Yesterday was an absolute farce. The Auckland City Council initially came out saying that the Pacific Stage Managers were not given any instructions regarding disallowing us from speaking on the stage and then I see the Sunday News this morning that points out that the council are defending their decision not to allow us to speak at the festival (slight contradiction don’t you think?) Ole Maiava says that its about the head of the country and the head of the council being able to speak but from what I’ve seen and heard – that has not been the case for the past 18 years of the Pasifika festival (which he is purported as saying).
In 2004 and 2005 Don Brash took to at least one stage at the festival and some told me yesterday that John Key was up there in 2008. When Labour were in opposition in the 1990’s – they were present at each festival and from what I hear Helen Clark, Vui Mark Gosche, Taito Philip Field and any of the MPs that accompanied them – were often given the opportunity to take to the stage. To top that off – last year we spoke on almost every stage (when the timing was right when we arrived at the stage).
We never asked Auckland City Council (nor did we expect them) to schedule visits for us to speak on stages. We know we’re in opposition – all we did was show up and walk around the festival talking to our people. Because we can’t speak to everyone, we take the opportunity to say a few words on the stages but this year was different and it was an Auckland City Council directive.
For those that have never been to the Festival – it is set up in Villages i.e. Tongan village, Samoan village etc. I’m an MP who is Tongan and Samoan – if I want the opportunity to speak to my community at a Pasifika Public event and they want me to do that, then there should not be a Council directive that dictates that I can’t. If they want any Politician to go up – then it should be at their discretion.
APART FROM THE ABOVE – It was a good day.
What right did labour party politicians have to be there? It was not a political event.
theresaj, it was a public event, anyone had a right to be there. You may or may not be aware of this, but Labour MPs are in fact people too. And it makes sense to me that politicians, who after all are empowered to represent the people of Aotearoa NZ, should take up opportunities to talk to big groups of their constitutents. Seems like it’s part of democracy to me.
As to being able to speak on the stage(s). Carmel is bang on – if the policy has changed from the past, and that sounds like what has happened, and it’s disadvantaging one group in particular, then questions should be asked about who made the decision and why.
Perhaps this is a sad sign of things to come under Rodney Hide’s Super City – lack of transparency, biased decision-making, and no accountability.
And a muzzle slapped on free speech
@Theresaj – what right did they have to stop Labour speaking? Doesn’t that smack of political bias?
Very strange!
I don’t like what is happening in this country. It makes me angry and sad to think that my children are going to grow up in a country like this one is turning into.
People aren’t given a voice, if they have one then they are shut down. If someone disagrees with National, then they are ignored or they are made to look like they are a fool. They are humiliated.
Sounds like this is for Labour as well as the public.
Since I’m taking this too personally, I should properly let this go for now and go to bed as too worked up to think clearly.
Sleep well.
@ Mother, I understand your sentiments. The country voted for a change and this is what we have got. They are still polling higher than when elected.
It is very scary times, I honesty am starting to wonder if this is the country i want to raise my child in.
Its rapidly turning into a big corporation whos aim is to make money for off shore shareholders.
There are plenty of opportunities for polies of all parties to get their views across. A cultural festival isn’t one of them.
When polies (of whatever persuasion) turn up at such an event it should only be to pass pleasntries and comment apolitically. If they want to campaign they should do it at a more suitable venue. If I went along to a cultural event and got even five minutes of any politician banging their political drum I’d be pretty annoyed.
You claim that you’re well in touch with your community. If that’s true then you shouldn’t need to hijack a cultural festival which is being subsidised by ratepayers to get your campaign message across. You must have plenty of other suitable opportunities.
That is wrong and disgraceful. If we think the Auckland city council is acting in the interests of National now, wait until Rodneys supercity kicks in. Very scary time here in New Zealand..
@George. You know that Carmel is Pasifika don’t you? I don’t think that she wanted to hijack the festival. Have you ever considered that she wanted to get in touch with fellow Pasifika people, non-politically? That’s like how Bill English turns up to farmers’ events in Southland. He’s not just doing that for votes, he’s doing that because he’s a farmer, and he wants to socialise.
I’m Catholic. If I was an MP, are you telling me that I wouldn’t have a right to go to Mass, because I could “hijack” the parish?
You’ve got to give people the benefit of the doubt George. It’s not ALWAYS about politics.
Martin – I have no problem with non-political engagement / involvement at such events, apart from observing that it isn’t really what people are turning up to see. If the event is a cultural one the pollies should leave it alone and let people enjoy the day without wanting to ‘address the community’. And most definitely, where they can’t resist the temptation, or are asked to attend by the organisers, their presence shouldn’t be used for political purposes.
For example if/when John Key goes to the Ellerslie Flower Show in Chch that’s fine as long as he makes nice comments about the gardens and so on. If he starts making speeches about how much the Nats were doing for gardeners, and how much worse it would be under Labour then this would be inappropriate.
If Carmel wanted to take the stage to make a few apolitical comments then I’ve got no issue with that – apart from observing that this isn’t what the punters would have turned up to hear.
@George 10.45 – But the pollies HAVE been talking at this event before. Very strange that Labour is banned!
@Martin – Good point.
@George – suddenly inappropriate for this event?
I read in Carmels original post: “We never asked Auckland City Council (nor did we expect them) to schedule visits for us to speak on stages.”
Ummm, right. So why all the gnashing of teeth, and tearing of clothes?
I read in Carmels original post: “We never asked Auckland City Council (nor did we expect them) to schedule visits for us to speak on stages.”
Ummm, right. So why all the gnashing of teeth, and tearing of clothes?
Because Labour has been banned without good reason when pollies haven’t been banned from speaking in the past. It’s insulting at best and muzzling is not good.
S pud – from my point of view it’s not suddenly inappropriate for this event. I reckon a political visit is inappropriate to such an event regardless of who was making the visit. If pollies (red or blue) attended an spoke politically in the past then I think that was wrong. If they did then let’s move on and say it shouldn’t have happened in the past, but we can’t do anything about that so let’s stop it happening now and in the future.
Please be clear – this isn’t an attack on Labour nor Carmel. It’s a suggestion relating to how politicians should relate to non-political events. Especially where the organisers clearly don’t want that event to be politicised.
Martin earlier made the comment about an MP not being allowed to go to mass because he’d be accused of hijacking the event. If the said MP went to mass to worship there would be no problem. If, uninvited, he expected to priest to stand aside for 5 mins whilst he addressed the congregation, even in a non-political way, this would be inappropriate. Surely that’s obvious?
George – I take your point and if you feel that way then good for you. I don’t agree that speaking at the Pasifika Festival is inappropriate. And I do see it as muzzling.
Spud @7:28 am – Maybe politicians were able to speak in the past because they took the time to schedule it with the organisers? It’s rather rude to just waltz up on the stage and grap the microphone don’t you think?
George – the problem is that this ‘rule’ is new. Politicians not in power HAVE been welcome to speak previously. We heard nothing but ‘attack on democracy’ prior to 2008 whenever National felt slighted. But suddenly we’re supposed to shut and be quiet about it? Nope.
By the way, allowing the unapologetically racist Mr Banks to speak AT ALL at any Pacific or indeed Maori event is a farce. It’s just like him turning up at Big Gay Out. Hypocritical.
Another example of a new rule by the partisan lackies on the Banks council. Never mind, the same rule will be applied next year, when Len Brown is Mayor. No tories on the stage, PM or not. Sorry, them’s the rules.
So Jennifer, you are OK with the rules if they disadvantage National but not Labour
I hope that is not what you are saying
The PM and the Mayor were invited to speak, political hacks from both sides (who had not bothered to get in touch with the organisers) did not get speaking rights
I can’t see a problem except may be some politicians and their supporters have an overstated sense of entitlement
“may be some politicians and their supporters have an overstated sense of entitlement” – Yeah we are a spoilt bunch expecting our free speech, democracy and fair representation.
RAF, previously politicians from both sides have been allowed to go on stage.
Its hardly a tub thumping opportunity.
And if you are allowing Key to go on stage then the opposition should be also. Its not as though Key ‘opened’ the event or something.
As well Labour MPs ( or other parties) is not asking for a right of reply, when ever would have been fine as there are natural gaps in the performances
He just made a photo op.
Sounds to me like the PMs office has interfered and got Banks to lean on the council staff
@ Raymon, I’m simply pointing out that this new tory ‘rule’ about banning opposition colleagues at non partisan public gigs has consequences.
outrageous, and typical of the Nats. Carmel and co are the MPs for these areas so they have every right to speak at this event. If it was a politics-free zone (why should it be? free speech? democracy?) why was Key invited??
Had you arranged with them in advance to speak?
Seems not.
So they have a program that they worked on – and you just turn up and expect them to make way for you?
Thats pretty ignorant dont you think?
And you cannot say that the others did the same – because you simply dont know.
Personally I think that the accusations you are making against the people who run this event is terrible – and I hope that they remember it next year.
Dorothy – Carmel is a list MP. All parties with representation in parliament will have MPs who are assigned/associated with this area. If they’re all considered to have every right to speak at the event then it becomes a political bun fight rather than a cultural festival.
I suggest that the best thing to do is to keep politics, of whatever colour, out of it. That way no one can claim that they’re privileged or under-privileged.
Whatever went on in the past has to be laid to rest. If we can’t cope with this we just perpetuate an unsatisfactory situation.
Jennifer – if you’re suggesting that when Mr Brown is in office there’ll be no pollies on any stage (apart from to carry out official duties like opening the shooting match) then I’m with you. If you’re suggesting that only Nats and all points to the right are excluded then I’d be against such a spiteful act. As I would if Mr Banks gets the nod and excludes only those to the left of him.
For goodness sake everyone – there are enough serious issues facing our society without getting obsessed with this one. We’ll be arguing about how many angels you can get on the head of a pin next…
George it wasn’t just Carmel who was banned. The MPs for the area are Labour. What was Key doing there? Being non-political? You are trying to defend the indefensible.
George, ‘As I would if Mr Banks excludes only those to the left of him.’ Isn’t that what happened?
@Dorothy, silly thing to say. The PM of the day has always been welcome to speak as they should be. Please refer to HC’s many attendances.
Carmel, a question (or two) if I may. Was it only Labour MP’s who were subject to this non-invitation (”ban” being your definition of that) was Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga equally not invited, how about Mellisa Lee or Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, were they also “not invited”? If Hone Harawira had turned up would he also have been “not invited”?
Jennifer – if that is the case then yes, I’m agenn’ it.
But I would say that we need to make a qualitative difference for the Prime Minister of the day – whatever party they’re from. As long as they don’t make a ‘political’ speech. If they do stray from pleasantries then other politicians should be extended the same opportunities.
Is that a clear enough exposition of my position?
Dorothy – I assume that JK was there being PM, and in that role I think he should be welcome to speak at any event. I wasn’t there. I don’t know what he said in his speech. If it was party political then others should have been given the opportunity to respond. If his speech was a non-political one then I don’t think it is defending the indefensible to say that his case is different. If Banks had invited a minor Nat MP to speak then that would have been different. And my comments would reflect that.
I think it’s time to stop attacking everything ‘the other side’ does. People don’t behave like that in the real world.
@Dave – Maybe those people weren’t invited, but were they banned? Labour was
Potatohead, only my closest friends call me Dave!
Sorry, DavidW, in that case you can call me Lord Pomme de Terre
@ George, ‘if Banks had invited a minor Nat MP to speak then that would have been different.’ Again, isn’t that pretty much what happened? An earlier posting on this subject suggests that he introduced Nikki Kaye several times but ignored all her opposition colleagues. Bad manners or typical venal tory politics? You decide.
“We never asked Auckland City Council (nor did we expect them) to schedule visits for us to speak on stages.”
So you just turned up and expected them to make time for you.
Gosh – that really is arrogant – esp to go complain about them for not dropping everything for you just because you happen to be there.
Perhaps (as is probably the case)the Nats etc were just more organised than you and had made arrangements.
Jennifer – could be either / both. Whatever, I don’t support it. (I don’t consider that those who happen to share some of my political views are founts of all virtue. Some of them fall considerablly short of that and I have no problem in saying so).
If you really wanted to connect with the people etc etc, maybe the festival should have been held in Mangere, then you wouldn’t have had any trouble with pesky white politicians as none of them would have bothered going..
And I could have gotten to St Lukes to do the shopping…
@George. Thanks for clearing that up. You and I agree again -perhaps there can be a hat trick lol.
If it’s an apolitical event, than if MPs turn up they shouldn’t use the stage to have a crack at the other side. Agreed. They go up on the stage, say a few nice apolitical comments, then go back down.
FYI no Catholic MP would use the pulpit as a political stage. This is because lay-people in the Catholic Church don’t read the Gospel excerpt, nor do the homily after. These duties are reserved for priests.
I’m not impressed that Labour MPs were banned. If you’re going down that track ban everyone, including the PM and the Mayor. The PM is the head of government, but he is also an MP, and so is like other MPs.
I got pissed off on Saturday at the Tongan Village corner of the festival, because not far from the main stage, they seated a so called, Hou’eiki (people who’re related to the King or Nobles) right in front of the stage (about 7 meters) and no one was allowed to go past the Hou’eiki’s tent (i.e., in front), because it is regarded as disrespectful according to the anga faka-tonga (Tongan Ways). Even european visitors who wanted to get close to the stage were told by security guards to move back to the line (or behind it) where the Hou’eiki’s tent was. This was a pathetic as the event was a council sponsored one and not a private Tongan function (eg, church or community). The hou’eiki thing only applies in private Tongan community functions but not on a rate-payer funded event. Even better, it applies in Tonga, not in New Zealand. I intend to write a complain letter to the council about this restriction of movement at the Tongan village on Saturday, because that sort of thing only applies in the island and not here in NZ.
Anyway, I didn’t see you there at the festival Carmel; perhaps I already left by then by about lunchtime (12pm). I bought two Lu Sipi food bowl and then left.
Martin – thanks for the heads up re the way things work in th RC church.
I was brought up in the Sallies, and there everyone could get up pretty much whenever they wanted and address the meeting. Sometimes it made for an interesting service!
From the stuff.co.nz article: “A spokesman from the council said as far as he was aware there had been no instruction from officials to ban anyone from speaking at the festival.
“It’s just that when the programme was put together there was space set aside for the mayor and prime minister to speak,” he said.
Scheduling constraints meant time set aside for speeches was limited.”
So this goes back to my point that Carmel never made the effort to schedule in a speech, which she herself admitted in the original post.
And that doesn’t sound like a ban of only Labour MPs to me. If you are going to use such a flagrant term as ‘ban’ then show us the evidence.
hahahaha
Oh no a labour list mp didnt ask to speak at an event and wasnt invited to speak whereas the pm was
This truly is the end of democracy
Tikanga Aotearoa/Pasifika should prevail as to who speaks not Palagi controlled council tikanga. This shows whose festival it is becoming.
@Huiroa. I agree with you. If it’s a cultural festival (ie Pasifika) then yes whoever is organising the festival should decide. This is also my stance on Maori seats.
I go back to an argument that was raised earlier, and that is that NO POLITICIANS should go up on the stage. Pure and simple. If Opposition MPs can’t go up, then the Prime Minister and Auckland City Mayor can’t go up. So what if it’s the Prime Minister? Whoopdee doo!! He’s still a politician.
Aucklanders should petition this to the new Super Council once it is up and functioning. That is unless Rodney Hide gets in the way. Vote for the National candidate in Epsom in the next election!!
George = not sure what culture you belong to. But we Pacific people have protocols, and those protocols should be displayed at this festival because that is how it was meant to be, a demonstration of our Pacific culture, protocols and customs. And our protocols and custom include allowing our leaders regardless of their political affiliation and religion background to address our people, our communities.
So if you attend a Pasifika event to experience culture, then I expect you to understand this or have the cultural awareness to recognise the significance of this at our event.
It is understandable if you have been paid by some people to make such immature and arrogant comments.
As for the Labour people, I think you need to review your MP’s statement. I can see how the comments by Carmel, “We never asked Auckland City Council (nor did we expect them) to schedule visits for us to speak on stages.” would create a big issue. It is an arrogant kind of a statement, and I do not believe it meant to come across like that.
Waterboys, you are right in saying that this is the change that the people of New Zealand voted for. One wonders if any lessons have been learnt.
As for Martin and Huiroa, I suggest you learn how the Pasifika Festival came about before you make such uniformed comments. The festival belongs to the Pacific people, and the Auckland City council took control of sponsoring it because it was a perfect opportunity to sell Auckland city to the international community.
Meitaki ma’ata.
Le’au is right about a lot of things but there is one thing that I need to clarify. “We didn’t ask Auckland City council (nor did we expect them) to schedule visits for us to speak on stages.” The reason for this is that last year the organisers told us that they would only schedule for the PM (but that wasn’t to stop us from walking around and if the timing was right and people were receptive to us – going on stage and saying a few words greeting people etc etc). Therefore this year – we didn’t ask them to organise any scheduled visits to stages.
What was strange though is that I chased invites to this events for 2 – 3 months before receiving anything. There are only 5 Pacific members in NZ Parliament (6 if you include Rajen Prasad) – surely the Auckland City Council would make sure that we all got invites early to the Festival and Opening…but no – we got it in the week leading up to the event and only because I chased it.
Will the Auckland City Council now be putting a ban on the Maori MPs and Asian MPs attending any Council run events that cater to those communities? Who knows?
We never had any intention to hijack the festival – it was purely us doing what we do every year – providing greetings; wishing everyone a fantastic day; congratulating our people on the contribution that they make to our country and City. We keep it short and only speak between Acts – unless instructed by the community to do otherwise.
Also – the only Labour MPs that will speak on the stages are the Leader of the Party and/ or a Pacific MP or MPs.
Interestingly – despite the fact that all stages were instructed that only John Key and John Banks go on stage, I did walk past the Tokelau stage on my way out and saw Nikki Kaye, Sam Lotu Iiga, Cam Calder, Georgina Te Heuheu up there dancing with the PM…double standards don’t you think.
You would think that if this truly was a Pacific festival run by and for the people, then it would be left to the perogative of the Pacific Stage Organisers to decide whether or not they want Labour MPs to go up on their stages…
Falafulu Fisi – Long time no hear. My thoughts are that culture isn’t confined to one geographical space – we take it with us where ever we live. It’s able to thrive in places where we have strength in numbers – and Auckland is definitely a place where we have the numbers…however I know that you and I will continue to have differing opinions on this.
With regards to what time we were at the stage – we got to the Tongan stage at 10am (it was our first one). We ended up staying there till about 10.45 because they had the formalities whilst we were there (the anthem; lotu; hymn).
Anyway – I hope you are well.
Carmel, as I said in my comments, your statement needed qualification because it did not quite come across as you have now explained.
Yes, I saw the National Party lots on the stage as you mentioned. What a joke.
But I believe the point I am making is that, Pacific leaders should be leading the speaking engagements in a festival that is Pasifika. Even if John Key was there, I would expect their Pacific MP to at least speak. The same goes for Labour, Greens, the New Zealand First Party etc.
Whether Phil Goff is at the Festival, I would expect one of its Pacific Labour MP to speak on their behalf. And I do believe one representative from each party would be enough than everyone expecting to speak.
I sincerely hope that the local Pacific Communities would step up and show leadership in the future, and make sure that the Pasifika Festival returns to the way it should be with integrity and the respect that it demands and deserves.
Ole Maiava has a lot to learn, speaking good English does not necessarily mean you have the wisdom that is required to project managed a festival that reflects on all our cultures.
It would be interested to know how the Lantern Festival and the Kapa Haka Festival brings. Can anyone imagine a National Party or someone like John Banks dictating to the Tangata Whenua of who can / can not speak????
Bring back Winston Peters….he will sort them out alright.