Hide accuses de Bres of separatism
ACT leader Rodney Hide says Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres is advocating separatism by pushing for separate Maori seats on the new Auckland Council.
In a statement releasing the Human Rights Commission annual review of race relations Mr de Bres raised concerns about a lack of ethnic representation in the new combined council.
The Government has turned down a proposal for dedicated Maori seats on the council, but that decision is still being fought by various groups who fear ethnic minorities will be overlooked and disadvantaged by the council's structure.
An advisory board will instead assist the new council on policy matters while it becomes established.
Mr de Bres said it was disappointing that Maori seats had been ruled out.
Mr de Bres said when the final bill on the super city goes back to the Parliamentary select committee, members needed to consider making ethnic advisory boards permanent.
"The rejection of designated seats for Maori and the proposed two-year sunset clause on Pacific and other ethnic advisory boards has not been a good start, given that Auckland is by far New Zealand's most multicultural city. Decisions need to have regard for that diversity," Mr de Bres said.
"The likely outcome is that the Auckland council will be less diverse than its predecessors, and community boards will have little or no decision-making power. This will lead to continued disaffection by rather than inclusion of Auckland's growing diverse communities."
Mr de Bres was also concerned that the new council would not ensure current Treaty of Waitangi relationships, or continue cultural diversity and settlement support programmes.
"The hard work done by previous councils to engage with tangata whenua and diverse communities and celebrate Auckland's unique diversity is not just feel-good activity - it is vital to the social fabric and cultural identity of Auckland's population."
Mr de Bres said suggestions that capable ethnic individuals needed to put their hand up for a seat on the new council needed to be considered realistically.
He said the new council involved few individuals representing a large population and area.
"It's actually even more difficult to get on to the council than it would have been previously."
Mr Hide said the remarks were disappointing.
"Speaking as the leader of the ACT Party I am very disappointed that we had a Human Rights Commission that is spending taxpayers' money advocating separatism and is saying that Maori can't get elected to councils unless they are tribal seats," he told NZPA.
"I have got a lot more faith in Maori and other ethnic groups and the people of Auckland than the Human Rights Commission. And I believe the human rights commission should be about advocating equal rights for every New Zealander, not special rights."
He did not think there were special representation requirements arising out of the Treaty of Waitangi.
"The treaty makes it plain that New Zealanders are to be treated equally before the law and makes that explicit in art one, my position is entirely consistent with the Treaty, it's poor Joris de Bres that's got to explain his principles."
Mr Hide said the Government and Parliament had considered the issue before ruling against Maori seats.
As Local Government Minister he said such decisions were up to the people of Auckland.
"But I don't think the people of Auckland are going to take too kindly to being told who to stick on their council by Joris de Bres."
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Comments and questions12
Everyone's free to run for election. Joris de Bres is a bigoted racist.
Joris de Bres obviously wants NZ to go down a road South Africa left years ago. Joris de Bres has no understanding of human rights. He is just trying to push his failed 1960's social engineering agenda.
I am not at all concerned about the actions of Joris de Bres. .As a taxpayer I am happy to be spending my hard earned taxes as leadership is being shown by this office. Councils are notorious for excluding representation of minority groups and Rodney Hyde knows that.
By the way - note the earmarking of the Human rights Commission as wasteful of taxpayers money. In the case of libertarianism that is always ideological code for "lets get rid of them"
Separatism is about having separate systems of government, public life, schooling health etc where one group benefits and another group doesn't. In this case there is one governing body where it is being proposed to increase representation of minority groups who would otherwise be excluded by majority rule.
First principles of governance require ultimate decisionmakers (councillors, politicians, company board members etc.) to make decisions in the overall best interests of the entity in question (local region, NZ Inc, ABC Ltd, etc), not individual sector interest groups. High quality decision-makers must be able to overcome any personal preferences to make the best decision for the entire organisation, and must be held to account for these (fiduciary) duties, regardless of those personal preferences or the identity of those who appointed them to the position in the first place (i.e. as they might as 'representatives' of specific interest groups).
The real question facing such decisionmakers is the quality of the information they receive when making such decisions. This would suggest that it is the quality and diversity of the information provided to the decisionmakers by their advisors (e.g. advisory boards, council and departmental executives, company executives, customers, regulators, suppliers, shareholders, voters and all other interested stakeholders) rater than their own or representative diversity that is most important in the decisionmaking process. Relying simply upon the diversity of the decisionmakers will not necessarily lead to the best outcomes, as they may allow their own information and representative interests to compromise the interests of the wider entity. Furthermore, when the information provided is separate and transparent from the decision-making process itself, it becomes easier to hold the decisionmakers to account for serving the wider interests of the entity rather than narrower interests of the group whom they claim to represent (including their own personal interests).
This suggests that in the Auckland supercity debate, the more important question is not one of specific representation on the council for individual interest groups, but the nature of the entities and processes that sit under the elected body and provide the information upon which decisions are made by elected individuals. The need for diversity lies (as per the characterisation of the 'three estates" of formal governance) at the "administrative" level (officials and advisory boards), rather than the "legislative" (councillors, politicians, board members) one. It would be more constructive if the Auckland Supercity public debate focused more clearly on the nature of these administrative processes than the legislative question of whether there should be separate Maori seats on the elected body.
IF there are councillors who are appointed/elected on Maori grounds, then when a proposal affecting Maori is voted on, they should announce their bias, and refrain from voting on it. Same as if a councillor owns lots of Auckland Airport shares (say), he/she should announce their interest, and refrain from voting.
Thus, WHY Maori seats anyway? Or is it just being patronising?
.... was when he decided to call our ludicrous "Race Relations Commissioner' as "Doris".
Doris is an absolute joke. His Commission is indeed a waste of taxpayers' money and should be "got rid of". It would save millions and I do not see how the country would be in any way worse off. I am not sure how Doris would earn a living but some uni sociology department would probably take him on.
South Africa looks at a future where all citzens are equal. New Zealand looks at the past and this is tragic. Auckland, in particular is the biggest multi race city in the region and shpuld reflect a true equal human rights for all New Zealand. We have no future being racist and divided. Race , seperatism is a sin of human kind. It must not be tolerated, as it diveides and rules, exactly what Apartheid did for South Africa and does for other counties that prcatice race segrated living. Do we see a Zulu flag and a Zulu foorball team. NO They are , however difficult it is to do, work on , ONE country who are ALL equal. Look to the future and for pride in our people , not division. Yes we are from all different cultures , that is what makes us rich , BUT we are one country and one people of New Zealand. If Moari wish to be treated equally, then we must all be equal ... otherwise it will end up in civil war and loke some counties that can only live by third world standards. Divided, we fall.
Treat all people on equal merit, simple. Otherwise , we are not equal and God has put some people higher up than opthers, which is nonsense and vert sinful. We ARE ALL equal in Gods eyes and who are we to say that by heritage we are better than others. History shows this is for savages, not a people proud to be a nation of people of one people odf New Zealand. It is very very sad that we still sink to these ideas. What about those Maori's that are in the New Zeland rugby team. How can we call ourselves , THE ALLbLACKS when we are a divided nation?. Get real. As for voting, only people who actually pay rates and own land, should have voting rights. It is no wonder we are sinking as a people who have no national pride. We do not need seperatism to live in one city. There are people from all walks of life that are disadvantaged and they should all be treated with the same respect. It is time real people were real people and stop be racistists. We all have red blood inside us, or do some have other colour blood.?. When in God's names , will, we become one people.We are not primitive and look towards living honest decent living together. There are still people who live like animals, however, we should live a respectful life and manner, as all equal .
I find comments here hugely humorous as all the comments seem to be from a bunch of middle aged, middle class honkys huffing n puffing over minority rights - while not for one for questioning why the Super-City legislation is being rammed through by Rodney Hide whose party barely got 3% of the vote! (A minority party if you will haha)
As for the tool who thinks that voting should be only for landowners my lord! what type of people read the NBR? I'm a honky by the way and proud of it!
Rodney was given the job of sorting Auckland out by our Prime Minister, to carry out the elected Government's wishes.
Or does Anonymouse 03:09 think that Rodney sits at the Cabinet table and forces all the National MPs to do it his way?
Get Real.
so he's at it again
he has a strange view of his job
why not save some dollars and wind up the human rights commission?
it is obviously counter- productive!
So if Doris is proposing Maori representation... why not asian as well? Or does ethnic representation only mean maori?
What about representing those with differing sexual preferences? Gays, Lesbians, transexuals? Are they being represented?
What about the elderly... shouldnt we have a seat allocated for an old timer? On that note, we should have a kid on there as well.
Its simple, if the electorate wants their views represented they will vote for the candidate who represents their views.... thats how a democracy works. I think it is awfully degrading (if not racist) to suggest the Auckland council should have a token maori representative.
Based on this definition of separatism which states that it is a theory or doctrine which supports a state of separation between organizations, institutions, or other societal groups (e.g. between church and state) or between different political jurisdictions (e.g. a country and its former colony). Therefore this country is full of separatist.
The education system is separatist. The religions in this country are separatist. Business round table practise a form of separatism , most of the antagonism towards separatism seems to stem from the white upper to middle class New Zealanders that are frighten that they will lose the power to protect what they see as theirs. It doesn't matter separatism is okay and is not a vehicle to the destruction of the majority race. With all of this separatism in this country has there been any wars in the last 24 years. People like Rodney Hyde have a political agenda that view Maori as an enemy of the imperialistic state that we live. The sad thing for me is that the one nation view is okay. But Maori have a world view , chinese have a world view, everyone has a world view thats different. We have that inherent right our own views. Our differing views celebrates everyones uniqueness.In this one nation of our. Joris is right to speak his mind on the subject. That didn't cost millions of dollars to say.So partly what Hyde is saying or implying that this comment that he made cost millions of dollars. A lot B.S. if you ask me.
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