Nanaia Mahuta: Winding back the clock is taking a backward step into the New Zealand that used to be

Former Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta. Photo/ Getty Images

THREE KEY FACTS:

• Councils that established Māori wards without a referendum will now have to hold a binding poll alongside the 2025 local body elections..
• National has agreed to support Act’s policy for a binding public referendum on defining the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi through its first stage.
• The Government has told all public service departments they must have their primary name in English.

Nanaia Mahuta was the 12th minister of local government from 2017 to 2023, and served nine consecutive terms (27 years) as a member of Parliament, including 15 years as the member for Hauraki-Waikato.

OPINION

Kaipara District Council’s decision to get rid of its Māori ward continues to reinforce the narrow-minded views of those who believe New Zealand should be gridlocked into the 1960s when Māori were seen not heard, subsumed as cheap labour, and were considered “good Māoris as long as they don’t answer back or voice an opinion – on anything except maybe sport”.

Well, those days are well and truly gone.

We are still watching the Olympics with anticipation, and every time Aotearoa New Zealand’s success is celebrated on the world stage, it’s Māori culture that is the brand signalled by elite sportspeople that we value this part of our identity that makes us unique as a small country in the Pacific.

Zoe Hobbs in the Women's 100m Final at the Sydney Track Classic in March. Photo / Getty Images

Yet, in small-town New Zealand, the fragility of a small group is real.

These people are triggered by the growing confidence and assertion that Māori aspiration is one that seeks to showcase culture, promote inclusion and diversity, care for the environment and make our small towns, provinces and metro cities great places to live for everyone.

It’s “triggering” in that there is no turning back, so Kaipara mayor Craig Jepson and his ilk are doing their best to reinforce prejudice and discrimination based on a flimsy foundation – bolstered by a coalition Government, which is mounting an assault on Māori from Wellington.

Mayor Jepson says the “oppression” of Maori is a false narrative.

While I am disappointed at the Kaipara District Council which perpetuates discrimination by removing its Māori ward, I am not surprised. These people, elected to office, cannot be the future of our great nation.

The recent census has established that nearly one million people have identified as being of Māori descent.

In addition to the growing diversity and “browning” of the population, there are many more people who want to see an inclusive future upholding the principles of te Tiriti o Waitangi as our founding document and blueprint for nationhood.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson and Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori Ward’s Pera Paniora. Photo / LDR / Susan Botting

Silencing voices such as Ihipera Paniora will breed a defiant generation of people, who will continue to assert with confidence that they are the demographic that will ultimately take up positions of responsibility Mayor Jepson will be reliant on for his future wellbeing.

Active participation in democracy means being counted, being a voice, being a voice for the many not the few and being inclusive – kia kaha ra!