May 18, 2016
Maori shut-out illegal
A Taranaki Maori leader says the government should be obliged to step in if New Plymouth District Council can’t find a way to represent Maori interests.
Mayor Andrew Judd isn’t standing again because of the backlash to his attempt to create a Maori seat, and the council has gone for almost its full term without a Maori committee or similar structure.
Grant Knuckey from Te Atiawa says there’s a treaty and legal obligation to have one, and he’d like to see the government legislate for a Maori statutory board, similar to the Auckland model.
"The Maori seat is really designed to deal with Maori issues so that they can be transferred onto the council. It doesn't mean that we can do a whole lot of things that I think people perceive that we might do. Racism is about mistrust, they don't trust us and we've got a brown skin, that's who we are," he says.
Mr Knuckey says he’d like to see the situation the New Plymouth council has put itself in tested in the High Court.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com