Whanganui District Council is sticking with plans to introduce Māori seats, describing it as a pushback against Government moves to bring in new rules around Māori wards.
Mayor Andrew Tripe says there are no plans to backtrack and - for now - the council is working on the basis that the 2025 council will include Māori seats.
The council voted last year to establish a single Māori ward for the 2025 and 2028 local body elections after dozens of councils introduced them in 2022.
The Government has since said councils that created Māori wards without a poll must either reverse their decision or conduct a binding referendum during the 2025 local elections.
“It’s not on any agenda to rescind the decision,” Tripe said.
“We’ve made a decision as a collective to counter that [directive] at this stage. We’re busy enough as it is.”
Tripe said no decisions will be made on the council’s Māori seats until a new law on Māori wards is enacted.
The mayor said Government plans to override Māori ward decisions put the council in a difficult position as it works on a review of representation arrangements and governance structure.
Introducing Māori wards would affect the composition, number and makeup of the elected members, Tripe said.
The council is partway through collecting public feedback on its future make-up, including a proposal to elect 12 councillors – 10 general ward councillors and two Māori ward councillors.
Residents on the general electoral roll would elect 10 general ward councillors, and residents on the Māori electoral roll would elect two Māori ward councillors.
Tripe, who is midway through his first term in local government, said he was not sure if Māori wards were a good idea or not.
He asked a number of local Māori to run in the 2022 election because he believed the council needed “iwi voice” around the table.
But he said he voted against Māori wards because election rules mean Māori can vote only for Māori ward councillors and the mayor, but not for the majority of councillors standing in the general ward.
Tripe questioned why the Government was calling for binding referenda on Māori wards and not other types of wards, such as rural.
“Why are they deciding to run a referendum on only this matter? I don’t know their rationale.”
The council’s proposed representation arrangements support keeping the Whanganui Rural Community Board and its seven board members representing three rural subdivisions.
Tripe said the council consulted extensively with the community before making its decision.
“We as a community, as elected members, decided to have Māori wards. Let our own community make decisions on the composition of our council and how we govern ourselves.
“A large part of the pushback is against central government telling us as local government what to do. We just get pushed around as they wish.
“A better approach would be to partner with local government to find mutual agreement on ways we can make our community a better place.”
Councils are required to review representation arrangements at least once every six years.
The preferred option, based on public feedback and put forward by a working party, was to cut the number of councillors from 12 to 10 (eight general ward councillors and two Maori ward councillors) but that recommendation was not supported by the full council.
Tripe is urging people to feed back their views.
Submissions close on Sunday, 4 August.
’Lack of fairness’
Whanganui mayor Andrew Tripe was one of 52 mayors and chairs who signed a letter in May from council advocate Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) opposing the proposed changes to Māori wards.
LGNZ president Sam Broughton told Local Democracy Reporting there had been no response from the Government.
“We are concerned that the Government’s decision is a distraction from the hard work that councils are doing to deliver infrastructure and keep costs down for their communities.
“It also undermines the important contributions that Māori are making to local government.
The proposal to only apply poll provisions to the establishment of Māori wards and constituencies shows a lack of fairness, he said.
“No other wards or constituencies are subject to the same provisions.”
When proposing the change, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown said any decision to establish or disestablish a Māori ward is one that should remain with communities.
“These changes ensure that local communities have a say in their governance arrangements.”
The co-chair of LGNZ’s Māori member group Te Maruata, Toni Boynton, said local government was seeing its highest representation ever of Māori elected members.
“It’s taken a lot of work to get this far but we still have some way [to go] to make sure all council tables reflect the communities they serve.”
Boynton said the proposed changes risk the mana of Māori elected members and their “rightful, elected place on councils”.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
