The Tauranga Council, Northland Regional Council, Whangarei District Council and Kaipara District Council have voted to introduce Maori wards.

Clear-thinking people should be able to see the proposal for what it is. It shows up councillors who are short on ability and stumbling into a racist, paternalistic option with a faulty and misguided view of legislative requirements.

This thinking has no place in our egalitarian society and the four councils' obsession with granting special privileges to one section of the community over all others is divisive and it is insulting to all Maori suggesting they are incapable of achieving without patronage.

We now see the Minister for Local Government Nanaia Mahuta wants to remove provisions allowing petitioners who called for public referendums to establish Maori wards.

Mahuta seems to think that freedom of speech and democracy are not good for our communities.

Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mugabe, Kim Jong-un, and other tyrants would agree with Mahuta and how successfully they destroyed their people and countries.

New Zealanders want one set of rules for everyone regardless of who our ancestors were.

It looks that our country's commitment to democracy and citizen equality has now become a charade.

Mike Lally, Te Puke