All In The (Mahuta) Family Part 6 – Changing NZ’s Democracy

This is Part 6 of The Daily Examiner’s article series on Labour Minister Nanaia Mahuta & the close involvement of members of her family in NZ’s government. 

Recent significant changes have taken place or are being attempted, in local government in New Zealand.

  • Concerns have been raised about a Local Bill which proposes to fundamentally change the principle of equal voting rights in the Canterbury Regional Council.
  • A similar tactic was attempted in Rotorua until the Attorney General issued an opinion which labelled the proposal discriminatory and a breach of the Bill of Rights.
  • The Tauranga City Council had all its elected councillors replaced by Wellington-appointed commissioners in February 2021. This was meant to be a temporary measure until this year. However the commissioners asked Nanaia Mahuta, Minister of Local Government, for a year’s extension, which was granted and extended until July 2024. Former Tauranga mayor Greg Brownless (2016-2019) has this removal of elected local councillors the “death of democracy for Tauranga,” and says the city is now being run by what is “effectively a dictatorship”.

So what, and who, is behind these repeated attempts to change the nature of our democracy?

Te Maruata (LGNZ) & Te Puna (3 Waters)

Local Government NZ (LGNZ) supports and advocates for local government and is currently focused on two key reforms – local governance & Three Waters. Within LGNZ, is Te Maruata, the Māori Committee of LGNZ, which amongst other things is charged with increasing Māori representation within local government.

Nanaia Mahuta holds the Local Government Ministerial portfolio and is the Associate Minister of Maori Development.

The Chair of Te Maruata is Bonita Bigham who is also on the Māori Advisory Group (Te Puna) of the water regulator Taumata Arowai aka 3 Waters. A member of Te Maruata is Tipa Mahuta, sister of Nanaia Mahuta – also the Chair of Te Puna and Co-Chair of the new Māori Health Authority.

This is a useful article from 2018 which explains the role of Te Maruata in promoting the increased representation of Māori as elected and appointed members of local government.

As written previously in our article series, there is no doubt about the close involvement of Tipa Mahuta in advisory roles with her sister, the Minister. An excerpt from Nanaia Mahuta’s cabinet diary from July 2021 is shown below, when she met with both Te Maruata (LGNZ) and Te Puna (3 Waters) at once. With Tipa Mahuta being on both Boards and with no other indication otherwise, it is possible and indeed likely that she attended the meeting with Bonita Bigham.

Also as written previously, such close involvement of immediate family members with a directly involved Minister, is highly unusual and begs investigation.

Canterbury Regional Council Bill

The NZ Ministry of Justice produces an analysis of each Bill, to analyse its consistency with the NZ Bill of Rights. The analysis produced for the Canterbury Regional Council (Ngai Tahu Representation) Bill concludes in paragraph 8 that the Bill proposes to confer rights of Māori which are not conferred on other people and therefore could be seen to draw distinctions based on race.

This is however very briefly justified in paragraph 9 by the Treaty.

3 Waters

Dr Jason Smith, current Mayor of Kaipara, is scathing on the impact of the impending 3 Waters changes. He describes the exclusion of most of NZ’s population from the new water entity.

 

Part 1 “All In The (Mahuta) Family” was published on 14 May 2022 and Part 2 “All In The (Mahuta) Family – Taxpayer-Funded Empire Over Water” was published on 22 May 2022. “All In The (Mahuta) Family Part 3 – Follow The Money” was published on 29 May 2022. “All In The (Mahuta) Family Part 4 – Maniapoto” was published on 5 June 2022. “All In the (Mahuta) Family Part 5 – The Only Experts” was published on 13 June 2022. All research & original coverage credit for Parts 1-4 & this article to Twitter profile @kehetauhauaga, which has been tweeting this since 6 May 2022. Research & original coverage credit for Part 5 to Twitter profile @Record_Factory and @kehetauhauaga.

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