Desecration of Memorial Suffrage Tile Mural a shame on Auckland City Council

Would the Auckland City Council idly stand by if our memorials to victims of the Great War and Second World War were routinely urinated upon, vomited on, and used as temporary places of residence, questions the National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ).

While cameras have supposedly been installed to collect footage of men carrying out these acts, which reportedly occur on a daily basis, where are the prosecutions?

The National Council of Women’s Auckland Branch has been actively working with Councillor Cathy Casey to retain the Memorial where it stands. The Advisory Panel for Public Art (APPA) has called for the Memorial, this piece of history, to be moved to enable a clear view of the entrance to the Art Gallery.

“NCWNZ is currently consulting on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – what the Auckland City Council has allowed to happen to a women’s Memorial, sadly fits the bill for describing discriminatory activities enabled by local Government in New Zealand,” says Elizabeth Bang, NCWNZ National President.

“We recognise this problem is probably very difficult to police, however it was not that long ago that desecration of religiously significant memorials with swastika’s resulted in government and public deplore.”

The Mural, which depicts women leaders during the Suffrage movement, including the first ever woman-Mayor in the then British Empire, has again become the target for relocation. The Auckland City Council promised Auckland people a couple of years ago that it’s positioning would never be subject to such debacles again.

Should the Mural be shifted, it has been stated that it would be destroyed. There is no funding available for its relocation, nor recreation. Currently, Auckland NCW Branch majority indicates that it does not want the Mural touched, just better protected.

“We don’t want this situation to waste further rate-payers money every time the APPA has yet another meeting with the CBD Committee to discuss the future of the Memorial,” says Elizabeth Bang. “There are greater concerns for Auckland right now than this, so move on APPA and develop a better plan, which does not involve re-siting and destruction of this Memorial.”

For more information on CEDAW and how to get involved see: http://ncwnz.orgnz/cedaw/

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