DRAWING up a new policy will not stop debate regarding the flying of flags at Manukau City Council, says the councillor who pushed for the plan to be scrapped.
Howick councillor Jami-Lee Ross put forward a motion at last week’s council meeting to drop an investigation to establish a flag policy for council. However, after emotional and sometimes heated debate that motion was rejected 13-4.
“In three months we are still going to come back and debate the same issue,” Mr Ross said.
Much of the controversy surrounding the issue came from the initial approach to the council’s Treaty of Waitangi committee to fly the Tino Rangatiratanga (Maori Sovereignty) flag on Manukau City Council’s building in the lead up to and including Waitangi Day 2009 and thereafter.
The committee recommended it would be better for council to look at establishing a policy to cover all flags.
Because of the complexity of the issue, councillors broke down Mr Ross’ motion to three separate issues.
The first to scrap the policy, the second to fly only the New Zealand and Manukau City Council flags and the third for Tino Rangatiratanga and Te Kahu (the kingitanga movement) flags never to be flown.
The four councillors that voted in favour of the notice were Dick Quax, Bob Wichman, Sharon Stewart and Jami-Lee Ross.
Mrs Stewart says she was the only member on the committee that voted against the policy at the original meeting and felt intimidated because she was the sole person to do so.
“If you start flying all sorts of flags there is going to be a lot of unpleasant incidents, “she says.
Some councillors accused Mr Ross’ action as “discriminatory and insulting” because he had singled out the Maori flags only.
Treaty of Waitangi committee chairman Alf Filipaina says that Mr Ross, who is also Maori, has “trampled on the Te Kahu flag” and neglected to notify him about the motion before bringing it to council.
“You should have spoken to me konohi te konohi (face to face) before presenting it to the council,” he told Mr Ross.
Other councillors say the two flags are not an appropriate representation of the 185 different ethnicities in Manukau and were concerned about the association of the Tino Rangatiratanga with radicalism.
Mr Ross says he doesn’t regret what he stood for and is adamant he has ratepayers’ best interests in mind.
“I strongly believe council’s role is to provide core services to residents and ratepayers, we need to be focusing on the bigger issues like crime, traffic and liquor outlets,” says Mr Ross.
He says funding a flag policy is unnecessary and an “expensive sideshow” in comparison to the city’s real problems.
Mayor Len Brown says what needs to be addressed is the respect and acknowledgment of the tangata whenua, and how the council work at building that relationship.
Mr Brown closed the debate by giving his vote for the flag policy “because the council can’t agree”.
He says they will come back and revisit the issue once the policy is made but “we need to show respect”.
The Treaty of Waitangi Committee (Te Tiriti O Waitangi) will appoint a council officer to investigate a flag policy. One council officer said it may only take a week, and not three months as previously allowed for.
