Media Release: Friday 17 March 2017

For Immediate Release

Petition launched to abolish Auckland Council’s Maori Statutory Board

An online petition calling for the abolition of Auckland Council’s Maori Statutory Board has been launched by Ngapuhi leader and Auckland property developer David Rankin, who has been heavily critical of the group of unelected Maori. The petition’s statement says:

The Maori Statutory Board has worked against the interests of Aucklanders, has cost rate-payers millions of dollars, and is an example of race-based politics. Most of the Board's work has been focussed on bans: bans on people accessing Mt Eden; bans on people developing their own sections without paying a 'taniwha tax'; and bans on equal rights for all cultures. The Board is anti-democratic and as an experiment, has failed. We call for the Government to legislate to abolish the Maori Statutory Board

Mr Rankin plans to present the petition to the Prime Minister in August, a month before the election, and believes that Aucklanders will support it as it’s an issue that has adversely affected the plans of tens of thousands of the city’s residents.

A number of prominent Aucklanders have signed the petition, including Don Brash.

The petition can be found at:

https://www.change.org/p/prime-minister-abolish-auckland-council-s-maori-statutory-board?recruiter=694585883&utm_source=share_for_starters&utm_medium=copyLink

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