Bay of Plenty Council opts for Maori seats

4.00pm

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council today stuck by its decision to have two Maori seats and 10 general seats on offer at next year's local government elections.

The move has been greeted critically in Parliament which oversaw the introduction of legislation allowing the move 12 months ago.

Last year, Labour MP Mita Ririnui promoted the Bay of Plenty Regional Council (Maori Constituency Empowering Bill) amid criticism that the legislation was racist, separatist and a form of apartheid.

The criticism continued today when ACT NZ deputy leader Ken Shirley said he was greatly disappointed by the decision and predicted the move would cause immense polarisation of councillors.

"The move essentially invites councillors to pander to narrow constituencies, rather than representing the general interests of the region," Mr Shirley said.

"Inevitably, it will lead to Maori representatives taking more extreme positions in order to meet the Maori-focused constituency they represent.".

National's Gerry Brownlee said National was disappointed that the Bay of Plenty Regional Council was not showing more faith in the democratic system.

"The local authority is buying into the politics of division rather than unity," Mr Brownlee said.

"In my view the council is turning its back on statistical evidence that shows New Zealand is becoming an increasingly diverse society where the argument for representation based on race grounds is becoming increasingly thin."

The council said today it had studied submissions last week and councillors had voted to go with their original proposal, which will leave the total number of seats the same at 12.

Council group manager human resources and corporate services Miles McConway said those who made submissions to the move have a month to appeal against today's decision.

After that, the representation review will be referred to the Local Government Commission for final determination.

Some of the 12 submissions the council received sought to introduce three Maori seats, instead of two, and to increase the overall number of council seats.

Three submissions objected to having Maori seats, but this was "not up for review", Mr McConway said.

The council's region has been divided into two Maori constituencies, to be called Taimoana and Tuawhenua.

The Taimoana constituency includes the Tauranga harbour area and much of the eastern Bay of Plenty, excluding Kawerau. The Tuawhenua constituency runs from the western Bay of Plenty coastline (including Maketu and Otamarakau) through Rotorua to the region's Taupo boundary. It also includes Kawerau.

If the proposal goes ahead the new Maori seats will appear after next year's local government election.

- NZPA