Tēnā Koe CEO Graham,
Please accept this letter as a formal complaint against Cr Lee Vandervis under the Dunedin City Council Code of Conduct. The Councillor’s emailed letter, (dated Thursday, 12 /10 / 2023, attached below, Page 4-4, labelled Email Message 1) responded to an emailed message from Ms Nicola Morand, Manahautū – General Manager Māori, Partnerships & Policy (Acting) advising all members of Te Pae Māori as to the agenda for our Monday October 17th meeting being held at Ōtākou Marae.
The Councillor’s le
Subject: Te Pae Māori Agenda
Dear All,
I note a Te Pae Maori agenda under our DCC letterhead that does not conform to a normal DCC decision-making agenda as I believe is required under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987, particularly Part 7 Local Authority Meetings.
The 3 items on this proposed agenda are devoid of any information, background, discussion, reports, or recommendations, and appear to be non-public without non-public specification.
As such I do not believe that any decisions made under such an agenda can be valid or binding. Please accept my apology for this meeting.
Kind regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis
Date: Sunday, 17 October 2023 at 10:05 PM
From: Lee Vandervis lee.vandervis@dcc.govt.nz
To: Sandy Graham Sandy.Graham@dcc.govt.nz
Cc: Sophie Barker sophie.barker@dcc.govt.nz Council 2022-2025 (Elected Members); Jeanette Wikaira
Dear Sandy,
I object to the Te Pae Maori Council agenda presentation lack of translations [again], the compliance requirements for entering this Council Hui meeting at Karitane, the co-governance and leadership references in the Principles that we are invited to agree to, and the no-option presumptive wording in the Maori Ward document that reads “
i) Agrees to a decision to establish a Māori ward prior to November 23, 2023,” when it should read i) Agrees to a decision to establish a Māori ward or not prior to November 23, 2023.
Words that must be translated into English in order for non-Maori speakers to be able to comprehend this future-repercussions Principles document include:
Te Pae Māori
Kāti Puketeraki ki Huirapa Rūnaka
Te Rūnanga o Ōtākou
Mataakwaka
TIMATANGA
WHAKAWHANAUKATAKA
Puketeraki ki Huirapa
TRONT
Manatu Whakaaetaka
mana to mana
whakapapa
Tapu and Noa
Tikaka and kawa
Regarding Karitane admission requirements detailed verbally at last week’s non-public meeting, I am not prepared to submit to the sexist, racist and tribal ritual requirements that have been spelled out in order for me to be able to enter “safely” on this marae.
I am a long-term hi-polling elected representative of all the people of Dunedin and I am not prepared to be dictated to in an official Council meeting by an elite claiming to represent 0.67 % of our voting public as detailed in the ward document.
The invitation to confirm co-governance status on this same elite, referred to in the document “Co-design, co-management,” is undemocratic on (sic) my view.
4
The suggestion that this voting minority’s representatives is confirmed by Council as having the primary “Key Direction –
Māori are leaders in the management of our natural resources and built environment” again supplants Democratic fundamentals and there is no surviving ‘Maori built environment’ for Maori to be leaders in the management of.
In summary, this decision-making hui agenda is not understandable by non-Maori speakers, is being held in a Tribal environment that excludes sovereign non-compliant elected representatives, is anti-Democratic and has a presumptive option to “i) Agrees to a decision to establish a Māori ward prior to November 23, 2023”
Until an understandable agenda is supplied with acceptable attendance criteria, I am not prepared to attend what I see as an inscutable (sic) further extension of the Maori MOU that I voted against as undemocratic at the beginning of this triennium.
Regards,
Cr. Lee Vandervis
EMAIL MESSAGE 2 ENDS
5
EMAIL MESSAGE 3 BEGINS
DATE, TIME: TO
FROM SUBJECT LINE: Dear Cam,
3/08/2023, 11:17 AM
Cam McCracken cam.mccracken@dcc.govt.nz, Director DPAG Toitū Lan Yuan & Olveston Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
Inappropriate Maorification of one of our gallery’s most significant artworks
6
As head of our Dunedin Public Art Gallery, I am disappointed to have to ask you to remove the irrelevant Maorified text by Bridget Reweti pictured below beside one of our Gallery’s most significant artworks, Claude Monet’s ‘La Debacle’.
Even more disappointing has been to learn that you have chosen to ignore a similar request from a member of the public over a month ago.
Monet’s famous ‘La Debacle’ painting has no relevance or connection to: Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the Native Land Court, demolishing Maori social systems, or the MP of the time who claimed “we could not devise a more ingenious method of destroying the whole of the Maori race than by these land courts. The natives came from the villages in the interior and have to hang about for months in our centres of population… the result is that a greater number contract our diseases and die.”
Please remove this text promptly and replace it with relevant text commentary/explanation such as this interesting example which first popped up in my internet search of Monet’s famous painting;
*Title: The Break-up of the Ice (La Débâcle or Les Glaçons)
- * Creator: Claude Monet <https://protectau.mimecast.com/s/PLqrC91Znmiz8ApVco4FGL?domain=artsandculture.google.com>
- * Date Created: 1880
- * Location: Vétheuil and Paris,France
- * Physical Dimensions: w99.9 x h60.3 (work)
- * Label Copy: The winter of 1879 – 80 was one of Europe’s coldest on record and Monet, who was living in the small town of Vétheuil, witnessed first hand the devastation when the frozen Seine river thawed, dislodging large ice floes that inundated the countryside and damaged bridges. In this painting, Monet explores two contrasting aspects of painting: spatial recession and surface patterning. As the Seine recedes at the left, Monet’s vertical reflections and horizontal floes superimpose a painterly grid that brings the eye constantly back to the surface of the canvas. The exploration of this tension between depth and surface was one of the defining concerns of his career. This debacle of the Seine was the subject of about twenty paintings that Monet worked on into the early spring of 1880. These paintings of ice floes chart Monet’s early fascination with capturing the same motif under differing conditions of light and at different times of day. They were produced over a period of months, while Monet’s later series such as those of haystacks, poplar trees, and Rouen cathedral, were extended investigations of the ephemeral effects of light on a motif during ever-narrower time frames some as brief as fifteen minutes in duration. [cid:image001.jpg@01D9C5FB.E145EE20] Looking forward to your prompt removal of this Maorified irrelevance and replacement with text relevant to one of our Gallery’s most significant artworks. Regards,
Cr Lee Vandervis
EMAIL MESSAGE 3 ENDS
EMAIL MESSAGE 4 BEGINS
SENT: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2023 6:11:06 PM
From: Lee Vandervis <lee@vandervision.co.nz>
To: Bill Acklin <Bill.Acklin@dcc.govt.nz>; Council 2022-2025 (Elected Members) <council.2022-2025@dcc.govt.nz>; Sandy Graham <Sandy.Graham@dcc.govt.nz>
Cc: Ken Tipene <Ken.Tipene@dcc.govt.nz>; Jeanette Wikaira <Jeanette.Wikaira@dcc.govt.nz>; Robert West <Robert.West@dcc.govt.nz>; Sharon Bodeker Sharon.Bodeker@dcc.govt.nz
Subject: Re: Waiata prep for Te Pae Maori [- cultural appropriation added by Councillor Vandervis]
Hi Bill,
You say in your email below that “ it is only right that we are able to deliver Waiata…in a formal environment to the best of our ability.”
I disagree.
I believe that it should be optional for elected representatives to sing Amazing Grace, Waiata, The Internationale or any other song as each elected representative sees fit.
I also think learning Te Reo or NZ sign language should be optional, and that all our decision-making should be in plain English, or with proximate English translation, so that everybody knows what ‘other language’ agenda words actually mean.
I reject your claim that it is ‘only right’ to expect elected representatives to sing at all, leave alone in a language that most of us know little of the meaning of.
I am happy for other Councillors to spend our time singing even though I see it as a waste of time, but I am not prepared to submit to what I consider to be cultural appropriation and being expected to go to Waiata School.
Kind regards,
Lee
EMAIL MESSAGE 4 ENDS
7
Lee Vandervis - lee@vandervision.co.nz 
Quoting you:
Regarding Karitane admission requirements detailed **verbally at last week’s non-public meeting, I am not prepared to submit to the sexist, racist and tribal ritual requirements that have been spelled
1
out in order for me to be able to enter “safely” on this marae. **I am a long-term hi-polling elected representative of all the people of Dunedin and I am not prepared to be dictated to in an official Council meeting by an elite claiming to represent 0.6”7 % of our voting public as detailed in the ward document.” The invitation to confirm co-governance status on this same elite, referred to in the document “Co-design, co-management,” is undemocratic on (sic) my view.” ( ends)
I agree 100%. That MOU with local Maori is not only ultra vires IMO – it is utter nonsense because only the Crown is in relationship with some Maori under the terms of the Treaty. Yet , from memory, the DCC claimed the status of ‘Treaty partner’. But the expression’Treaty partner’ begs the question ( don’t use the other side’s language!). On the contrary, the Treaty specifies the sovereignty of the Crown and that all Maori will be the Queen’s equally with all non- Maori.
IMO those meetings at the marae should not be making decisions on council business because they do not comply with LGOIMA. They are not inclusive ( I’m not going to the marae!) accountable or transparent as LGA requires. You are representing all voters fairly and executing the duty of an elected rep by staying away IMO.
Your civil rights include being able to hold political opinions and express them. If you were saying Maori were bad or inferior to other ethnicities, then that might-be ‘discriimatory’. But you haven’t said anything like that. The term ‘racist’ is now used by indigenous rights campaigners to attempt to silence anyone who disagrees with them and prevent debate. i’m sure you will stick to your guns. And that you will get massive political support IN THE LONG RUN.
If referring to Nanaia Mahuta as only “Mahuta” is somehow “disrespectful, offensive or malicious”, then how referring to Lee Vandervis as just “Councillor” is respectful?
Lee, I think you should lodge a formal complaint! Lol
On a serious note, why don’t these muppets do some real work for change.
Mana Whenua is a somewhat popular new term for what we’d have called lords or nobles a few hundred years ago. Agree with you about the lack of democracy evident in these creations. Basically they’re nest feathering attempts.
Good on you Lee. And seasons greetings (from Melbourne).
The cancel culture bastards.
Regards
Richard
Just another example of the left weaponising a complaints process. And the substance of this complaint is laughably weak – basically acting as if anything Maori is not to be questioned. It’s really a despicable attempt to shut down debate and criticism.
I see nothing that would warrant a complaint, just firm, reasoned advocacy and uncomfortable questions that have upset a few sensitive snowflakes.
Keep up the good work Lee.