many.
Re-structuring, re-branding, re-organising will cost the taxpayer multi-billions - and this is not "government money" it's ours - and yet we are denied the right to say how itn is spent?
How many of us would gladly hand over our rates to profligate spenders like this?
On so many levels, this is entirely the wrong move and yet, sadly we know that in spite of the massive protests and marches, they will ride roughshod over our democratic rights.
The last time this happened it was a world-wide protest against the war in Iraq. Billions of people took to the streets to make their voices heard. Mr Bush ignored them all - and just look what happened.