Mayoral Column - An update on Māori Wards

For those following the national (and local) discussion on Māori wards, I just wanted to provide a quick catch-up on the current issues and what it means for us in Ōpōtiki district.

Just a quick reminder of what Māori wards are (and are not). It’s not “more” or “fewer” votes. It is simply that those enrolled on the Māori electoral roll vote for candidates standing for Māori wards and those enrolled on the General electoral roll vote for candidates standing for general wards. Everyone gets a vote for a Mayor ‘at large’. The difference between Māori and General rolls will be familiar to most of us as it is the system we already use for general (national) elections.

The framework for Māori wards is outlined in the legislation so it is applied consistently across the country – it is the tool we have available to us and we can’t choose something different.

We currently have wards with boundaries based on populations and ‘communities of interest’. That allows the people in those wards to know that their specific voice and their specific concerns are heard at the council table (although we are all there explicitly to serve our whole district!). This is true whether the wards are urban/rural/coastal/suburban and so on. Māori wards do the same thing – ensuring that those ‘communities of interest’ (to use the wording in the legislation) are represented at the council table.

At the local government elections in 2022, we asked our communities whether they wanted Māori wards. It was the only road we could go down at the time to get a community view on the topic. It was a very blunt measure of a complex question, but we used that vote and a lot of talk with our communities and each other, to vote for Māori wards to be implemented in time for the 2025 elections. It was a local decision on a local topic that is very important to us.

The current coalition government has put forward a bill that would require councils to hold a referendum on any Māori wards established without a local poll.

This rule would not apply for any other electoral changes councils might want to implement locally – rural wards, community boards, or even the electoral system we might want to use (First Past the Post or Single Transferable Vote).

Which led to me putting my name on a letter from more than 50 mayors and regional council chairpersons around the country. We used our collective voice to raise our objections to the proposed legislation.

Ōpōtiki is listed in the bill as an ‘exception’ to the requirement to hold a referendum, because we held a non-binding poll in 2022. That means we will continue our work towards having Māori wards implemented in time for elections next year. However, it means the decisions of both our neighbouring Eastern Bay councils will be reversed under this legislation and, if they want to re-implement them, they will need to hold a binding poll. It was important to support them and stand with their mayors as they signed the letter as well.

On the campaign trail, this government spoke at length about how important it was for local government to make decisions about their own communities on topics like Three Waters legislation. But this decision reverses so much of that talk, and instead treats Māori wards unlike any other ward or local government decision. As we explained in the letter, we have not seen a clear explanation for why that is the case.

The letter also explained that this is a topic that takes away important attention from areas where we desperately need central government help and support through a complex and very expensive time. We have huge pressures across the country on

infrastructure and rates rises, water, climate change resilience, emergency preparedness – there is a long list of expensive and urgent matters to consider.

That is why I think it is vital that our local communities are trusted to make important local decisions that matter to us.