Public Forum: Bringing Facts and Morality to the Ethnicity Debate

A Public Forum in Whangarei this week will address the furore that Don Brash and other politicians and commentators have raised in relation to ethnicity, Maori rights and the Treaty.

Northland Urban Rural Mission (NURM) is hosting a Community Forum entitled "A Pakeha Response to Dr Brash." The Forum is to be held at the St John's Ambulance Rooms, 43 Western Hills Drive, Kensington, at 7pm on Thursday April 1.

The keynote speaker is Auckland businessman Pat Snedden, who has recently addressed public gatherings and been interviewed on National Radio. Pat is a Company Director, an elected member of the Auckland District Health Board, and part of the Treaty negotiating team for Ngati Whatua o Orakei (further CV details available). The Forum will include time for open discussion.

This event has been arranged to give a viewpoint different from dominant Pakeha voices recently raised dismissing Maori rights and heightening Pakeha anxieties.

"It is timely for us as Pakeha to get our heads around some of the facts of our collective history and of the current context we all find ourselves in," said NURM spokesperson Tim Howard. "It is also time for us to consider what would be a moral response to the voices swirling around us. Otherwise we will find our opinions and behaviour undermined on shaky ground."

NURM is extending a warm welcome to all, to participate in this Public Forum.

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