Māori wards under scrutiny with 2025 binding polls looming

By Pokere Paewai of RNZ

Māori ward councillors from around the motu met in Taupō last week, with many of them up for re-election this year and their seat at the council table also on the ballot.

The councillors met for the annual hui of Te Maruata, the Local Government NZ subcommittee for Māori elected members.

Forty-two councils around New Zealand will be running both an electoral contest and a poll for Māori wards at the 2025 local body elections in six months time.

The Local Government (Māori Wards) Amendment Bill passed last year requires councils that brought in Māori wards without polling residents to either hold a binding poll at the 2025 local government election or remove Māori seats from this year’s election entirely.

Only four councils with Māori wards are exempt from the poll, either because they’ve previously held a poll or because local legislation enables a Māori constituency. Those councils are Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Ōpōtiki District Council, Waikato Regional Council and Wairoa District Council.

Toni Boynton represents the Whakatāne District Council’s Kāpū-te-rangi Māori ward.

Toni Boynton believed Whakatāne was in a strong position to retain Māori wards. Photo / Alex Cairns

In 2024 Whakatāne District Council voted to retain its Māori wards and Boynton said there is general support from the council and the community for them.

In spite of some of the rhetoric surrounding Māori wards, Boynton believed Whakatāne was in a strong position to retain them because they had been able to demonstrate the positive outcomes of having Māori ward councillors at the table.

“We have eight iwi in our rohe and prior to Māori wards being established, many of our iwi groups would take the council to court and go into litigation regarding decisions council would make that would have an impact on iwi because you would have people making decisions without necessarily having an understanding of [the] cultural context.”

Since the establishment of Māori wards, there has been no litigation and Boynton believed it had saved the council hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Bridget Bell (Ngāti Kauwhata) represents the Ngā Tapuae o Matangi Māori ward at the Manawatū District Council. She is nervous for the ward’s survival, especially after Māori in the region fought so hard to establish the ward in the first place.

“I think if I look at the immense effort that it took our collective iwi to champion for this ward, it saddens me that it’s at risk.

“However, there has been a lot of hope for me, I’ve had numerous tangata tiriti reach out to me through email, phone, my page and have already started having those conversations that they need to have in their own communities.”

Bridget Bell says there are a lot of fires Māori ward councillors put out on behalf of their councils. Photo / Bridget Bell

She echoed Boynton’s sentiments, saying there were a lot of fires Māori ward councillors had put out on behalf of their councils.

Bell said she was proud of the engagement and participation with the council and with local body politics that she has seen from the local iwi and marae since the establishment of a Māori ward in her region.

“You see across the motu, Manawatū is not alone in this area, that without a seat there not only is the voice not heard, but equity isn’t addressed. So for the first time, we’re finally seeing that our marae are receiving the same level of support as the 17 rural villages that have been supported financially for the last 14 years and that’s a big step forward.

“The tangible benefit that was birthed through [marae] participation was that each of them are now given funding annually to support the infrastructure and also just to mitigate you know the things that we see, which is depreciation of our marae, flood risks and so forth ... it’s a modest fund, but it the fund never existed beforehand.”

‘It’s a numbers game’

Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora is in a unique position as the only Māori ward councillor guaranteed to lose her seat at this year’s elections.

Kaipara District Council was the only council to vote to disestablish its Māori ward rather than take it to a poll.

Paniora (Ngāti Whātua) said Māori wards in councils with a high Māori population, such as the Far North District Council, might survive but they were likely to be few and far between.

Kaipara councillor Pera Paniora addressing those gathered outside the Kaipara District Council's meeting on Māori wards last August. Photo / Michael Craig

“As we know, with referendums, it’s a numbers game and we also know that Māori are a minority, so unfortunately, we are having to rely on the majority of New Zealanders to make the votes for us and on our behalf and that’s a very precarious position to be in because it relies on people that don’t necessarily understand or agree with Māori wards.”

Paniora said she was disappointed that Māori had to justify Māori wards all over again. Without her seat, the Kaipara District Council will undoubtedly lose their connection to the Māori community, she said.

“I’ve spoken to many rangatahi (young people) who are proud to have a face and a council that represents them, that looks like them, that comes from the same background as them.”

‘Harsh reality’ of having your name on the ballot twice

Boynton said there was a lot more pressure on Māori ward councillors who have to promote themselves for re-election while their own seat is on the ballot.

“For those of us who are current Māori ward councillors, we’re going into an election where on the ballot we will have run as candidates for Māori ward seats and then also on that same ballot there will be a box that will decide whether we exist or not.

“That’s quite harsh that reality of it being in black and white, and because it means that we may have a clear disadvantage, but also that we ourselves would be more open to scrutiny and possibly attacks during the election period.”

Bell acknowledged the election was likely to be contentious and that the risk to Māori ward candidates will be quite high.

“I think this election will probably be the most contentious election that we’ve had because of the referendum. There will be quite a bit of division, so I think it’s the responsibility of all councils, including Manawatū, to ensure that we have something in place which ensures the safety of candidates this year.”

Bell said she hoped other Māori ward councillors did not feel the responsibility of winning the referendums sit solely with them, but it will be a collective effort of iwi, hapū and the community.

“The goal is 42 will win the referendum, but the reality is that we’re gonna have some that probably won’t. And I think, you know, part of being Māori is looking out for one another and what’s been really beautiful is that across the motu, we have really supported each other.”