Greens put forward member’s bill to entrench Māori seats

The bill is in the name of the Greens' Māori development spokeswoman Hūhana Lyndon. Photo / RNZ, Peter de Graaf

By Anneke Smith of RNZ

The Green Party has put forward a member’s bill to entrench Māori seats into law, arguing that the current electoral settings are undemocratic.

The party announced the bill, in the name of its Māori development spokeswoman Hūhana Lyndon, at Rātana celebrations this afternoon.

“This bill aims to correct a constitutional imbalance of the treatment of Māori seats,” Lyndon said.

“General electorate seats are currently entrenched. Māori seats are not. That’s not democracy; it is constitutionally flawed, and prejudices Māori in the electoral system.”

Māori seats can currently be abolished by a simple majority.

Lyndon’s bill proposes a law change to increase this threshold to a supermajority of 75%.

This change has been sought before through a member’s bill in the name of former Labour MP Rino Tirikatene, who represented Te Tai Tonga.

His Electoral (Entrenchment of Māori Seats) Amendment Bill proposed a 75% threshold but was voted down at second reading in late 2019.

Lyndon said her Bill also included proposals to allow Māori voters to switch rolls at any time and to vote on a different roll for local elections, as recommended by the Independent Electoral Review 2023.

As always with members’ bills, they must be drawn randomly from a tin known as the biscuit tin to be read for the first time in the House.

- RNZ