Jessica Short
Jessica @DEMOCRACYACTION
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  • Dec 03, 2018

< December 2018 newsletter


Have your say on the push to entrench Maori seats

Submissions close on December 14th.

Te Tai Tonga MP Rino Tirikātene, the sponsor of the bill, wants to make it more difficult to abolish the Maori seats by ensuring any changes will need the support of 75 percent of MPs rather than the current simple majority. He is actively appealing to Maori through the Maori media to make their views known, see HERE and HERE (Radio Waatea).

It is important those who do not support the entrenchment of the Maori seats also make their views known. Your submission does not have to be long – just a simple sentence or two will suffice. For some ideas, see HERE for a copy of a draft submission. Please do not copy it word for word, but you are welcome to use it to inform your own submission. Muriel Newman at NZCPR also offers good arguments against the entrenchment of the seats in her article ‘Time to Have a Say on Entrenching the Maori Seats’.

A link to the Electoral (Entrenchment of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill is HERE.  A transcript of parliamentary debate during the First reading is available HERE. 

You can make your submission HERE.

N.B. Submitters are reporting there has been a hassle with the online form, and the parliamentary website. Therefore, it may be better to go directly to Maori Affairs to make your submission. The address is - [email protected] Make sure to ask for receipt of your submission.

If you still have trouble, phone Parliament House to complain: 04-817 9999

Another option is to send your submission by mail.

Further information of value:

 


Go back to the December 2018 newsletter

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