A decision to guarantee Māori representation in Western Bay has been described as “momentous”, a “long time coming” but also “totally wrong” in a fraught and, at times, emotional meeting.
In an extraordinary meeting today, Western Bay of Plenty District Council voted 9-3 to establish a Māori ward or wards for elections in 2025 and 2028. Every six years, councils must follow a representation review process to determine how their communities are represented.
The council voted narrowly against Māori wards in 2011. In 2017, it voted 9-3 to establish a Māori ward. However, the decision was overturned by a $70,000 binding poll involving 40.38 per cent of eligible voters. Of those, 78.09 per cent opposed the decision.
A legislation change since means today’s decision cannot be overturned by a binding poll.
Margaret Murray-Benge, who has long opposed Māori wards, was among the three councillors opposing the move. She was joined by Tracey Coxhead, who said she felt “rushed”, and councillor Allan Sole, who questioned if the Treaty of Waitangi was still “fit for purpose”.
Councillors Anne Henry, Rodney Joyce, Don Thwaites, Andy Wichers, Murray Grainger, Richard Crawford, Grant Dally, deputy mayor John Scrimgeour, and mayor James Denyer voted in favour.
The vote was met with applause and waiata from a packed public gallery that included several prominent iwi leaders and a 20-odd contingent who arranged a barge to deliver them from Matakana Island for the meeting.
Mabel Wharekura-Burt spoke first in the meeting’s public forum, telling the council “I’m here for my grandchildren”.
“I have a degree in music, social sciences, a master’s in Māori development, I hold a New Zealand Order of Merit and I am a JP. None of these things matter if I can’t get you to be influenced by what I say today,” she said.
Wharekura-Burt questioned how councillors could make informed decisions on behalf of their constituents if they were not connected to them.
“How can you say you know, or are aware of, what is best for me unless you have had a Māori in for a cup of tea?
“You are bound and obliged to make good decisions for my grandchildren. You can’t make them if you don’t know me.”
Waihī Beach and Katikati Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman Keith Hay said the council, in considering Māori wards again, demonstrated “complete disregard” for those who opposed the 2017 decision.
“If you establish Māori wards today, you demonstrate that [poll] voters’ views are being overridden and this will be an abuse of the trust of the people who elected you and pay your salaries,” Hay said.
“You need to let this resolution lay on the table until after the general election when it can be considered more objectively.”
Former district mayor Garry Webber said this was the third time the council was debating Māori wards and reminded the council of their oaths and allegiance to the Crown.
“Nowhere in the legislation or the Local Government Commission guidelines does it say you as the current councillors can delay a decision,” he said.
“It is time to do what is tika - what is right.”
Scrimgeour said waiting until after the election to make a decision “would be a failure of governing responsibly.”
He also acknowledged the mamae [pain/hurt] felt in the community made by the overturning of the decision six years ago.
“We can’t change the past poor decisions but we can act in an honourable way today.”
Wichers said Māori in his community did not feel adequately represented or recognised in and by the council “which is a key principle” of local government.
Representing his community in his vote “is what I was elected to do”.
Joyce said having Māori members would “help us be a better council”.
“Māori wards work, they are not an experiment.”
“We are here to make the best decisions we can for our people - all of our people. But we should consult widely on this,” Joyce said.
Thwaites was at all three of the council’s Māori wards decisions, voting in support each time.
“I think it will be good for the district”.
Sole, via Zoom, said he saw all New Zealanders equally.
He said he had Māori roots but this should not make a difference.
He described his ethnicity as “Kiwi or New Zealander”.
“I would consider it patronising that someone creates a special spot for you.”
“I believe it’s totally wrong and not beneficial to the future and well-being of our district.”
Sole also expressed admiration for the American Constitution.
By comparison, in Sole’s view, “the Treaty of Waitangi, this document may be not fit for purpose today”.
A man from the public gallery called out: “Someone, turn this fella off please”.
Coxhead said she felt rushed and agreed, along with Murray-Benge, with Joyce’s consultation suggestion.
Murray-Benge said: “The day we stop listening to our community, we should not be here.”
An emotional Dally said: “Clearly for tangata whenua, it means a great deal, as shown by this large contingent of Māori here today”.
“Māori hold a unique place in NZ as the indigenous population. Hopefully, the racist and separatist rhetoric we hear will become a thing of the past.”
After the meeting, Matakana Island kaumatua Hauata Palmer said the council made a “wise decision”.
“This has been a long time coming,” he said.
Palmer was present for the 2017 decision that was later overturned.
“For a long time, we have been told ‘throw your hat in the ring, that’s how you get on. But the numbers just go against it simply because Māori are a minority.”
Denyer told the Bay of Plenty Times the decision was “momentous”.
“This was a real special meeting for tangata whenua but it’s no longer an untested or innovative option.”
The council will now join 35 other councils in establishing Māori wards. He said the council would consult with the community next year and present options for the number of wards and seats.
In a report presented to the meeting, council strategic kaupapa Māori manager Chris Nepia said the intention to provide specific Māori representation was often met with the suggestion that Māori wards encouraged separatism and were undemocratic.
He responded to this by referencing retired Judge Peter Trapski who in 1996 was appointed to consider a proposal by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to establish a Māori constituency - a first for New Zealand councils.
Judge Trapski said the prospect that such a move would lead to separatism or apartheid was not the view shared by Māori and would “heal the wounds of separatism”.
“It would get to the council table people who were truly representative of the population at large, and once those representatives get to the table, they would become part of a team which would together work on the business of the council. But if the proposal is an illustration of separatism, then so must be the present system of election of representatives from within a ward, or an electorate,” Judge Trapski said.
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