Further news, views, commentaries…….
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Racist policies in Parliamentary precinct
Commenting on Parliamentary Services’ Rautaki Maori strategy, Senior King’s Counsel Gary Judd writes that it is a force which is destructive of our democracy. “It is subversive of the whole democratic process, because Te Ao Māori is not democratic. It is tribal where chiefs call the shots.”
John Robertson: New Zealand’s Holy Empire of Make-Believe
John Robertson argues that New Zealand is supposed to be a secular democracy. However, “We’re raising an entire generation to believe that democracy must kneel to mythology, not question it”.
Professor John Raine: Ancestry-Defined Enthnostate or a Working Democracy
Emeritus Professor John Raine argues that if we are to succeed as a modern, economically successful democracy, rather than continue down the decolonisation pathway of He Puapua, we must urgently find a way to neutralise the tensions that arise through the continued emphasis on what makes us different from each other rather than on what we have in common.
Your Rates, Their Treaty: How Local Democracy Was Quietly Rewritten
Political commentator Zoran Rakovich explains why Maori wards are legally untenable and must be rescinded to preserve constitutional coherence.
Defending democracy: First define your target
Nevil Gibson at the National Business Review considers Jonathan Sumption’s book ‘The Challenges of Democracy and the Rule of Law.’ This book and Gibson’s commentary examine the struggle between Parliament and the Courts.
Bassett: Maori Party Thumbs its Nose at Democracy
Historian and former Labour Party MP, Michael Bassett, comments on the Maori Party’s Takuta Ferris private member’s bill aimed at giving the Waitangi Tribunal the power to by-pass Parliament and to make its decisions binding on the Crown.
Radicalising Parliament
Dr Muriel Newman comments on the Minister of Maori Development, Tama Potaka’s, recently announced plan to examine the integration of ‘tikanga Maori’ into Parliament. Dr Newman said that instead of eliminating tikanga from the law to fulfil their election promise, the Coalition now appears to be on the cusp of entrenching it into Parliament. This plays into the hands of radical activists committed to destroying democracy from within.
Spinning the Wheel, Going Nowhere: Why Our Councillors Must Grab the Tiller Before the Bureaucracy Sinks the Ship
Zoran Rakovic asserts that local councils are being steered by bureaucrats rather than elected leaders. “It’s time councillors grabbed the tiller and reclaimed democratic control”.