Sir David Moxon is supporting Māori wards while David Seymour is opposed. He said religion and politics shouldn't be mixed. “Get back to God” Seymour told the Herald.
Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour has slammed churches and clergy for preaching to their congregations about the upcoming referendum on the Māori Wards.
He said churches need to stay in their lane and not mix religion with politics.
“Get back to God,” Seymour told the Herald.
Next week more than 100 churches will host two-hour workshops to educate their members on the referendums, which will be held alongside local council elections from 9 September to 9 October this year.
The referendums came out of the coalition agreements with both ACT and NZ First: councils that established Māori wards without referendums have to hold a binding poll alongside their local body elections.
The outcomes, determined by majority vote, will dictate whether the Maori wards are kept or abolished.
Christian social justice organisation Common Grace Aotearoa - which last year organised an open letter from 400 church leaders opposing David Seymour’s Treaty Principles Bill - said workshops would be held in the 42 regions where referendums are happening, and they will specifically target Pākehā.
“Churches are hosting workshops to ready themselves for Māori ward referendums, showing the level of interest among faith communities about this topic,” Common Grace Aotearoa co-director Alex Johnston said, “with older Pākehā voters being a key demographic to get on board.
“Many church leaders are publicly stating their support for keeping Māori wards, and encouraging their people to get educated and make an informed vote.”
Common Grace Aotearoa has prepared ‘Table Talk Conversations for Māori Wards in local government - A Christian Guide’. It is a 2-hour workshop resource for churches which has short videos, discussion questions, interactive activities and prayer - designed to be facilitated by local hosts in each church.
Leaders of Anglican, Methodist, Catholic and Baptist churches have put their names to the campaign.
Seymour has previously said he would vote against Māori wards if his home council were to hold a referendum on them.
“Church attendance is in free fall in this country while church leaders are going against their jurisdictions” he told the Herald.
“I don’t think New Zealanders want American moral majority-style politicking where religion and politics get mixed up,” he said.
Retired Anglican Archbishop, Sir David Moxon says his support for Māori wards comes from a sense of responsibility to honouring the Treaty.
“Since the Anglican Church, supported by other churches, did host, translate and promote the treaty from 1840 onwards, It was our word, it was our sermons, it was our personnel, it was our networks that enabled this covenant, this partnership, this interdependence to form the basis of our democracy and nationhood,” Moxon said.
“We have a moral obligation to seriously consider now how we can support this way of being now in local councils.”
Te Aroha Rountree (Ngai Tuteauru, Ngāpuhi), President of the Methodist Church believes removing Māori wards would be a step backwards.
“For too long, Māori communities have been underrepresented in decision-making processes that directly impact our lives, land and futures,” she said.
“Māori wards help address this imbalance by dedicating spaces where Māori perspectives, values and priorities can be meaningfully included in council decisions.”
Catholic Bishop Peter Cullinane, said: “Jesus didn’t exclude people. That’s why I will be voting to keep the Māori wards.”
The Very Reverend Jay Ruka (Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Mutunga), Dean of Taranaki Anglican Cathedral, will appeal to voters to support Māori wards.
“This October, what we are asking for yet again, is that our people will be at the table that makes decisions for the landscape, for the waterways, for the peoples of our communities.
“That is what Te Tiriti o Waitangi is about.”
Alan Jamieson, National Director of Arotahi, the New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society, is also supportive of the Māori wards.
“I want us to keep moving forward as a country in our relationship and on the foundation of the Treaty of Waitangi.”
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said the referendum would give local communities the choice to choose if they do or don’t want Māori wards.
“Our Government is restoring the right of local communities to determine whether to introduce Māori wards,” Brown said when introducing the The Local Government (Māori Wards) Amendment Bill to Parliament.
Joseph Los’e is an award winning journalist and joined NZME in 2022 as Kaupapa Māori Editor. Los’e was a chief reporter, news director at the Sunday News newspaper covering crime, justice and sport. He was also editor of the NZ Truth and prior to joining NZME worked for urban Māori organisation Whānau Waipareira.