Democracy Action will be holding a public meeting on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan on Saturday 18 October.To register your interest in the meeting and view further details, please visit the RSVP page here.

Below is a response from Franks Ogilvie to the letter they received from the Human Rights Commission regarding the Mana Whenua provisions.The letter to the Race Relations Commissioner from Franks Ogilvie can be found here, with the Human Rights Commission's response here. A PDF version of the response from Franks Ogilvie (below) can be downloaded here.  Continue reading

Click here to read the original submission made by Lee Short on behalf of Democracy Action on the PAUP. It reads: The purpose of the Resource Management Act (RMA), which the Auckland Unitary Plan is prepared under, is ‘to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources’. However, there are passages within the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan which go far beyond what is the required to meet the terms of the RMA. We believe the Auckland Unitary Plan is being used as a vehicle to promote a political programme, which would result in significant constitutional change. This is most certainly neither the intent nor the purpose of the RMA. The plan speaks of partnership arrangements, the transfer of powers and/or establishment of joint management agreements with Mana Whenua. The management of Auckland’s natural and physical resources would be transferred, in part or even in some cases wholly, to one group of citizens, not answerable in any way to the general public or with any obligations to the public welfare. Accepting such provisions into the plan would have a serious impact, not only on the democratic rights of citizens who are not members of local iwi, but also on the council’s ability to act in the best interests of all Auckland citizens. Therefore, Democracy Action opposes all provisions in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP) calling for partnership arrangements and agreements, the transfer of powers and/or establishment of joint management agreements.

This evening we publicly launched a campaign to fight the Cultural Impact Assessments and the co-governance proposals in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan. More information about the campaign is available here. We are inviting all interested Aucklanders to an information meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to exchange information on the Mana Whenua provisions, and to learn from experts hints on how to make an effective presentation to the Hearings Panel.  At the meeting we will hear from speakers with expert knowledge of the new cultural impact assessments, and the implications of the co-governance proposals, as well as information to help you make your presentation as effective as possible. WHEN: October 18, 2014 at 1pm - 4pm WHERE: Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Dr, Auckland 1010 To RSVP please click here.

Democracy Action has today launched a campaign to overturn the anti-democratic Mana Whenua provisions that have been enshrined in the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP). We've issued a press release that states:  A group of New Zealanders have launched a campaign to maximise the impact of objections to anti-democratic privileges built into Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan (“PAUP”). Democracy Action has organised a meeting on 18 October for objectors to pool information and get better prepared to submit to the Hearing Panel. Democracy Action is a grass-roots association formed to stem the erosion of Aotearoa’s democratic inheritance. The meeting scheduled for the 18th has already attracted media interest, with Sir Bob Jones and constitutional lawyer, Stephen Franks, announced as speakers. Sir Bob recently wrote about his experiences with the PAUP, where Mana Whenua sought to charge him for a “Cultural Impact Assessment” in order to grant him permission to alter a window. The fee for this service was quoted at a rate of $90 per hour for six to eight hours of work, plus travel expenses. It sees the PAUP provisions, and the process under which they are in effect already, when many if not most Councillors do not even know how far they go, or what they mean, as the most pressing example of a loss of understanding of the principles of democracy and equality of citizenship in New Zealand. Prior to leaving the Labour Party, then-Maori Affairs spokesman, Shane Jones, denounced the PAUP provisions as costly and dangerous when they emerged. Since then there has been silence form all parties on this issue. This public meeting responds to the Auckland Council’s Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP). The PAUP ‘Mana Whenua’ provisions may require, for example, ‘cultural impact assessments’ for certain resource consents within 50 meters of what is currently thought to be around 3,600 sites in Auckland. The provisions also allow Mana Whenua access to private land, charge for Cultural Impact Assessments without control and gives them priority in water resource allocation. Despite being called a ‘proposed’ plan, the PAUP came into force the day it was notified. It’s disgraceful in a democracy by decree buy pretend that it’s only a proposal. We invite all interested members of the public to attend. MEETING DETAILS: When: October 18, 2014 at 1pm-4pmWhere: Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Auckland 1010, New Zealand The public are encouraged to RSVP here: http://www.democracyaction.org.nz/paup_meeting      

The schedule of hearings on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan is now on the Panel’s website http://www.aupihp.govt.nz/hearings/ If you have made a submission on the Mana Whenua provisions you may have been invited to hearings on 19 and 20 November 2014.