Co-governance bigotry is harming first responder Marae resilience
While our Cyclone Gabrielle focus must still be on the continuing danger of the immediate threat to life, we must begin demanding to know why Marae, who are doing so much of the heavy lifting in this natural disaster, are not resourced and respected more!
Right now, the Emergency Management Bill is stalled in Parliament because the Labour Government are concerned the co-governance elements in the Bill that will enable and resource Marae will be seized upon by National and ACT as another dog whistle to spook the electorate…
Emergency management generally garners cross-party consensus in Parliament, but the Government’s effort to legislate for Māori participation in emergency management governance in the bill promises to be politically fraught. The Opposition has routinely attacked Labour’s work on co-governance between the Crown and Māori.
…this concern for political narrative may be strategic, but tactically it has left Marae without the agency to face the very challenges they are now enduring.
As soon as we have found everyone and ensured the immediate needs of everyone are met and their next 3 months ensured for by the State, we must demand the Emergency Management Bill is urgently brought forward with extra co-governance measures that ensure Marae are not only resourced for the new resilience we require, but that where possible, the damaged ones remain, get repaired and are future proofed against weather events.
Many Marae are located in places because of very specific culturally important factors. Moving them would be traumatic. Where we can, Marae should stay where they are and get repaired with extra resourcing to ensure they are points of resilience in those communities.
The time of consequences is upon us, and these obligations must be met with resolve and not resentment.
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
It turns out doubling bureaucracy creating co everything doesn’t double the outcomes.
Who would have thought?
Not Labour.
Translates to: “The government is so tied up in race based thinking it can’t even produce a bill of law.”
It reminds me of Nicola Sturgeon and her convoluted thinking over gender and I suspect the result will be the same.
(Oh, and some Marae are poor locations so unsuitable for emergency management.)
I agree with Martyn. Aotearoa has a marvellous resource in Marae scattered all over the country. We saw them spring into action during covid-19, and now with the cyclone. The race based political scaremongering is without foundation given there is already cogovernance, some put in place by National and Act.
This is the eternal dilemma of NZ politics. Helen Clarks government had to implement rushed legislation to counter judicial decisions about access to the foreshore and seabed. At the time Don Brash was wielding the ‘one nation’ mantra that refutes any redistribution on the basis of historical injustice.
In a Pakeha majority democracy is this type of self-immolation by the Labour government actually necessary to protect the longer term progressive arc in NZ?
It seems to take very little to stir up dark and ugly voices when it comes to progressive policy for Maori. The NZ media stands passively by as though the explicit attacks on so called Maori “privilege” have little consequence to the people being targeted.
Luxon may dog whistle his way to an election victory but if he thinks that this is a consequence free strategy he is wrong.
Eh you your not one of us.
Like that,you not one of us,ask my childern,of your eigit bigot,moron,eh Aotearoa.moron.
Round the bus,got the train slaughter,knowin of brain fucked up slaughter,fir a spark egit,dont.Eh fool.
EH compulsory unionism.
Should my care be nice.
If maori get to own the water. Will we be responsible when our water wreaks havoc in future?