‘I guess we just have to start again’
Kaipara mayor’s u-turn welcomed but race and culture questions remain
Rarely has any council meeting in New Zealand — let alone a testy, one-minute exchange at a meeting in Mangawhai — commanded so much national attention. Letters of outrage have been penned. A petition has garnered almost 6000 names. The Race Relations Commissioner was “shocked and disappointed”. Outraged iwi leaders vowed to give the mayor a good talking-to, whether he wanted to hui or not, and a protest march was due to descend on next week’s council meeting in Dargaville.
On the other side of the divide, social media, talkback radio and Letters to the Editor in-trays have been running hot with claims of Māori customs and language being rammed down the throats of a put-upon majority.
The mayor himself said he had been inundated with messages of support by phone, text and email and — until Thursday’s backdown — was adamant he wouldn’t budge.
The Kaipara karakia controversy began at the new council’s first full meeting on November 30.
Pera Paniora, the Kaipara District’s first Māori ward councillor, tried repeatedly to open the meeting with a karakia (prayer or blessing) but was shut down by newly anointed Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson. He explained his actions by saying: “This is a council that’s full of people who are non-religious, religious, of different ethnicities and I intend to run a secular council here which respects everybody and I will not be veering from that.” The council’s decision to backtrack on the karakia ban, announced on Thursday amid mounting pressure, has since taken the heat out of the issue.
In future councillors will take turns to offer a karakia, prayer, poem or reflection — whatever they are comfortable with — to open and close council meetings. Paniora described it as a compromise and “a unique way forward for karakia” that still met the needs of tikanga Māori (Māori customs).
Divisions exposed
While Kaipara’s karakia controversy appears to have been resolved, it exposed a number of faultlines in New Zealand society.
One is between a (mostly) younger demographic used to hearing te reo Māori, and who in many cases have embraced the language as their own, and a (mostly) older generation raised in a monolingual society who are understandably discomfited by an extraordinary pace of change.
Those changes include, but certainly aren’t limited to, the empowerment of Māori and women, and surging public use of the Māori language.
Another faultline is between the traditionally moderate, muddle-along style of Kiwi politics and the no-holdsbarred culture wars of the US. The reach of social media means there’s nothing to stop more combative views, and ways of interacting with each other, seeping into New Zealand.
Yet another faultline, much closer to home, runs straight down the middle of the Kaipara District.
One coast is dominated by kumara fields and traditional farming communities, the other by fast-growing beachside towns increasingly populated by cashed-up former Aucklanders. The new Kaipara council, with both mayor and deputy from Mangawhai, is but one sign of that westward shift.
‘I thought we’d moved on’
The tradition of starting Kaipara District Council meetings with a karakia began in 1998 when Graeme Ramsey was mayor.
These days he teaches business at NorthTec but he still lives at Baylys Beach on Kaipara’s wild west coast.
“As soon as I was elected we started trying to open meetings appropriately. If councillors weren’t comfortable with karakia they took it in turns to open in a manner of their choice — a prayer, a poem, a waiata, whatever.”
Ramsey said karakia were not necessarily religious.
“The aim is to bring people together and get them collectively focused and thinking about what’s ahead. It’s seeking a blessing on the work you’re about to do.”
Ramsey described the initial reaction as “mixed” but as time wore on it became more and more accepted.
“Also, as we educated ourselves around inclusiveness, particularly with our Māori population, it just became part of the way we did things. Quite clearly, Māori had been really disengaged from council activities for a long time — and fair enough too, if you look at the history.
“I’d always open in te reo. That wasn’t always well received but I thought it was important. I thought the council had an obligation to engage and be inclusive,” he said.
“This was the time of the Te Uri o Hau settlement and we’d just signed a Memorandum of Understanding with them about how we’d work together. That was a big step for us, but the Government was really supportive of the work we were trying to do to overcome a whole lot of history. It’s important to understand what has happened and where that leads people.”
Ramsey wrote to the mayor and councillors earlier this week to express his dismay that almost 25 years of work was being undone.
His letter lamented what he described as a “woeful lack of knowledge” and raised concerns about the effect on Kaipara’s reputation, relationships with its significant Māori population, and its ability to recruit a new chief executive or work with neighbouring councils.
(The Far North District Council is travelling in the opposite direction. Its mayor, deputy mayor and a majority of councillors are Māori; the council even uses maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, to help schedule its meetings.)
The answer, Ramsey believed, started with education. Treaty of Waitangi training would help build understanding and encourage good engagement.
“That requires people to have an open mind and be prepared to listen and learn from constituents. The more we listen, the greater our understanding. The more our understanding, the more accepting we become and the more we’re prepared to try new things, not just repeat the mistakes of the past,” he said.
“There’s a need for the new council to really build its understanding. Because I certainly think the future is quite bleak otherwise.”
Ramsey said he was pleased the council had reversed its karakia ban and shown a willingness to learn from mistakes — something he also had to do when first he was elected mayor.
“At the end of the day council is about compromise and working together for the benefit of the district. I just think it’s a shame we haven’t moved on from where we were 20 years ago. I thought we had.”
‘Karakia can take many forms’
One of the claims by those opposed to the use of karakia is that they don’t belong in a secular society. Another is that they take too much time away from the important business of councils.
Both are misconceptions, according to Dargaville Methodist minister and Te Uri o Hau kaumātua Rex Nathan.
“Karakia can take many forms. They don’t have to refer to God. They can simply be a call to respect each other’s views or set the tone for the work ahead. It’s not a long, drawn-out process. A karakia can take all of 20 seconds,” he said.
Nathan said the mayor’s views, such as his opposition to co-governance and Māori wards, were well publicised before the election so came as no surprise to the people of Kaipara. He was also endorsed by the Democracy Northland group founded by John Bain, who quit the Northland Regional Council when Māori wards were introduced.
“But what was surprising was how he dealt with councillor Paniora. I think that’s what really upset people.”
While he was pleased the mayor seemed to have changed his mind, hapū still wanted to meet him and the councillors to find a way forward.
“Let’s have a discussion, let’s lay the issues out on the table.”
Nathan said the council had introduced some good processes around