Kaipara council seeks $24k costs after Māori ward court case

Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora addresses protestors outside the council's August meeting in Mangawhai. Photo / Michael Craig

Kaipara District Council is seeking to recover costs after Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua unsuccessfully challenged its decision to abolish Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward.

The rūnanga challenged the council’s decision process around abolishing its Māori ward, arguing there had been inadequate consultation.

In 2024, Kaipara District Council (KDC) became the only council to can its existing Māori ward after August 1 Government legislation changes.

These allowed for councils to abolish their Māori ward ahead of the October 2025 local body elections, without needing to poll voters. Councils that chose to keep their Māori wards were required to hold binding polls on whether they wanted the electoral areas in the future.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said the High Court had ruled KDC could apply for up to $24,000 in costs, and his council was seeking the maximum of this amount.

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson (centre) at KDC's Māori ward decision meeting in August as protestors outside drowned out proceedings with waiata. Photo / Michael Craig

Jepson said the council had spent more than $160,000 defending the High Court challenge and therefore believed it should be able to claim more.

The High Court ruled the amount of consultation KDC had done around the abolition was satisfactory, Jepson said.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua chief executive Alan Riwaka would not be drawn on whether the rūnanga would pay these costs.

He said the matter was under discussion and therefore would not comment on whether the rūnanga would pay or how much it might agree to paying.

Riwaka said the KDC case served as a national test around consultation requirements regarding Māori wards following the August law change.

He accepted the High Court had made a ruling but did not agree with the outcome, saying KDC should have consulted more comprehensively.

Riwaka said there had been a very short time between the August 1 legislation change and council’s August 7 decision.

He said it would take a long time to rebuild relationships with iwi after the council’s August decision.

“We have a lot of mending to do now in terms of iwi of Kaipara and Tai Tokerau,” Riwaka said.

Northland was the first region in New Zealand to have Māori electoral areas in all its councils.

Councils nationally, including from Northland, pushed back against the reintroduced polling requirement.

Far North District Council (FNDC) will have to poll its voters on the future of its Ngā Tai o Tokerau Māori Ward (four councillors), Whangārei District Council (WDC) will have to poll its voters on the future of its Whangārei District Māori Ward (two councillors) and Northland Regional Council (NRC) about its Te Raki Māori Constituency (two councillors).

Currently, Northland’s nine Māori ward councillors make up 20% of the region’s local government politicians.

That number will drop to eight after Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori Ward ceases at the local elections in October, just three years after it was brought in. The number of KDC politicians will drop from 10 to nine, and the number of wards from four to three.

Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori Ward voters will be spread across the three general wards in October with almost 18,500 voters having the opportunity to have their say.

Thirty-two Northlanders contested these electoral areas' nine seats for the October 2022 local elections.

Riwaka said Māori wards were important as they worked towards providing a more fair representation for Māori in local government, which would not happen without their presence.

Speaking about the last election, LGNZ said Māori wards were one way for councils to honour the principle of a partnership committed to in Te Tiriti o Waitangi because they guarantee that Māori will be represented at council.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.