Playcentre Aotearoa urgently need to step up or risk igniting co-governance backlash
Thank the little baby Jesus that Kelvin was so focused on destroying Labour with his stupid attack on Karen Chhour that he managed to eclipse this dreadful story from Playcentre Aotearoa…
A 91.75% majority vote to change Playcentre Aotearoa’s constitution has been overruled by some of the organisation’s roopu (governance bodies), Playcentre insiders have revealed.
One parent, who asked not to be named, said the nationwide vote on Saturday morning was designed to change the parent-led child care education organisation’s constitution to a “trust deed” so — among other issues — more of the funding it received would go to local playcentres, rather than “98%” going to the administrative body, which operates a bulk-funding model.
In the vote, parents and employees at 366 of 400 playcentres voted yes in favour of change.
However, before any change could come into effect, a separate vote from the organisation’s roopu needed to be considered.
The organisation’s six roopu are “governance bodies within Playcentre Aotearoa, consisting of whanau Maori, to give whanau Maori an equitable voice in Playcentre governance”, which require at least five of the six roopu to agree in order to achieve a consensus.
Four roopu voted in favour and two against, but the two-thirds majority was not enough to carry the change.
One parent said reactions at their local playcentre were of disappointment and disbelief.
“We just couldn’t believe it. It’s supposed to be about the kids.
“There was no explanation given by roopu and a lot of parents were quite upset.”
The results of the vote were circulated by Playcentre’s board in an email later on Saturday.
“We accept that while the overwhelming majority of our people are ready to move forward with this trust deed, we haven’t yet reached a place where we can all move forward together,” the email said.
Playcentre Aotearoa has been asked for comment but its response was not received in time for deadline.
…the fear many critics of co-governance have is that somehow a small tribal elite Māori faction will stop decisions being made.
This Playcentre Aotearoa fiasco highlights those fears in stark contrast.
You can’t have a hold out like this and claim it is democratic!
Playcentre Aotearoa must come forward and explain this and force a solution before this gets picked up and becomes the latest example to bash Māori with.
Part of the problem is that co-governance hasn’t been front footed and so examples like this can become the examples set in the voting public mind.
The naked hypocrisy of the right to twist ‘One person One Vote’ into a negative egalitarian garrotte around the throat of Democracy while screaming ‘we-are-saving-democracy’ is performative art for Fascists.
If Labour require the Maori Party to form a Government, the personal relationship between Willie and JT will become the lynchpin to it holding together.
Jacinda needs to use Waitangi Day next year to spell out what co-Governance and 3 Waters means in practise because her inability to do that has allowed the right to cast it as apartheid ethno nationalism when the naked truth is the vast number of people bitching about Māori gaining local council representation couldn’t actually name anyone on their Council.
Playcentre Aotearoa can easily become a symbolic noose for this Government.
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
exactly Jason. Welcome to cogovernance. Thanks for publishing. Didn’t see it on Stuff or NZ Herald, but I will be delighted to be corrected on this.
And Boomber maybe we need the cogovernance backlash. This is another example of what we can expect.
@Jason agreed, this doesn’t serve the parents, employees or the kids. Nor does it serve the 4 roopu and whānau māori who agreed with or respected the vote.
Bomber how is Playcentre Aotearoa supposed to ‘step up’. Can they overrule their own governance bodies? Does someone have to talk nicely to the two roopu concerned. Isn’t ‘stepping up’ exactly what they did by having the vote in the first place?
“…the fear many critics of co-governance have is that somehow a small tribal elite Māori faction will stop decisions being made.”
No the fear is that, (as with any elite special interest group possessing veto power, exclusive rights to operational directives etc, etc), decisions may be made in their own interests not the common interest and not in the interest of most māori. Think crony capitalism.
I’m supportive of the idea of co-governance but not elitism so thank you Bomber for covering this. However rather than rhetorical bluster to signal your left-wing credentials, please explain how this will NOT be a microcosm of co-governance as it is currently being architected. Perhaps after the fiasco over hate speech legislation, the government despite (or because of) their numerous PR consultants are not front-footing this because they cannot make a good case that this serves the people, tangata whenua or tangata tiriti.
Winston Peters is going to hover all the votes on this matter and easily get over 5% and be king maker again.
And he stated in his “campaign launch” that he sees himself as a handbrake on NAct.