Re: ‘Council eyes diverse future', page 4, (The Weekend Sun, May 13).
I was gobsmacked to read that Western Bay of Plenty District Council CEO John Holyoake wants to gerrymander the local elections in the interests of what he calls diversity. He claims the same should apply to staffing.
If you start appointing people other than on merit, then things are not going to work out as well as appointing the best person for the job – regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religion, culture, disability or sexual orientation etc. Do that and you do not need a diversity department.
He then hit a new low, disparaging what he claimed as 'the privileges around being wealthy and white”. Remarks that stoop to racism and attacks on the successful should not be part of a council's CEO vocabulary.
It seems he needs reminding of the words of Martin Luther King Jr: 'I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character”. Mr Holyoake's dream looks more like a Western BOP nightmare.
Richard Prince, Welcome Bay.
Editor's note: The Weekend Sun last week asked Western Bay of Plenty District Council CEO John Holyoake and Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber to reply to letters on this topic. They declined.
2 comments
irony
Posted on 27-05-2022 10:28 | By KiwiDerek
How ironic to see a Martin Luther King quote misappropriated to defend the white and wealthy. Funny though that the white and wealthy feel so insecure that they take the suggestion that they are privileged as an attack.
Irony here
Posted on 28-05-2022 09:19 | By crazyhorse
Is that Kiwi talks about white wealthy people as if they've done some wrong, by educating themselves and working hard they have succeeded, anyone can do anything in NZ with self responsibility and hard work, unlike those that relate to being Maori, woman, man or a mixture of all 3, those who should be in positions where they make decisions that affect all, should be voted in democratically, not just because they feel they are " special"
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