ONE of the first tasks of Waitomo District Council’s new Māori committee is recommending to council the way to discuss Māori Wards within the electorate.
The council is required to decide in November this year whether to establish Māori wards for the next two elections.
At its inaugural meeting, Te Raangai Whakakaupapa Koorero committee requested a work plan and consultation material, including one option as a possible alternative to Māori wards, to be prepared for consultation with Māori.
The review is happening because every six years the council has to re-examine its make-up, how many seats, whether councillors are elected at large or for wards, and if there are to be Māori wards.
Chief executive Ben Smit said communicating with non-Maniapoto Māori might be the most difficult engagement.
“We don’t have mechanisms to get to those people and they are inherently not people that communicate through the formal process with us,” he said.
Introducing Māori wards would be complicated, he said. One or two might split the district.
The maths was also complicated. Māori would, from March 31, be permitted to change wards before the next local body elections. It would not take many changes to alter the balance, and possibly the number of wards and council seats.
“Rightly or wrongly, it’s not about iwi or mana whenua representation, it’s about Māori representation, and that’s one of the key issues that sits behind all this,” Ben said.
The committee decided its focus would be on the Māori communities and discussed how that would be best undertaken.
“I’m not moving too far off council’s current processes, especially to meet with them, formal groups like kaumatua, RMCs and iwi at their offices or whare,” chair Eady Manawaiti said.
“And then further to that inviting kaumatua, for example, into the council building for downstairs consultation and engagement over a cup of tea.
“One of the risks for me in consultation is the feeling that we are not reaching everybody, and that includes the whānau that have the ability to vote but don’t live locally. That includes homeowners in Australia.
“What I have learned during the campaign is about encouraging and increasing Māori to vote.
“I just want to make sure we are not going too far out of our reach as a sub-committee, in terms of that reach and communication.”
One of the key roles of the new committee was establishing that engagement process, Eady said.
The committee recommended the district council conduct a full review of representation arrangements by August 31, 2024.
To do that, the council’s decision respecting Māori wards must be made by October 31 this year.
The last date the council can vote to review the establishment of Māori wards for the 2025 elections is November 23, 2023, with November 30 being the last date for any public notice regarding a council resolution regarding Māori wards for the 2025 elections.
That public notice must include the right of electors to demand a poll. Until the law was changed in July last year, just 5% support was required for a poll.
The previous system had different rules for establishing Māori and general wards. The law change, which will come into effect on March 31, will remove the five-year barrier to Māori changing electoral rolls, which in turn may affect how many Māori seats/wards there will be.
Mayor John Robertson said they might have to have the committee recommendation go through to council as early as September as the November 30 date coincided with the council meeting, which might have to be held earlier for the council to make its decision.
Waitomo District Council last reviewed representation arrangements, including the electoral system and Māori representation in August 2017 for the 2019 and 2022 elections.
The six-yearly review is required for the next triennial election in 2025.
The decision is whether all members are to be elected from either Māori or general wards, or whether some members are to be elected from either Māori or general wards, and some are to be elected at large.
Also, the number of councillors to be elected from Māori wards and the number from the general wards.
In the Waitomo district 44.8% of people identify as being Māori, compared with 16.5 percent nationally.
