Councillor Hinewai Ormsby said the confirmation from the Local Government Commission was one of the final steps in a long process involving a lot of mahi.
Councillor Hinewai Ormsby said the confirmation from the Local Government Commission was one of the final steps in a long process involving a lot of mahi.
A Local Government Commission determination has confirmed two new Māori constituencies for Hawke's Bay Regional council.
The next regional council election, to be held on October 8, will have two new constituencies represented by one councillor each voted in by voters registered on the Māori roll.
The Māui ki teRaki Māori Constituency encompasses the Wairoa District Council and Napier City Council areas, parts of the Hastings District Council area north of the Ngaruroro River, as well as small areas in the regional boundary belonging to Taupō District Council.
The Māui ki te Tonga Māori Constituency encompasses the Central Hawke's Bay District Council area, parts of the Hastings District Council area, south of the Ngaruroro River, as well as small areas in the regional boundary belonging to Rangitikei District Council.
This makes a new total of seven constituencies represented by 11 councillors for the Hawke's Bay Region.
A council statement said the council considered that 11 councillors provide effective and fair representation for the identified communities of interest and electors.
Councillor Hinewai Ormsby said the confirmation from the commission was the final step after a fairly long process.
"We've done the hard mahi to make the public aware, we went through the public consultation and considered it at length and it was all up to the electoral commission to say yeah, you've done all the right things, you're on track"
The Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting in November 2020 where it was first narrowly decided to put the idea to add one or two Māori seats up for public consultation.
"It's a chance to make a difference, it's a chance to move beyond the status quo."
She said climate change and biodiversity and Te Mana o te Wai, the priority for allocation and water use, would all be important and challenging topics for councillors to try to face.
"Those are going to be the crucial spaces that all of us councillors, as well as our Maōri councillors, are going to have to get our heads around."
The council was required to refer its proposal to the commission for determination because six of the seven constituencies do not comply with the fair representation criteria required by the Local Electoral Act 2001.
According to the Local Government Commission website, the fairness requirement is also known as the "+/-10 per cent rule".
The rule is the population of each constituency divided by the number of members to be elected by that constituency must equal no more than 10 per cent greater or smaller than the total population of the district divided by the total number of members.
The Heretaunga-Hastings general constituency is the only compliant one out of the seven, with each of its three councillors representing about 15,958 people, a 5.14 per cent deviation.
The commission's determination outlines three key factors they considered under their guidelines for local authorities undertaking representation reviews.
They were communities of interest, effective representation of communities of interest and fair representation for electors, all of which they say have been met by the new configuration.
