Former Whangārei Mayor Sheryl Mai to speak on Māori wards
The Network Waitangi Whangārei event aims to highlight the benefits of Māori wards, before the local elections in October.
Mai will join sitting Whangārei District
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NZ Herald
3 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Letters: Warriors defensive woes, voting reforms, David Seymour and dropkicks, passport name-changing
It is just too easy for opponents to exploit the frailties we have here. Alan Walker, St Heliers. Voting reforms How are the changes to voting going to make it harder to cast a vote? The election date is announced months in advance, so people have no excuse to not enrol to vote. Also, by making it illegal to have entertainment or food offerings within 100m of a voting station is just common sense, votes must be cast freely and no inducement should be offered. It seems the only ones complaining are the ones who use this as an election-day strategy. Mark Young, Ōrewa. David Seymour and dropkicks David Seymour has again demonstrated his gift for insult, this time calling tardy voting registrants 'dropkicks'. Such boorish, sneering, self-righteous language, while not surprising coming from Seymour, really shows what a massive dropkick he is. Brian Dwyer, Welcome Bay. Passports It is so hard to understand what the Government is trying to do in changing the order of name on our New Zealand passports. The use of te reo is a source of pride in the unique embracing of our heritage through our original language. Other countries praise us for it. There are no obvious nay-sayers except certain voters who are dwindling in number as they 'get' the unique lustre of 'Aotearoa New Zealand'. In that order. Christine, Northcote Point. What's in a name? I am a New Zealand citizen living in South Dakota. I recently had my New Zealand passport renewed and noticed the Māori word for New Zealand was placed above the English word on the passport. I was somewhat mystified and offended by this change, as I view myself as a New Zealander, not an Aotearoan. I presume this renaming order is a manifestation of 'woke' ideology derived from the previous Government under Dame Jacinda Ardern. I find this form of 'virtue signalling' distasteful and not becoming of the Commonwealth country New Zealand is. To the three leaders of the current Government, congratulations are deserved on their sensible and appropriate name reversal on the front of the New Zealand passport. Quentin Durward, South Dakota, US. Cost of living We are currently in Perth and there are five different supermarket chains to shop at, plus a whole host of independent stores. One greengrocer in particular, Spud Shed, is 17 stores strong. Many of these are open 24 hours, offering an exciting shopping experience for the customer. It is a lot easier to shop around here to keep them honest. Some purchases included red capsicums for $1.75 each, two for $4 cabbages, $5 blueberries, and large 500gm strawberries for only $4.99. Two chips of cherry tomatoes for $3, and a block of Aussie butter for $6.79. Their in-season Sumo mandarins are magic, but it is not all beer and skittles in the produce world; we spotted our gold kiwifruit for $12.99/kg, and we miss our glorious New Zealand apples dearly. However, one thing is for certain, our New Zealand grocery retail needs some serious competition. Glenn Forsyth, Taupō.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Shane Te Pou: Tāmaki Makaurau byelection a chance to test out campaign machine
No electorate belongs to any party and Peeni Henare (who was Tāmaki Makaurau's MP for three terms until he lost to Kemp by 42 votes) has every right to try to win the seat back. And, contrary to some claims that Henare winning would mean fewer Māori in Parliament, if he wins the electorate, Labour will have an empty list seat, with the next in line being the wāhine Māori Georgie Dansey. Labour's Peeni Henare was Tāmaki Makaurau's MP for three terms and is fighting to win the seat back. Photo / Mark Mitchell Having a contested campaign is good for Labour and Te Pāti Māori. It will allow both parties to give their election campaign machines a run and put forward their vision to people who have been hard hit by this Government's poor decisions and negligence. According to the latest census, construction is the biggest employer for Tāmaki Makaurau voters. It's also been a sector that's been hammered by the Government stopping large infrastructure projects mid-stream and cutting off funding for building more state houses. Oriini Kaipara is the Te Pāti Māori candidate for the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection. Photo / Supplied Fifteen thousand construction jobs have been lost in the past two years. Nationwide, the economy has lost 34,000 jobs in the past year and Māori unemployment is over 10%. Rising costs for basics such as food, GP visits, prescriptions, and electricity are hitting whānau who are dealing with job losses, all while being characterised as dole bludgers by a Government that seemingly has no solutions. With 79% of Tāmaki Makaurau voters renting, they're also feeling the pinch of continuing rent rises. The reality is most of our people work, but no matter how hard they work, even holding down two jobs, they just cannot get ahead in life. Many whānau live in overcrowded homes, with the constant spectre of having nowhere to live as the Government has brought back no-cause evictions and cut off access to emergency housing. Anyone who walks the streets of our largest city knows that the number of homeless people in Tāmaki Makaurau is growing, and many of them are Māori. Labour says its focus is on jobs, homes, health and the cost of living. Those are clearly key issues for voters, who are unimpressed by this Government's lack of delivery and their carelessness towards the hurt people are feeling. But voters aren't yet ready to fully embrace Labour – probably because of the lack of a vision and policy to go with those priorities. This byelection is an opportunity for Labour to start putting some meat on those bones and present themselves as an alternative government that people can trust with their vote. For Te Pāti Māori, holding on to Tāmaki Makaurau will be an important goal, to cement their hold on the Māori seats and prove that 2023 wasn't a passing high-tide mark, like 2008 was. It will also be a test of how they handle more mainstream media attention. Next year, National will spend a huge amount of money and energy trying to show that a vote for Labour is a vote for Te Pāti Māori and that they are too extreme to be let near power. It will be up to Te Pāti Māori to prove that fear-mongering wrong. Labour and Te Pāti Māori will need to use this byelection to show they can compete while keeping things civil and positive. Oriini Kaipara and Peeni Henare are excellent candidates, and I'm not making a pick on who will win. I am confident that whoever is elected will be able to represent our people well. I hope that the winner will work tirelessly for more jobs, more houses and better public services. Two years of cuts and negligence have left our people hurting. It's time for some hope.
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Dropkicks? Shouldn't we make it easier for people to vote?
This week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith announced what he described as a 'significant, but necessary change' to New Zealand's electoral laws. He said this will address 'strain on the system'. The most controversial of these changes is stopping same-day enrolment for voters in a general election. Same-day enrolments are counted as special votes, which can take about 10 times longer to count than ordinary votes. Special votes have become more common in recent elections and a Regulatory Impact Statement from the Ministry of Justice said there had been an explosion as more people enrolled or updated their details on the day they voted. There were about 300,000 to 350,000 same-day special votes cast at the last election. The total number of special votes was 602,000, or about 20.9% of all ticks made. The Electoral Commission forecasts this will rise to 739,000 special votes in the 2026 election. So, to ensure the final results for our election don't take too long, the ability to enrol to vote will stop 13 days before election day. Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said anyone who can't get their A into G in time was a 'dropkick'. 'I'm a bit sick of dropkicks who can't get their lives organised to follow the law, which registering to vote is a legal requirement. Then going and voting to tax away hard-working people's money and have people that make laws that restrict their freedoms.' After his somewhat partisan comment, Seymour went on tell reporters, 'If you can't be bothered doing that, maybe you don't care so much.' But it is obvious these people – hundreds of thousands of Kiwis – do care. They care enough about our democracy and the future of this country to go to a polling station on election day, register and vote. The Act leader also said people are fighting around the world for the chance to vote in a democracy. This is true, but the irony appeared totally lost on Seymour as he argued about the merits of a law that would restrict the opportunity for people to do just that. This country loves a battler and treating thousands of everyday New Zealanders with disdain rarely returns a positive result. Seymour might be well served to dropkick his descriptor quickly, or the battlers may dropkick him at the polls. Along with concerns about turnout, the Electoral Commission advised that special votes are more likely to come from areas with high Asian, Māori and Pacific communities. Younger people are also more likely to cast special votes – particularly first-time voters. Labour leader Chris Hipkins called the proposed changes 'draconian'. That is hyperbole. But he is right that it's anti-democratic. Perhaps any law that restricts a person's opportunity to vote should require a supermajority in Parliament? This might also stop the ridiculous see-sawing we see every government cycle around prisoner voting. Sign up to the Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
