This morning, Auckland residents will stand in front of 345 endangered exotic trees on Mount Albert to protect them from zealots at the Tupuna Maunga Authority, which plans to cut them down.
The project would be laughable if it was not so ecologically irresponsible – the fruitcakes at the authority appear to want to “decolonise” Auckland’s 14 volcanic cones by replacing exotic trees with natives.
Instead of adopting an environmentally friendly process of planting saplings under the shelter of mature trees, the authority will take the bare earth approach and that is what residents are up in arms about.
The Tupuna Maunga Authority was set up in 2014 to co-govern Auckland’s 14 volcanic cones after the Nga Mana Whenua o Tamaki Makaurau Collective Redress Deed passed into law.
Promoted as a “Crown-Maori partnership”, the authority soon became a Maori sovereignty show with no sign of any partnership.
The authority has installed steel barriers on volcanic cones to keep cars out, removed cows, ripped out water troughs, painted over memorial plaques on seating, and removed the cross/star on Mount Roskill.
New Plymouth council appoints voting iwi member
Concerns have been raised about an iwi appointee voting on New Plymouth District Council’s new mega committee, the Strategy and Operations Committee.
Since most proposals for Maori wards have been defeated, appointment has become a backdoor method of getting voting iwi members into councils.
The New Plymouth council’s committee restructure was approved two weeks ago at the first council meeting of the new term. The Strategy and Operations Committee has given voting rights to the chair of the council’s Te Huinga Taumatua Committee.
Outspoken councillor Murray Chong moved a motion to take away the voting rights of the appointee but nobody would second it, so Mayor Neil Holdom dismissed the motion.
In 2015, New Plymouth voted substantially against (83 percent) a proposal by former mayor Andrew Judd to create a Maori ward, with a separate Maori seat on the council to represent citizens on the Maori roll.
Racially-selected voting appointees on councils conflicts with our democratic tradition in which political rights should be based on citizenship, not ethnicity.
Still awaiting commissioner’s reply
Quite a number of complaints were sent to the Race Relations Commissioner about “Land of the Long White Cloud – confronting NZ’s colonial past”, a seven-part series published by the NZ Herald.
This prompted a supporter to put in a request under the Official Information Act to find out how many complaints had been made and what Commissioner Meng Foon planned to do about them.
The supporter is still waiting for a reply.
Petitions update
Our petition which asks Parliament to amend the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act 2011 to restore public ownership of the coastal area, put all claims through the High Court, and repeal customary marine title, while affirming customary rights has picked up 6067 signatures. We need your support. The petition may be signed at http://chng.it/stXwrrtFLY
Thank you to the 5660 people who have so far signed our petition to welcome the visit of the flotilla that includes the replica of the Endeavour that carried Captain James Cook here 250 years ago. The visit continues until December 6. We set up the petition to counter another petition to stop the visit, claiming it was racist. Our petition may be signed at http://chng.it/jKMjXXMwGd
Meanwhile, our petition to evict protesters at Ihumatao, and for the Government to allow both Te Kawerau a Maki and Fletchers to proceed with their lawful business, has collected 2644 signatures. The petition may be signed at http://chng.it/xPN6P55k