A public meeting opposing co-governance was called off by police in Whangārei, after protests at the venue.
Organiser Julian Batchelor has been on a nationwide tour and denies being racist, inciting hate, or spreading misinformation. But police called off the meeting, citing safety concerns over the extreme reaction Batchelor has caused.
The 200-strong protests outnumbered attendees of the hui by at least three to one, with only a few brave souls allowed into the Whareora Hall in Whangārei.
According to co-organiser Pere Huriwai-Seger from the Aotearoa Liberation League, the peaceful protest was clear in its goal to disrupt the roadshow and called for dialogue.
“We don’t want racism in our communities. We want to be able to have discussions, difficult discussions about things like co-governance, but we don’t want things like racism and discrimination to get in the way.”
“Julian puts out misleading information. It’s misinformation, disinformation, and ‘mal-information’. He knows what he is saying is wrong. He aims to mislead people, and he thrives on chaos and ambiguity.”
Moea Armstrong from the Northland branch of Network Waitangi, a group dedicated to teaching Te Tiriti history, says there is a clear gap in understanding of what Te Tiriti is and also the aim of co-governance, and Batchelor seeks to stir the misunderstanding and lack of knowledge of the history of this country.
“We know as community educators that there is a huge information deficit in the general population, and so he is giving the vibes of being authoritative and knowledgeable but, at key points, he moves away from the dialogue that we have as Treaty educators.”
“We have come to see co-governance, in the very few working examples around the country, as being highly successful models of decision-making.”
Huriwai-Seger places part of the blame on the misunderstanding of what co-governance is at the feet of the government.
“I think the government hasn’t done a good job explaining what co-governance is, and so there is some ambiguity there, and so people like Julian can get in there and insert their divisive narratives.”
Northland will look to gear itself up again with another planned stop co-governance hui planned for the end of this month.