Going backwards on Māori wards

Māori wards have been a stepping-stone toward local councils honouring Te Tiriti, but a government decision this week throws their existence into doubt.

 

Māori wards have always been about equity. They’re about making sure there’s a fair balance in who gets to have a say at a local level. Just as rural wards guarantee that the concerns of rural communities are heard around the council table, Māori wards ensure Māori voices and perspectives are part of local decision-making.

Yet this week, the coalition government passed the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill which reverses the progress made toward Māori representation on local councils.

To understand the recent changes, it’s helpful to look back at where we were before 2021.

Over the past two decades, there’d been growing awareness and evidence that Māori were underrepresented on local councils. In the 2007 local elections, for instance, only 5 percent of successful candidates were Māori despite being nearly 15 percent of the population. Many councils didn’t have any Māori members at all. The Tauranga City Council, for example, reported that no Māori members had been elected in 30 years. And in New Plymouth, there’d been one Māori councillor elected in 100 years. And this was despite the many qualified Māori candidates who’d put themselves forward for election.

There was a clear problem: colonisation had diminished the chances of Māori being able to have a say at a local level.

Māori ward seats or constituencies are one way to increase Māori representation on councils. They ensured that a seat was saved at the table for those who wanted to represent Māori interests, and who were voted in by those on the Māori electoral roll. Interestingly, you didn’t have to be Māori to stand for the seat.

Some iwi and hapū have their own arrangements with their local councils. For example, the Kāpiti District Council has a formal partnership with mana whenua through Te Whakaminenga o Kāpiti.

But for those councils not ready for that level of partnership, Māori wards have been a great stepping-stone towards deeper relationships with iwi, hapū and whānau Māori in the area.

However, there was initially a big barrier to bringing in Māori wards. If 5 percent of the local voters petitioned the council, then the council was required to run a referendum on whether a Māori ward would go ahead. No other ward, for example rural wards, had this requirement.

The 5 percent rule was embraced by organised anti-Māori groups who ran racist campaigns to win over the non-Māori majority. Before 2021, eight councils had tried to establish Māori wards, but seven failed after being required by the 5 percent rule to hold a referendum. Many people spoke of the increase in racist rhetoric, including online and offline abuse, and death threats towards Māori and council members. In other words, referendums were directly stopping more Māori from entering into council positions.

Communities knew that this wasn’t fair or just, so they pushed for a law change. From 2018, our team at ActionStation supported a number of local communities which wanted to establish Māori wards. Together, we called on the government to change the law to simply make the rules the same for Māori wards as any other ward. After strong community leadership and pressure, the Labour government changed the legislation in 2022, removing the ability for 5 percent of voters to force a referendum.

The law change was opposed by the National Party at the time.

With that one change, Māori wards flourished. From 2021, there have been 49 councils who voted yes to setting up Māori wards — which is a 1500 percent increase. Earlier this year, ActionStation heard the experiences of 218 community members and they told us that establishing Māori wards was a historic day in their communities. Even in just a short time, they spoke of the positive contribution that Māori ward councillors had made. They had deepened relationships and trust between councils, iwi, hapū and Māori generally. Some voters said that having a person who looked like them, or shared their values, meant that they became more motivated to participate in local elections. Others talked about practical impacts, such as better community responses to emergencies because of the stronger relationships with marae.

Māori wards are a tangible step for councils to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and ensure fair Māori representation on councils after nearly 200 years.

But this week, the coalition government reversed the legislation that makes Māori wards the same as all other wards.

The bill passed this week will require any council that has previously enacted Māori wards but didn’t hold a referendum, to either disestablish the ward, or hold a referendum in 2025. It also brings back the discriminatory 5 percent rule that, as we’ve seen, will make it nearly impossible for councils to introduce Māori wards, even when a majority of councillors support them.

There are too many reasons why this law change is a serious concern. Firstly, the racism of it is undeniable. Our team supported an urgent claim to the Waitangi Tribunal this year, which found that this law change is a direct breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. There was zero consultation with Te Tiriti partners, and zero discussion of Te Tiriti obligations in the cabinet paper. It will cause a dramatic reduction in dedicated Māori representation. The Tribunal also found that Māori wards had benefited whole communities, not just Māori.

The Tribunal says that referendums will have divisive effects on local communities including exposure to racist rhetoric towards Māori. The day after the bill passed, a Māori ward councillor received a flyer in his letterbox, saying: “Radical Māori taking over our country.” Racist groups are spreading disinformation, emboldened by this government’s willingness to open the door for them.

Meanwhile, the Act Party is proposing a nationwide referendum on its Treaty principles bill. This is generating a groundswell of public opposition, because it’s not rocket science to work out that in countries that have been colonised, referendums can be used as a weapon against Indigenous people. We’ve been reduced to small populations (often deliberately), pushed to assimilate into the dominant culture, and our history (and present) is drenched in anti-Indigenous racism. The odds are already stacked against us, and now we’re facing a referendum on whether our treaty should be respected.

We watched something similar happen in Australia, when our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tuakana and neighbours were outvoted in a referendum to give them more of a say at a constitutional level. While the Voice started with strong public support, by the end of a vicious public campaign brimming with disinformation, support had dropped to around 40 percent, resulting in a major loss.

Even now, First Nations communities are still grieving and reeling from the racism that the referendum process unleashed. Right wing groups and parties are using referendums to advance their own political agenda against Indigenous rights under the guise of democracy.

Interestingly, Māori wards have more support now than ever. Local Government NZ has said that the coalition government’s bill was a complete overreach by central government into local decision-making. Two in three mayors and council chairs loudly opposed the bill, saying that Māori wards should be treated the same as any other ward. They were also concerned that referendums create an unnecessary cost for ratepayers, that they’re a distraction from local issues, and that they undermine the work of Māori ward councillors.

Even though communities only had five days to make a submission on the bill, more than 10,000 people submitted, with the majority in support of Māori wards.

The main reasons given by the government for passing this bill is that it’s about “democracy” and the principle of “one person, one vote” — which isn’t relevant here because Māori only get one vote — and about communities having a say. Yet, many communities were consulted on Māori wards at a local level. Councils have their own processes and representation reviews to ensure they’re making the right decisions by their communities. However, it’s clear that this government only cares for locally-led solutions when those solutions line up with their preferred political ideology.

My concern right now is how “democracy” is being wheeled out as a rationale for trampling on Māori and dismantling everything that we’ve fought so hard for in response to colonisation.

The only reason that we have any semblance of democracy in Aotearoa is because Māori enabled it through Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It was the result of 500-plus rangatira who saw the opportunity for peace and mutual benefit by signing an agreement with the new visitors allowing them to set up their own form of governance.

It was a generous invitation that meant concepts like democracy could have a place in this part of the world. And yet, the coalition government’s current actions erase Te Tiriti o Waitangi from their idea of democracy entirely, and then go further to actively distort and harm the agreement that has shaped our country. From Māori wards to Treaty principles, to Section 7AA, to youth boot camps, to an amendment to the Marine and Coastal Area Act, the list goes on.

Over the next month, councils will be forced to make an impossible decision. Either vote to get rid of their Māori wards (and force out their colleagues in those positions who are sitting at the table). Or allow referendums to go ahead which they know will cause division, harm, distraction and unnecessary costs.

Take a moment to imagine what it would feel like to be a Māori ward councillor, and having to endure that conversation, with your role and your future hanging in the air. There are real life people in Māori ward roles who are being punished with racism and uncertainty — simply for stepping up to serve their communities.

Our team at ActionStation is committed to protecting Māori wards in the lead up to next year’s local body elections. We’re inviting those of you who want to keep Māori wards to sign our petition, and to let us know if you’d like to get involved in your local community effort.

We have fought before and won. It’s time to do it again.

 

Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Pareraukawa, Ngāti Korokī) is the director of community campaigning organisation ActionStation. She was trained in the union movement and studied at Te Wānanga o Raukawa in Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy). Since then she’s been involved with social justice movements for Te Tiriti justice, LGBTQI+ rights, anti-racism and workers’ rights.

E-Tangata, 2024