Seditionists should forget about sacking Her Majesty and give more thought to the equality they promote

An outfit calling itself the undergroundREPUBLIC has emerged from the sewers or some dank hole to say it’s time to say goodbye to Queen Elizabeth as our Head of State.

Probably they don’t know the words of Happy Birthday and would rather be rid of our monarch than wish her a happy birthday and sing that song.

Accordingly, they are asking: “Why do we celebrate the Queen’s Birthday ……. Seriously???”

They (or maybe there is just one) have expressed their sedition in a media statement today.

“Bye Bye Liz” …. Let’s elect our own President as a figurehead, like other modern democratic countries do… a kiwi who makes us proud to be a New Zealander.”

“Let’s put this person’s head on our coinage for the duration they are our Head of State.”

“It would be easy to have nominations with 500 signatures, forwarded to the Electoral Commission so that we can vote in our President at the same time we vote for our representatives.”

Mayor Judd favours doing things by halves – and he wants all of NZ to accept his power-sharing model

And then I have this idea of putting all council seats aside for the tangata whenua…

About two months ago, the Mayor of New Plymouth was getting kudos from the Maori Party – and no doubt from lots of other Maori leaders – for acknowledging that our indigenous persons are special and should be given special treatment.

His council had just voted for a Maori ward by seven votes to six.

But he was getting plenty of stick, too, from folks who had the temerity to be miffed at the Mayor’s tinkering with their democratic structure (and doing it on the strength of a very close vote)..

One councillor – a true democrat – had the balls to oppose the move and resigned in protest.

The mayor, Andrew Judd, showed troubling signs of being confused about what he was up to.

The Thais give insights into co-governance systems and unelected leaders’ push for more power

Well, look you here.

The headline on a bit of something Alf was reading today says The biggest issue: politics are divided between a weak majority and powerful minority

The article (here) deals with shabby events in Thailand where an elected government has been thrown out by a military coup.

Alf is particularly interested in observing that Thailand’s system is described as quasi-democratic.

This is what comes of giving power and authority to appointed people who can’t be bothered standing for election.

Co-governance creeps closer to Eketahuna and a bunch of special citizens are joyous

This co-governance bollocks is getting a bit close for comfort, for those living peacefully and democratically here in Eketahuna.

The chair of a collective of nine central Hawke’s Bay marae – just up the main drag from here – is bragging about securing a written assurance from the local regional council which has given the group a say on the development of the Ruataniwha dam scheme.

Two companies are competing to win a contract to design and build the $600 million water storage programme in the region.

And all citizens, the way things are handled in a good and healthy democracy, are entitled to have a say in what happens, even if it is no more than a letter to the editor of the local rag and the right to vote against councillors who do something of which they disapprove.

Rotorua could show where co-governance is taking us – to cities run by Maori tribal councils

Being brought up with a world view shaped by his proud British heritage, Alf has been apt to bridle every time he learns of yet another Treaty-based co-governance system being imposed on one of our communities.

Most critically, and glaringly obviously, these arrangements debase our democracy and our notions of unity.

One party to the co-governance arrangement is accountable to all the people. The other party is not. The division is racial.

As a staunch champion of democratic systems, your hard-working MP for Eketahuna North could only become seriously hot and bothered each time bloody Chris Finlayson signed off on one of these deals with a smugly self-satisfied smirk on his face.

But how far will it go?

Much further, if the indigenous people have their way. These are our special people and some of them are scheming on introducing a very special system of governance for our local authorities.

They want to get rid of city councils and run the show with tribal councils.

Authority in Tauranga is sheared – and the buggers who live there haven’t felt a disquieting chill

Uh, oh.

Some softies in our government have buckled yet again to pressure from our indigenous brothers and sisters for a co-governance deal.

In other words, governmental authorities accountable to the public will surrender half their rights and powers to a non-elected group of Maori.

The word being bandied around is “sharing”.

It should be “shearing”, as in cutting. Or lopping.

It looks just like a long ribbon of flowing water – but don’t offend it, or it might sue you

No longer just another river…

So, Chris Finlayson and a bunch of Crown negotiators have breathed life into the Wanganui River.

This chicanery – according to the Stuff report here – has turned the river into a legal entity with a legal voice.

According to a spokesman for the Minister of Treaty Negotiations, it will be recognised as a person when it comes to the law – “in the same way a company is, which will give it rights and interests”.

No magic was required. This miracle has been performed under a preliminary agreement signed between Wanganui River iwi and the Crown.

Information (they say) is power – so who is getting inside information in the Bay of Plenty?

Dunno if Alf would be kicked out, should he try to get in.

But he is curious about a gabfest being organised (and presumably paid for with public money) by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council

The headline on the council’s announcement says –

Top Speakers For Māori-Led Conference

The announcement goes on to say –

Prominent New Zealanders and Māori academics will be speaking at this month’s Tauranga conference for Bay of Plenty Māori.

And –

The conference is aimed at Māori living in, or with an interest in the Bay of Plenty.

Oh dear. Alf is not a Maori. And he does not live in the Bay of Plenty. That seems to rule him out.

Another story from Dr Paul’s casebook – the re-energising of Chris Auchenvole with a stent

Has Brigitte become much more wrinkled since then?

Your hard-working member has been forging a much closer friendship with the splendid Paul Hutcheson in recent days.

An element of self-interest comes into it (although Alf is not admitting to it). He had been told how Paul – bloody good bloke and a doctor – helped steer Chris Auchinvole to treatment for a dicky ticker.

Mind you, Alf could have diagnosed Chris’s problem too, if consulted, because Chris had been experiencing pain while walking up stairs.

No, not in the legs. In the chest.

That’s spells trouble of some sort and needs checking out.

Anyway, Chris mentioned the pains to Paul, and Paul gave him bloody good advice, and now Chris has had one of those stent things put in an artery.

Co-governance is tricky: the right tone must be struck and all iwi kept on side

A source of disharmony.

Mrs Grumble has drawn your hard-working MP’s attention to a fuss in the capital that he overlooked during his news monitoring yesterday.

It’s a useful – and ominous – pointer to what Alf foresees happening under the Treaty-based co-governance arrangements now being spawned around the country.

It shows the need to strike the right tone when you take up a few niggling issues with your co-governance partner.

Otherwise the other party might spit the dummy and become uncooperative.

Moreover if you are an iwi leader, you must not piss off other Maori or things become awfully complicated.