'Stop Co-Governance' talk canned due to expected 'noise and protest'

Monday, 27 March 2023

Stop Co-Governance Tour roadshow organiser Julian Batchelor. (File photo)

A ‘Stop Co-Governance’ roadshow in Havelock North next month has been cancelled after the venue said “no amount of security could control the level of noise or protest activity expected”.

Julian Batchelor’s Anti Co-Governance roadshow was booked to be held in the Havelock North Function Centre on May 17.

Batchelor opposes co-governance and criticises Māori MPs, Treaty of Waitangi rights for Māori and iwi organisations. So far about five of 42 talks booked throughout Aotearoa over a five-month tour have been held.

His talk in Rotorua, scheduled for April 30 was canned last week when the venue, the Rotorua Bowling Club, withdrew the booking after being “made aware of the content of the event and the volatility of the presentation'.

“I assure you that should this event go ahead at your venue, our people will be there. We will be seen. We will be heard,” said Ngāti Kahungunu chairman Bayden Barber. (File photo)

* Complaints made to Human Rights Commission and attorney-general over anti co-governance talks

* Anti co-governance 'tour' breaches Human Rights Act, Māori ward councillor says

Language on Batchelor’s website include that he is “fighting against tribal rule, racism, separatism, and apartheid … for one person, one vote, for one law for all and racial unity”.

The poll reveals how many people say they have a good understanding of co-governance in the context of Three Waters.

He also says “protesters are simply pawns in the elite Māori plan to take over New Zealand”.

Managers of the Havelock North Function Centre, Lynda Jones and Cherie Almond issued a statement on Monday saying the booking at the Havelock North Function Centre had been cancelled due to the Havelock North Community Centre Trust ‘’being unable to provide a safe space for staff, caterers and other hirers in the building”.

“As a multi-room community facility, other groups were already booked into rooms at the Centre and it would be unfair that their events would be negatively impacted by the noise and actions of opposing factions.

“No amount of security could control the level of noise or protest activity expected,” they said.

Their statement followed an ‘Open Letter of Disappointment’ written by Ngāti Kahungunu chair Bayden Barber addressed to the Trust.

“I am writing to express disappointment at your decision. A decision that I hope has been made out of ignorance, and not complicity. Many other venue managers across the country have kept their integrity intact by refusing to host this event knowing that it is intended to divide people and communities,” Barber wrote.

He said the Stop Co-Governance Tour was “a thinly veiled guise for encouraging hateful rhetoric towards Māori.

“As the Chair of Ngāti Kahungunu, I am advised that Māori in our region are concerned for their safety, knowing that this hatred that exists in the darkest shadows of our communities is being given a place to manifest.

“A quick review of the online content available for this event shows that these concerns are warranted and that the event is designed to create a zealous and violent atmosphere centred on misconceptions and disinformation of ‘special treatment’ for Māori,” Barber said.

“I can assure you that the messages of Māori special treatment promoted in this tour are not consistent with what our people see and experience in our region every day. One does not need to go far here to see the huge inequities for Māori in health, education, justice, and many other areas,” he said.

”In considering this letter, I hope that you do not abdicate responsibility by stating that you have a role to enable freedom of speech… I assure you that should this event go ahead at your venue, our people will be there. We will be seen. We will be heard.”