Local Focus: Gisborne Māori wards likely depend on just 5 per cent opposition

Nine districts have this year voted in favour of Māori wards, including Gisborne District Council.

The decision was welcomed by tangata whenua. However, Gisborne Mayor Rehette Stoltz said the decision will now go to a referendum.

"Now that we have voted to establish Māori wards in time for the 2022 and 2025 elections we will have to do a representation review," Stoltz said. "That will tell us how our wards will look, how many councillors will be in the general ward and how many councillors will be in the Māori ward."

However, if 5 per cent of registered voters sign a petition demanding Gisborne Council hold a referendum on the Māori wards, the council must allow that to happen. Previously, referendums have almost always stopped Māori wards because majorities tend to vote against improvements for minorities.

Referendums can also be demanded for changes to voting methods but not if a council chooses to change general wards.

"If you were to establish a general ward or a rural ward there is no ability for that decision to be overturned," Toni Boynton said. "Only Māori wards are able to have that provision."

"This discriminates against Māori being able to have a voice at the table."

Gisborne District Councillor Meredith Akuhata-Brown supports a law change to end the handbrake that applies to establishing Māori wards.

"Five per cent of the population, the voting population, can push back and say they don't want Māori wards," she said. "You can't poll the rural wards, you can't poll the urban city seat wards, only the Maori seats."

Earlier this month, Toni Boynton presented a 10,000-signature petition to Parliament calling for a change to the law that allows these referendums. Boynton said part of lodging the petition and having it read by an MP means it was read out in the house.

"It's also a signal to the minister to say 'yes, we support your decision to change the legislation, but we also want to ensure that that legislation is changed as soon as possible'."

Anyone opposing the Māori wards decision has until February 22 to gather just 1626 signatures to force a referendum on the issue.

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