Waitomo District Council has reviewed its mana whenua representation. Photo / Shaun Jeffers
Waitomo District Council has reviewed its mana whenua representation. Photo / Shaun Jeffers
Waitomo District Council has voted not to introduce Māori Wards for the next two local government elections.
Waitomo mayor John Robertson said the decision was made after community consultation.
“In my view, establishing Māori Wards would not serve the interests of Māori in terms of representative and substantial electoral participation.
“Māori Wards can place limits on democratic choice and although it gives the perception of increased representation, in our district, we can achieve more Māori participation and involvement in other ways.”
Instead of the Māori Wards, councillors voted unanimously to work with mana whenua to establish a committee with Māori representation.
Robertson says: “We are keen to see our council work with mana whenua to achieve much more participation and ... establishing a committee with Māori representation will achieve that.
Waitomo mayor John Robertson. Photo / Andrew Warner
“As was noted by mana whenua on a number of occasions when we visited marae, Māori voting turnout is low. Greater participation at the ballot box might result in more Māori elected to council under the current ward system.”
Waitomo District has one rural ward and one urban ward. Three representatives are elected in each ward, and a mayor is elected at large.
The structure of the new committee is yet to be determined.
“[The] council will further engage with mana whenua ... to develop a model of representation that enhances relationships between council and mana whenua.
“It will take time as it will need to accommodate all mana whenua throughout our district and the method of representation needs to include hapū, whānau, marae and papakāinga,” Robertson said.
The Māori ward decision was made after the council reviewed its Māori representation. The review was undertaken after a discussion with the council’s Te Rāngai Whakakaupapa Kōrero committee earlier this year.
The committee recommended consulting the public on whether to establish Māori wards but also asked to consider alternative means of enabling Māori representation as part of the review.
The consultation period ran for 10 weeks from July to September and the council received 63 submissions.
During and prior to the consultation period, the council held and attended various public meetings and a public drop-in session.
