Rt Hon Winston Peters

New Zealand First Leader

Member of Parliament for Northland
22 SEPTEMBER 2016

Race-Based Appointments Inserted in Taranaki Bill

New Zealand First does not want race-based appointments taking hold in this country, New Zealand First Leader and Northland MP Rt Hon Winston Peters said today.

“New Zealanders should be very concerned about the Taranaki Iwi Claims Settlement Bill – it hands power to iwi by giving them six decision-making roles on a local authority without being elected.

“This law will force the Taranaki Regional Council to appoint six iwi members, three on the Policy and Planning committee, and three on the Regulatory Functions Committee.

“They will not be elected, but nominated by iwi, need not be subject to an iwi vote, and they will be paid for by the ratepayers.

“This is electoral apartheid.

“All this is in Clause 31 of the Bill.

“The clause in part comes from the Local Government Act 2002, but this government has changed a critical word which allows for racial preference without an election.

“Instead of stating a local authority “may” appoint people from the outside, it states that the council “must” appoint members nominated by the iwi. This has been done by stealth.

“The government and the Maori Party are in cahoots on this.

“The perpetrators have the nerve to slide this under the noses of the people of Taranaki.

“It was New Plymouth that gave a resounding “no” vote to creating a Maori ward on the local council.

“It was a landslide with 83 per cent saying “no”.

“This government told New Zealand it did not want race-based policies either when it campaigned on “Kiwi not iwi”, but it has gone back on its word.

“The country is being steered by National toward race-based appointments.

“The extraordinary reaction from the National Party relates to their pique at being found out.

“That’s why we voted against this bill in Parliament today, which passed its second reading 108 votes to 12.”

ENDS

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