My Account
Kaipara District Council’s monthly meeting on August 30 featured some heated exchanges, as outside presenters on either side of debates over sovereignty and the Treaty of Waitangi took part to share views that some councillors strongly opposed.
The episode, during the presentations and petitions part of the meeting, was a sequel to the council’s previous monthly meeting, where Pere Huriwai-Seger of the Aotearoa Liberation League and Stop Co-Governance advocate Julian Batchelor squared off over the contentious issue of co-governance.
Huriwai-Seger was back on August 30 – according to the agenda – to speak about Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
What he actually wanted to do, he quickly made clear, was to accuse Mayor Craig Jepson of lying earlier when he said that Batchelor had requested to speak at the July meeting. Huriwai-Seger charged that
Jepson had personally invited Batchelor – “a Te Tiriti o Waitangi conspiracy theorist” – to take part, in effect to provide a rebuttal to Huriwai-Seger’s own presentation. He invited the mayor to apologise.
“I did not lie,” retorted Jepson, and advised Huriwai-Seger to stick to his agreed topic.
“You’re here to talk about Te Tiriti o Waitangi. So get on with it, your time is running out. I’m asking you to stop, or get on with what you came here to talk about.”
Huriwai-Seger urged councillors not to use their positions to elevate voices, which he said spread “hate speech and lies”, but to seek information on the treaty from qualified professionals.
Councillors and staff should attend workshops run by groups like Network Waitangi Whangārei, he said.
“And I recommend that you, Mr Mayor, attend as many of those as possible and I suggest that you sit up front.”
When the presentation was over, Cr Mark Vincent reminded the mayor that council’s standing orders gave him the power, as chair, to terminate a speaker who criticised elected members or staff. Jepson said he was aware of that, and would be doing so in future.
Clive Boonham, a lawyer, then gave a presentation on what he called the sovereignty conundrum, asking how demands for co-governance could be reconciled with the Crown’s sovereignty over New Zealand, declared in two proclamations by the Queen’s representative, William Hobson, in May 1840, several months after the signing of the treaty, and taking effect in law later that year.
“It is a blunt fact of law that the Crown acquired full sovereignty in 1840, established a government over the whole country, and all the subsequent rights of New Zealanders rise from the exercise of that sovereignty and not from the treaty,” he concluded.
Tempers were raised again during and after Boonham’s talk. Jepson told Cr Ihapera Paniora to stop interrupting.
“I’ve had enough of it … if you interject again I’ll be asking you to leave and I’ll adjourn the meeting,” he said.
When Cr Jonathan Larsen asked Boonham if he would be available for workshops to help councillors better understand the issues he raised, Paniora erupted.
“You’re kidding!” she said. “He’s not an expert.”
