NZ Race Relations Roundup

Friday 20 November 2020

News:

Hawke’s Bay makes cautious step towards Maori seats
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council has decided to poll voters at the next local government elections on whether it should create Maori wards.

Chief executive James Palmer says while a majority of councillors appear to support having dedicated Maori seats, they expressed concern about the about the matter being decided by binding referendum.

The interim step allows a chance for community engagement and consultation…
waateanews.com

Petitions launched to scupper Northland councils’ Maori wards.
Democracy Northland is seeking 11,000 signatures across three citizen-initiated petitions to oppose recent decisions in favour of Maori wards/constituencies by three of the North’s four councils – Northland Regional Council (NRC), Whangarei District Council (WDC) and Kaipara District Council (KDC).

Bain said petitioners were clamouring to sign up.

He said hundreds of petitioners’ signatures had already come just 24 hours after Democracy Northland’s initial public provision of polling petition forms…
rnz.co.nz

North Taranaki Midweek advertisement fell short of our values

An advertisement published in the November 18 edition of the North Taranaki Midweek did not represent the views of Stuff and fell short of our values.

As editor of the Stuff Taranaki newsroom I apologise on behalf of the Taranaki team for the anger, hurt and confusion this has caused.

The advertisement in the free community newspaper, which asked readers to collect signatures calling for a referendum on the establishment of a Maori ward at the New Plymouth District Council, was not labelled as advertising.

The advertisement failed to include enough information for readers to come to an informed decision on the ward issue.

It does not include that a referendum could cost up to $100,000 to hold, or that the ward is just one seat among 15 at the council.

It is not necessarily fair to say this represents a “significant” change in voting arrangements, as the advertisement states.

As an advocacy advertisement it should have also included that it was booked and paid for by a member of the Napier-based Hobson’s Pledge Trust, an organisation against legislation based upon “ethnicity or ancestry”…

stuff.co.nz

Lawyer says Countdown’s diversity hiring pledge could be unlawful
A Christchurch employment lawyer believes Countdown’s pledge to have more Maori and Pasifika leaders – might breach the law.

The supermarket chain is committed to achieving 20 per cent of its senior leadership roles filled by Maori and Pasifika by 2025.

Canterbury Chambers lawyer Tim McKenzie told Chris Lynch the law says an employer discriminates if they refuse to offer the same work to other employees with the same qualifications and experience – regardless of race…
newstalkzb.co.nz

Seabed mining appeal: Crown accused of ignoring Maori rights to foreshore and seabed
The Crown has been accused of yet again ignoring Maori rights to the foreshore and seabed in response to its submissions on a ironsand mining civil appeal before the Supreme Court.

The Attorney-General has intervened to make submissions in relation to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, M?ori customary interests and applicability of tikanga to marine and marine consent discharge applications…
rnz.co.nz

Rangiriri event a celebration of survival
Tainui iwi will this weekend mark the anniversary of the start of the 1863 Waikato Invasion by celebrating 157 years of resistance.

Te Putake o te Riri organiser Brad Totorewa says the focus will be Rangiriri Pa, where 500 Kiingitanga warriors were overwhelmed by 1400 heavily armed British soldiers.

Brad Totorewa says the iwi is also celebrating a $3 million grant from the Provincial Growth Fund to restore trenches used on the site for education purposes, and also its purchase of a 12 hectare block behind the pa which formed an escape path after the battle…
waateanews.com

Maori Party Call On Government To Ban Seabed Mining In Aotearoa
With the Supreme Court hearings wrapping up, Maori Party Co-leader and incoming MP Debbie Ngarewa-Packer is calling on the Government to put in place a nationwide ban on seabed mining permits within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

“For the last seven years, I have worked with my iwi to stop seabed mining off the South Taranaki Bight. Our final legal battle has now concluded and as M?ori Party Co-leader I will be taking this fight to Parliament and pushing the Government to commit to banning new, and withdrawing existing, seabed mining permits in the EEZ and RMA” said Mrs Ngarewa-Packer…
scoop.co.nz

The Breaking Views Update monitors race relations in the media on a weekly basis.