A constitutional law expert says the coalition Government is using racist ideology to justify its roll back of Māori influence in local government.
A select committee is hearing submissions on Simeon Brown’s amendment to the Local Government Act to again make council decisions to have Māori wards subject to bindingreferendums – and putting the issue on the ballot at next year’s local elections for those councils which do have Māori wards.
Dr Carwyn Jones from Victoria University of Wellington says councils which introduced Maori wards after 2021 report an increase in Māori participation and better discharge of their treaty obligations.
They also face considerable unbudgeted costs from the Government’s changes.
“This is the case with a number of these matters which have come through the coalition agreements, there’s been no policy work to actually articulate or define what a problem is they really just based on ideology and based on a racist ideology,” Jones says.
The changes would require councils to hold a binding poll at the 2025 local elections if they had established Māori wards since 2020 and did not hold a poll.
Waikato Regional Council, Waipā District Council and Taupō District Council are among the numerous local authorities around the country to have voiced opposition to the changes.
