Winston Peters. File picture
ALL three candidates for the Ikaroa-Rawhiti electorate have rejected Winston Peters’ call for a binding nationwide referendum on the future of the Maori seats and his belief that they should be abolished.
The Maori electorates were introduced 150 years ago this year.
Meka Whaitiri, who has held Ikaroa-Rawhiti for Labour since 2013, said her party was committed to retaining the seven Maori electorates. Labour holds six of the seats and Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell holds the other.
Ms Whaitiri said the future of the electorates was “ultimately a decision for Maori”.
“Maori have decided they want the seats. We support that. Maori identify every five years whether they want to be on the Maori roll and that should continue.
“It’s hard to believe this is the biggest issue facing New Zealand in this election,’’ she said.
Marama Fox, Maori Party co-leader and list MP, said the electorates should be abolished only when disparity was removed for Maori.
“We have the highest rates of youth suicide in the world,’’ she told National Radio.
“We have the highest rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (for Maori women) in the world.
“We have a shorter life expectancy, and so on and so on and so on. Winston Peters is merely politicking for votes and trying to take us back to the good old days of colonisation, where you stick Maori in the corner and don’t give them a voice.”
Green Party candidate Elizabeth Kerekere said Tairawhiti had a proud tradition of serving in the Maori electorate with “inspirational leaders such as Wi Pere, Sir James Carroll and the legendary Sir Apirana Ngata”.
“Today the Ikaroa-Rawhiti seat ensures that Maori have our voices heard. Unfortunately, Winston Peters and New Zealand First would prefer to silence our voices.
“Just recently, they refused to support Green MP Marama Davidson’s private member’s bill to ensure fairness for the Maori wards on local councils.
'Waste taxpayers' money'“Now New Zealand First wants to waste taxpayers’ money on a referendum that could be better spent on issues really important to Maori, such as warm homes, supported whanau and well-paid jobs,” she said.
Four Maori electorates were introduced in 1867, 15 years after the first general election was held in New Zealand.
In 1852, as was common throughout the world, property ownership was a prerequisite to voting. Universal suffrage did not exist.
Individual land title ownership voting rules excluded the vast majority of Maori because of traditional communal land ownership.
Only 100 Maori were among the 5800 male-only voters of 1852, despite Maori being a majority of the population.
Maori preferred to deal directly with the Governor (and the Queen) or, like the kingitanga, create their own political structures.
The four Maori seats were established with the Maori Representation Act 1867 and followed debate about Maori political representation during what is now known as the New Zealand Wars.
The land ownership issue was overcome when all Maori men over 21 were declared eligible to vote. This gave universal suffrage to Maori men 12 years before European men and 26 years before women.
But if the seats had been allocated on a per capita basis, there would have been between 14 and 16 Maori seats to match the 72 European/general seats.
Fixed for more than 100 yearsMaori seats were to remain fixed at four for more than 100 years.
Sir James Carroll, initially the MP for Eastern Maori and who twice served as acting Prime Minister, represented the general seats of Waiapu and Gisborne from 1893 to 1921.
He was the only Maori to hold a general seat until 1975.
Law changes in the 1890s meant Maori could only vote and stand in Maori seats.
In 1975 a Maori electoral option was introduced, and is still held, where Maori can choose to enroll in either a Maori electorate or a general seat.
The Electoral Commission results for 2013 show 55 percent of registered Maori voters on the Maori roll.
Before the first MMP election in 1996, the number of Maori seats was increased for the first time in their 129-year history, to five, based on the number of registered voters relative to those enrolled in the general seats.
Two more Maori seats were added in 2002 on the same basis.
The Royal Commission on the Electoral System recommended that the Maori seats be abolished under MMP.
But a general consensus exists that such a step should be taken only with the agreement of Maori.
Last night Mr Peters confirmed a referendum would be for all voters, not just for Maori.
Mr Peters wants binding referenda on the Maori electorates and on the number of MPs, with both held on the same day in the middle of the next election term.
He said he would not use “silly phrases” like “bottom lines” but described the referenda as not negotiable.