Mayor Nobby Clark called out for creating 'massive racial divide' with his anti-Māori comments

Local Māori say Invercargill mayor Nobby Clark is causing a "massive racial divide" in the city, and some left an anti-co-governance meeting he spoke at in tears.

Clark told a room of Stop Co-Governance Tour attendees in the southern city at the weekend that he does not speak te reo Māori by choice, that he thinks Māori are being given "more power than they should have", and that government policies involving co-governance "made me angry".

Julian Batchelor's speaking tour has caused controversy across the country, including a petition asking that Attorney-General David Parker take action due to breaches of the Human Rights Act for inciting racial disharmony.

Waihōpai Rūnaka kaiwhakahaere Cyril Gilroy has called on Clark, as mayor, to work harder to focus on uniting the community - and invited him and councillors to get to know them better.

"We would like to invite the mayor and councillors to Murihiku Marae - nau mai tautimai ki te marae o Murihiku."

Mana whenua Hine Ruaporo said she went to the meeting to learn about their message, and left it in tears after three-and-a-half hours of "falsehoods and everyone was lapping it up".

It was sad to think it may have been the first and only introduction to Te Tiriti o Waitangi education for many in the crowd, she said.

"I worry for my kids."

The mayor was not making decisions based on unconscious bias, she said, rather he had his views and was letting them be known.

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark opens Saturday's livestream of the 'Stop Co-Governance' meeting in his typically racist manner. pic.twitter.com/6efGQGeRFA

— KDP (@kerrydupont) June 25, 2023

"I found it really, really hard because he is the mayor and I think that [position] comes with a lot of mana and integrity.

"...How does that make all the other people in this town feel ... views against a certain group of people based on their race?"

Executive member of neighbouring rūnaka Ōraka Aparima and local public health worker Karina Davis-Marsden said Clark was dividing the town with racial tension.

"I think that we're taking a step back. There's a divisive racial divide that is being caused down here now and it's by the mayor.

"It's really disappointing that we have a mayor that represents himself and his views, rather than his hapori [community]."

Clark's latest speeches - including one for the Taxpayers Union "Hands Off Our Homes" event earlier this month when he shared the same views - confirmed what Māori whānau had suspected his beliefs were, she said.

"It doesn't make it any easier to take. There is definitely a huge cloud hanging over Waihōpai right now. It's pōuri [sad] as."

Clark spoke at the meeting about how it was central government pushing for Three Waters that "really upset me". "That's when the co-governance really kicked in."

That and the He Puapua report "just made me angry", he can be heard saying on many videos posted online.

He spoke about being a "lone voice" and "very unpopular with some of my mayoral colleagues".

"It's really interesting that many agree with me but will not say so publicly."

He claimed to be regularly called a "white elevated male with status, that's biased and racist" which scared people off.

"People say to me, 'are you anti-Māori?' Well, I'm clearly not anti-Māori. What I'm anti is this left-wing, woke government that allows Māori to have way more power than they should have."

Another clip shows Clark - who recently came under fire for using the "n" word - saying "I don't believe in the bastardisation of the European language" and mixing it with te reo Māori.

"I don't speak te reo, by choice."

He went on to say there had been a "one-sided interpretation of the Treaty", and he wanted the government to pay out Ngāpuhi, Aotearoa's largest iwi, then close down the Waitangi Tribunal and "start to operate as a multicultural society".

At the same meeting, an audience member asked if Batchelor thought there was a threat of civil war. He encouraged people to show their opposition to co-governance with their mouths and heads rather than violence, but claimed supporters were starting to arm themselves.

"I'm getting phoned by people once a week, saying they've gone out and bought guns.

"And I say 'don't use those mate', let's try to fight this peacefully and try to stop it, peacefully."

Police dispute there is any evidence that people are taking up arms.

Invercargill by-election candidate Lisa Tou-McNaughton was also in attendance and stood to ask the audience if they had children involved in local Polyfest or Matariki events, and her query had been circulating on social media.

"Has this added to our community? Think of all those things that are positive. You never lose who you are by learning something more about somebody else.

"Think carefully about the message that is being said tonight."

Clutha District mayor Bryan Cadogan made headlines last week for taking a stand against the Stop Co-Governance Tour and its racist rhetoric.

"I would be so disappointed if a young person, whether Māori or anyone that's considering their place in the world, had a leader put out a welcome mat for that type of divisive nasty focus.

"I would never, ever do that."

Invercargill City Council will address the bilingual naming of council buildings at its meeting on Tuesday, due to a motion by Clark that asks that neither English nor Māori be "dominated by the other".

It claims community concerns include that "some buildings having an unequal focus on te reo [example - He Waka Tuia - Invercargill's art museum]" and that starting with te reo Māori "creates confusion".

His motion asks that the English version is displayed first, "given the very small number of te reo speakers".

Stuff approached Clark for comment.

This story was first published by Stuff.