OPINION: Why banning anti-Maori petitions is true democracy

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Martyn 'Bomber' Bradbury: The decision by the Government to step in and stop the anti-Māori petition law from derailing Māori representation at Local Council is true democracy at its best.

The Don Brash mob alongside the Taxpayers Union and ACT have been shrill in their claims that this represents the 'hijacking of local democracy' which aside from being the type of irrational and over the top rhetoric that has made American politics so toxic, it is also a woeful definition of democracy.

For ACT, Don Brash and the Taxpayers Union, their definition of democracy is naked majoritarianism where the majority ensures the repression of minority views.

When that minority are the indigenous people of a land, this definition is insulting as well as offensive.

By removing the 5% petition trigger to allow white reactionaries to block Māori representation on Local Councils, this Government are standing up for a true definition of democracy, one that considers representation as more important than the simple tyranny of the majority.

Letting anti-Māori petitions stand in the way of political representation laws that were enacted so Māri could gain a voice on the local council is egregious to the egalitarian project that is Aotearoa.

No one is losing any rights here, no one is gaining any special rights, all Labour are doing is closing a legislative loophole that is deforming our local representation.

There is nothing to fear by including Māori in local decision making, that was the promise of the Treaty Partnership and the only thing we should feel is embarrassed that it's taken 181 years to get here.

Martyn Bradbury

Editor – TheDailyBlog.nz

twitter.com/CitizenBomber

Radio Waatea and its board would like to advise that the opinions posted are those of Martyn 'Bomber Bradbury' and not the views of Radio Waatea, its Management or its Board.

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