Wards move shows integrity and vision
Published November 25, 2020 2:53PM
Letter
Congratulations to the council for the unanimous decision to introduce Maori wards. We can't undo the past but we can work for a better future. This was the right decision.
I especially admire the courage of rural ward councillors, Burdett, Seymour, Faulkner and Worsnop who have unselfishly voted in the interests of the community in spite of possible prejudice to their own positions.
This is a council acting with integrity and vision, and we should be grateful to them. There is work ahead to design the right future structure but with goodwill it can be done.
Kia kaha
Michael Chrisp
It is great to know there are enlightened people in Turanganui a Kiwa who know that Maori have suffered enough since the 1850s when their world was turned upside down with the arrival of Cook and who see the establishment of wards for Maori as a way to level the playing field in dealing with matters that affect Maori lives now and in the future.
Joe Biden has just stressed the need to have black people and Latinos in his team as he knows they have never been represented well, if at all, by the whites who have dominated the economic and political scene in the USA.
So Turanganui a Kiwa you are up with the latest by sharing power with tangata whenua. Let’s hope you take it all the way and Turanga becomes the model for the rest of Aotearoa. You are ideally placed to do this.