Kahurangi Dame Naida Glavish: Kaipara mayor should step down and step out

Dame Naida Glavish says Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson is out of order. Photo / NZME

OPINION:

Why is it acceptable that a key public office holder, local body mayor Craig Jepson is allowed, in my view, to escalate his racist and divisive behaviour when he’s paid out of the public purse? First we had him banning karakia by Māori Ward councillor, Pera Paniora at the first full Kaipara District Council meeting in Mangawhai.

Then we have him publicly criticising the governance decision by Sport Northland after it refused the Stop Co-Governance Tour use of a public venue for a meeting, saying the call was “abhorrent” by Sport Northland and Sport Northland had “stepped outside their mandate” and was “out of order”.

I disagree.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson alongside Te Moananui Mōari Ward councillor Pera Paniora wearing her korowai Photo / Susan Botting

It looks like a repeat of the doctrine of discovery, which he’s keeping alive and in my opinion, the mayor is acting no better than James Cook did.

He’s behaving like there’s no Te Tiriti o Waitangi, no Tangata Whenua and that he has authority over and above our covenant and the legislation.

He does not.

He is a mere mayor who is dutybound under the Local Government Act to respect the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi while performing his civic duties.

What’s man’s law in the scheme of things compares to our lore – our karanga Atuatanga?

It keeps us well - and I mean the whole country, not just Māori - in terms of whānau and family being united.

Our reo Māori, which was once taken from us is now rejuvenated in the Kōhanga Reo, taught to thousands in our schools and now proudly enjoyed on the spectacular stage of Te Matatini before an audience of 1.1 million worldwide viewers.

How dare this mayor deny today’s generation and the unborn children of Aotearoa New Zealand from the beauty of enjoying both, not just reo Pākehā, but the power of both languages at council meetings.

It’s their right.

Tomorrow’s generation’s birthright is what he’s attempting to deny today.

If that’s the best he can offer Kaipara, then in my opinion he needs to step down and step out.

We do not need public officials perpetuating a far-right mandate under the guise of free speech and human rights.

Dame Naida Glavish was knighted in the 2011 New Year Honours for services to Māori and the community and promoted to Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM), also for services to Māori and the community in 2018. She is the first dame in her hapū, and acknowledges that use of te reo Māori and Māori names is now more commonplace in New Zealand and is styled as Dame Rangimārie (rather than Naida).