Press Release
ISSUED BY AFFORDABLE AUCKLAND
Ethnic Issues
 
Berry Says No to Ethnic Voting
 
Last weekend, an AGM of Auckland ethnic leaders called for more direct input into the policies of Auckland Council. Affordable Auckland Waitemata & Gulf candidate Stephen Berry says that any moves toward greater ethnic based input or representation should be resisted, calling such moves “creeping racism.”
 
“I believe the governance structure Auckland Council already has, which includes voting rights for members of the unelected Maori Statutory Board, is already anti-democratic and morally reprehensible. We should not be going further down the road of electoral apartheid which makes the democratically inaccurate assumption that people from a particular group all think the same.”
 
Mr. Berry regrets that it is not possible to abolish the Maori Statutory Board, as its existence is required under the central government legislation that established the Auckland unitary authority. “However, I can assure voters that if I am elected I will oppose any moves made by other racial advocacy groups to have similar powers endowed upon them by the Mayor.”
 
Chair of the Auckland Council Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel, Dr. Camille Nikhid, believes there has not been enough consultation with ethnic communities over Council projects such as the proposed unitary plan. “We've had an ethnic-specific forum on the unitary plan … [but] we do not see an ethnic perspective in there, and that is basically because ethnic communities do not sit on any of the decision-making committees of Auckland,” she was quoted as saying on TV3’s Front Line.
 
“A specifically ethnic voice on the Council is a waste of money and nothing more than a high horse for a few advocates to ride,” says Stephen Berry.. “I find it very difficult to believe that every individual of Asian ethnicity in Auckland all share the exact same opinion, just as opinions amongst homosexuals vary widely and not all men can agree on one single viewpoint.”
 
“Individuals should not have more say, less say or special say on the functions of the Council based on their ethnicity, sexuality, religion or sex. In a proper democracy, each individual should have an equal say, with one vote each and equal opportunity to submit their opinions on Council activities. Nobody in a democracy should be appointed as a voting member of Council.”

“The tenure of the Auckland Council Ethnic Peoples Advisory Panel expires under current bylaws in November 2013. I call upon the Mayor not to renew it.”
 
ENDS
 
Stephen Berry
Candidate for Affordable Auckland, Waitemata & Gulf
Leader, Affordable City

stephen.berry@affordable.org.nz
www.affordable.org.nz
www.facebook.com/affordablecity

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