John Robertson, Waitomo mayor.
Waitomo District Council has decided there will be no Māori wards for Te Kūiti at the next local body election.
Mayor John Robertson, pictured, said introducing Māori wards would limit the democratic choice for Māori in Te Kūiti.
The council is required to make a decision on electoral representation for the 2025 and 2028 local body elections before the end of 2023.
Currently, it has two wards with three councillors each, reflecting that roughly half the district lives in Te Kūiti and the other half rurally.
If two Māori ward seats were to be added, they would be elected from the Māori roll. Following the 2022 election, the council has one Māori councillor, Eady Manawaiti.
“Voting was above the national average, 44% of those enrolled voted. Electoral participation in terms of candidates was high. There were 11 candidates for six seats and four were Māori; a record number of Māori candidates,” John said.
The second Māori candidate was 13 votes short of being elected for the same ward, he said.
“In 2022, this district was extremely close to two Māori councillors without having a Māori ward.
“Under our current system there’s nothing other than low voter turn-out preventing more Māori being elected to this table,” John said. “On the other hand, if a Māori ward were to be set up, only Māori on the Māori roll would be able to vote for candidates for this ward.
“We will end up with two Māori councillors around this table for sure, but no more than two based on the present Māori roll enrollments. In my view it delivers an injustice for Māori rather than justice. With our population split roughly 50/50, Māori have the opportunity for greater representation than just two. That is what we should aspire to.”
The five-minute speaking rule at meetings was suspended allowing councillors to speak for longer if they wished, but councillors supported the mayor’s rationale based on their consultation experience and other factors.
Māori wards is one of four scenarios the council consulted on. The options were: status quo; Māori wards; a committee with Māori representation; and Māori wards and a committee with Māori representation.
About half the 60 submissions received supported the status quo, but several of the submissions came from whole communities involved in the consultation process.
Councillor Janette Osborne said one video involved input from many people and was particularly heartening.
“Only those on the Māori roll can vote for the Māori ward candidates and to do this they must give up their right to vote for the urban and rural wards. If there aren’t enough candidates for the Māori wards, this could lead to automatic appointment of Māori or non-Māori to Māori ward seats,” Janette said.
When elected, every councillor had duties and responsibilities to the whole district, not just the ward they were elected to. They still had duties around annual plans, long term plans, and infrastructure like roading.
Allowing Māori wards would mean the loss of an opportunity for six Māori councillors and a mayor over the next two elections, she said.
The council also considered the views of Māori who lived in Waitomo but were not connected to a local hapū or iwi. As the decision about representation affected everyone in the district, anyone in the community was encouraged to have their say.
In her report on the consultation process, strategy and policy manager Charmaine Ellery said there were a range of views, but the basic premise was Māori were just as capable, skilled, wise as anyone else to be able to stand and get elected to any council seat without the need for Māori wards.
“One submission saw Māori wards as implying that Māori are inherently less intelligent and without character,” she said. “Others phrasing it that Māori should be elected on their own merits as they are currently able to be.
“A few noted that Māori wards limit who Māori can vote for and therefore could limit Māori to only having two seats, whereas Māori are currently able to have more — even a full council. The reasoning given for this view is with a high population of Māori, there is less of a need for a Māori ward compared to when Māori are a minority.”
As a result of the consultation process councillors have decided to increase Māori and mana whenua participation in other ways and to establish a model of representation that enhances relationships between council and mana whenua.
“We are keen to see our council work with mana whenua to achieve much more participation and option three – establishing a committee with Māori representation will achieve that,” John said.
The structure of the committee has yet to be determined.
“The council will further engage with mana whenua through its committee Te Rāngai Whakakaupapa Kōrero to develop a model of representation that enhances relationships between the council and mana whenua,” he said.
“It will take time as it will need to accommodate all mana whenua throughout our district and its method of representation needs to include Māori collectives such as hapū, whānau, marae and papakāinga. That is what we were told in the consultation process.
“We give thanks to all those who took the time to make a submission and share their thoughts on this important decision-making process.”
