Pay more Council taxes? Unelected people deciding what you can do? Have your say on the Auckland Plan 2050 by 28th March!

Fiona from Stanmore Bay

Besides proposing extra taxes for doing what they should be doing anyway, Auckland Council also wants the region’s Maori (which ones I wonder?) to be recognised by all as rangatira* and then to give them leadership and decision-making power over the city, us and our finances.
Check out the online Maori Dictionary definition of *Rangatira : chief, chieftain, chieftainess, master, mistress, boss, supervisor, employer, landlord, owner, proprietor.

Auckland Council is surrendering its authority and our democracy to people who are self-identifying, self-appointed, self-interested and can’t ever be challenged. This is the exact opposite of what the Treaty of Waitangi promised, i.e. that all people are entitled to the same rights.

The Plan states that “Political structures will evolve within Auckland as the model of co-governance is refined ......” and "Tino rangatiratanga/ Self-determination relates to the rights of Māori in controlling how resources will be managed, used, developed and protected.”

The Council plans to increase “co-governance arrangements’ from 8 to 16 by 2040. This will include our outdoor recreation areas. Just look at our volcano summits, the Waitakere track closures and plans for the Hunuas to get an idea of where this is headed (i.e. you pay for everything yet have no say. The Maori Supremacy Movement (MSM) receives, charge you more for doing anything, and tell you what you can no longer do).

For several years now, the MSM has been working towards controlling and charging for our drinking water, our harbours and the Hauraki Gulf (let alone every centimetre of New Zealand’s coastline). The political negotiations are well underway yet the media refuses to publish the facts.

There is no mandate from Aucklanders to introduce this constitutional change. To have any integrity, such a change must be supported by a binding referendum, to be preceded by full disclosure, including financials, costs, effect on rates and borrowing, structures, legal and democratic implications.

Factual information rather than propaganda must be publicised so that the community can have adequate time to become aware, to consider and discuss − not a scant month in what appears to be an attempt to sneak these changes through unnoticed. To do otherwise would be a disaster for the future of race relations and the health of our country.

There is very little time - the deadline for feedback is 8pm on 28th March. I urge everyone to take a look at it and if you share my concerns, please consider submitting on this matter.

Here is a link to the Plan: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz...

The link to the Maori Identity and Wellbeing section of the Plan is available at: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz...

The link to the Evidence Report on Maori identity and wellbeing is available at: www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz...

The link to the Māori Plan for Tāmaki Makaurau, (a thirty-year plan based on Māori objectives), is available at: knowledgeauckland.org.nz...