Len Brown has a problem. He has crawled and weaseled and been sneaky and furtive over his dealings with the Maori Statutory Board. Now the demands are rolling in.
The Maori Statutory Board is seeking $295 million over 10 years from Auckland ratepayers to advance Maori interests.
A Maori events centre, access to affordable housing, funding for Maori wardens, a marae development fund and ranger training for parks, particularly on ancestral land, are on a long list of items the independent board wants funded.
A greater say in the day-to-day running of the Super City is a top priority with Maori participating in setting bylaws and regional planning, and greater provision for the Treaty of Waitangi in council documents.
Yesterday, councillors at a strategy and finance committee meeting rejected the late addition of $295 million into the draft 10-year budget, but asked officers to go away and see where the board’s request matched existing budgets.
Len Brown should honour his election promise and hold a referendum on maori representation for the council. This sort of nonsense needs to end. Ratepayers are being held to ransom.
Maori Statutory Board chairman David Taupiri said the board was seeking 3 per cent of the council’s budget for 10 per cent of the population.
He said the funding request was a “foresight of Parliament”, which set up the independent board to ensure Maori were recognised in the Super City.
David Taupiri is actually advocating double dipping. The 10 percent of the population that he proclaims he is representing already enjoy all the same services the council provides as everyone else. What they are asking for is a special payement, a bonus for maori, but is in actual fact a tax on all ratepayers.
