Statues’ fate ‘up to local councils’
‘‘Thankfully, of all the things that are my job, that is not one of them.’’ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has declined to weigh in on the fate of colonial statues around the country, saying it’s a matter for local councils.
Talking to media outlets yesterday, Ardern acknowledged change was needed and there was work to be done about racism, but stopped short of saying what she thought should happen to increasingly controversial monuments.
Hamilton City Council last week took down a statue of namesake Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton, after complaints it glorified colonialism.
Statues have also become targets of protest in Britain and the United States amid anti-racism demonstrations.
Asked about pulling down statues in New Zealand, or if there were any street or town names she would want to change, Ardern told Newstalk ZB: ‘‘Thankfully, of all the things that are my job, that is not one of them.
‘‘That is totally up to local councils, so not something I have given any thought to.’’
Tens of thousands of people gathered in Auckland and Wellington on Sunday for a second protest in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Protesters called on the Government to publicly condemn police brutality in the United States.
‘‘Anyone who saw that [video of Floyd], read the story about what happened in the United States would be horrified, it is horrifying,’’ Ardern said.
She told RNZ she would not commit to raising New Zealand’s concerns directly with the US ambassador, but it would instead go through diplomatic channels.
‘‘Sometimes we do these things in private,’’ she said.
‘‘We should all feel deeply about racism as we see it.
‘‘We should all feel that way, we should all condemn it when we see it, so I see that [protest] response as a reflection of that.’’
She said there had been debate about the fate of statutes since Tuia 250 Voyage commemorations last year.
‘‘I personally have been of the view that we have been remiss and not always telling our full history,’’ Ardern told RNZ.
‘‘If we think we are going to resolve the gaps in the telling of our history simply by distilling it down to that one part of the debate, I don’t think any New Zealander will believe that.’’
Addressing the march on
Sunday, Justice Minister Andrew Little said change was needed.
Ardern agreed, but said nothing would happen quickly – because it needed to be systematic.
Earlier, she told Newstalk ZB she was not worried about what was going in New Zealand in regard to names and statues.
‘‘We are a country that can have a debate about something and have rational discussion and peaceful protests,’’ she said.
‘‘It is hard to argue against the motivation behind those – denouncing racism, which I think we can all support.’’