Anti co-governance event in Palmerston North in limbo as venue pulls out
Thursday, 20 July 2023
There is confusion over whether a Stop Co-Governance tour, that has been met with protests and labelled racist, will go ahead in Palmerston North.
A 12-page “glossy” booklet had been distributed to neighbourhoods in the city inviting residents to hear Julian Batchelor give an “inspiring public lecture” on why co-governance “must be stopped”.
The event, advertised in the booklet as being held on Saturday at a hall belonging to the Manawatū branch of the New Zealand Chinese Association, is part of a series of talks Batchelor has been doing across Aotearoa in the lead up to the election.
However, a spokesperson for the association said their hall would not be used. She did not know if the event would go ahead at another venue.
Batchelor’s website states he is “fighting against tribal rule, racism, separatism and apartheid … for one person, one vote, for one law for all and racial unity”.
It also claims “co-governance is not about co-governance, it’s a plan by radical tribal representatives to take over New Zealand”.
But finding venues from which to share his message has become increasingly difficult. An event in Picton on Thursday was relegated to a backyard after the Picton Yacht Club Hotel cancelled on him.
A meeting in Blenheim on Wednesday had to be canned when the Blenheim Bowling Club pulled out as the venue.
A “Racism Is Not Our Future” counter-rally has been organised in Palmerston North for Saturday and promoted on social media by the Pōneke Anti-Fascist Coalition.
It encouraged people to get along and make protest signs at Snails art space on Taonui St from 12.30pm.
Palmerston North resident Janet Sayers was disappointed to receive the invitation from Batchelor in her letterbox.
She said the glossy pamphlet promoted “disinformation and hatred”.
She hoped people in Palmerston North, and the surrounding areas, would protest against the meeting.
Chris Whaiapu, of Rangitāne and Ngāti Hineaute, said his iwi had developed a great relationship with its local government, and co-governance was a constitutional right.
“We will not tolerate this nonsense in our city. The typical demographic that Julian preys on are our senior citizens, using fear-monger tactics that they will lose their homes, and be thrown out in the streets like that in Zimbabwe, if something isn’t done about this co-governance.
“He relies on their not speaking of te reo Māori to convince them of an alternative, fantastical [and] different interpretation of the Tiriti o Waitangi in his sermons.”
Batchelor’s attempts to describe the rights of Māori as ethnic-based rather than constitutional gave rise to “racial divide”.
”We live in a bicultural country, that which was agreed to and guaranteed to Māori under Article 3 of the Tiriti o Waitangi.”
It was important to remember the case of Te Papaprahi o Te Raki in 2014 when the courts determined Māori did not “cede any sovereignty”, he said.
”Co-governance is a constitutional right. To persuade public opinion that it’s not, is in itself racist.”
Stuff has been unable to reach Batchelor to ascertain if a new venue had been secured for his meeting.
When we spoke to him on Wednesday he said Palmerston North had been included on his tour because the city’s residents had shown “great interest” in what he had to say.
He said his meetings had never excluded Māori, and it was only the media who made it appear that way.
“It’s never been exclusively that, and it never will be.”
Protesters from the Aotearoa Liberation League have turned up to several of Batchelor’s meetings, and in March Kaipara District Council Te Moananui o Kaipara ward councillor Pera Paniora started a petition demanding a stop to the tour.
Her petition, asking Attorney-General David Parker to take action due to breaches of the Human Rights Act for inciting (alleged) racial disharmony, gathered 1700 signatures in less than 24 hours.
Police were also investigating a clash between an attendee and counter-protesters at a recent event in Tākaka, and they had been called to other meetings due to disorder.
When Batchelor visited Ōtautahi earlier in July more than 100 people turned up to protest and two Māori women were refused entry to the meeting.
When he visited Levin in May his meeting was cancelled after organisers clashed with a group who were denied entry.