By TeKāhu

Conservative commentator Elliot Ikilei has submitted both his written and oral submission on the little-known Rotorua District Council Bill, that will implement race-based access to power.

Ikilei’s submissions are below:

Written Submission:

There are two comments that I would like to make.

The first is regarding the inherent disrespect to Māori this bill engages in. When the Māori electorates were being argued for and against, the main issue appeared to be that to vote required one have ownership, which of course was problematic as Māori generally had a communal form of ownership over land, arguably a major cause for Article 2 conflicts.

The seats were never intended to be forever; rather, they were there to bridge the democratic disability that Māori had at the time, that is, lacking the criteria to vote at all.

When the laws changed to allow universal voting (including women), then the Māori electorates became obsolete but remained.

Interestingly, the fact that the extra seats remained suggests that Māori are still seen as disabled in some way, which invalidates idea of all people being equal in the eyes of the law.

The Rotorua District Council (Representation Arrangements) Bill is an extension of institutionalised racism, where one race of people has access to government-funded power to the exclusion of all others. It is an inherently wrong and divisive policy that will further damage race relations.

The second comment I must make is that of the contempt shown towards the New Zealand people. There was a time when we trusted that politicians would at least give a fair time to engage in the democratic process.

I am saddened and deeply embarrassed that many now expect the weakening of the only democratic process that involves the People. And the current government is mostly to blame for this lessening of democratic expectations.

Mr Coffey’s successful push to shorten New Zealanders’ engagement from the usual 6 months to the shockingly undemocratic 2 weeks was disgraceful in itself.

What has compounded the disrespect shown to the New Zealand people is the timing. Traffic light changes may not be as arguably viable as a distraction to the People as per variability of the announcements, but to forcibly push 2 weeks in the week and a half before school holidays is of such contempt in its obviousness as a distraction.

I am appalled that the system has allowed for such an erasing of appropriate engagement with the people of New Zealand.

I am proud of my grandfathers who both served in the Second World War.

But what we are witnessing now is antithetical to what they sacrificed, our heritage and our values as a nation and people.

Oral Submission: