Media Releases
Board's 'H' Decision "Racist And Wrong" - 17/09/2009

Mayor Michael Laws and Snr Cr Randhir Dahya, on behalf of the Wanganui District Council, today held a joint media conference in the Mayor’s Office.

The below is the gist of their remarks;

* the Board’s decision is racist and wrong - it has sought to impose the viewpoint of one particular ethnicity and culture upon an entire city and district;

* the community’s view is clear and can be gauged by referenda in both 2006 and 2009 - Wanganui people overwhelmingly wish to retain the status quo;

* the earliest written history of Wanganui records ‘Wanganui’ as the correct spelling in 1837 - and over the past 172 years, our city and district has assumed an identity, mana, heritage and history of its own;

* the Board’s decision may be illegal: section 3e of the NZ Geographic Board Act 2008 states that “appropriate recognition to be accorded to cultural and heritage values associated with geographic features” - the culture and heritage of Wanganui has been disregarded with this decision;

* the Board had the option of dual usage of Wanganui/Whanganui but rejected it (as with Mt Cook/Mt Aoraki);

* the decision was made by an “unelected, unrepresentative, uncaring and unthinking group” who rejected both commonsense and democracy;

* the Council will be petitioning the Minister of Lands and the government for the democratic will of Wanganui people to be recognized;

* the Board’s decision was not unexpected and its formal resolution “demonstrates that the public consultation process was a sham.”

Mayor Laws stated:

“I have a constitutional responsibility to fight this decision until there is no fight left in my body. It is not simply that the decision is wrong - it is that an entire community has had its views, feelings, history and heritage swept aside.”

“That the Board rejected the dual usage option, suggests an agenda that reeks. It has deliberately put Wanganui in a position where we can only resist, and then prevail.”

ENDS

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