This article was first published on RNZ.
Jack Karetai-Barrett is about to embark on a Whakatāne to Wellington trail ride to raise awareness to promote Māori wards.
And he wants his “vote yes” message to be loud and clear.
“Keep Māori wards. It’s such a normal thing that should just be part of our lives, but for some reason [some people] don’t want it to be.”
The 15-year-old is departing on 28 June, riding his Focus Atlas 6.7 gravel bike for 11 days.
He will travel through 12 small towns to collect letters from those in favour of Māori wards aiming to hand them to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
The Local Government (Māori Wards) Amendment Bill passed its third reading in July last year, which meant 42 Councils who had established a Māori ward without polling residents had to hold one or scrap them.
Those councils will hold a binding poll alongside this year’s local body elections.
Karetai-Barrett (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Māmoe, Waitaha, Rapuwai) said having Māori in “decision-making” spaces was deeply important to him.
“We need representation, especially from Māori people in the community, because we have really good values and you just don’t really get that unless you have someone who’s Māori and that’s where Māori wards matter to me, mostly.
“I’m sure [people in rural areas] want to be able to have stuff like this happen, but a lot of them can’t. They just needed a bit more representation.”
Earlier this year, the Whakatāne High School student walked almost 80 kilometres from Whakatāne to Mauao (Mt Maunganui) to encourage voters to tick yes for Māori wards, but he suffered severe blistering on his feet leaving him unable to finish the final 10km.
He then pedalled the route using it as a “practice run” for his next challenge.
“It’s ‘vote yes’ to Māori wards. Keep Māori wards. It’s such a normal thing that should just be part of our lives, but for some reason they don’t want it to be.
“And then I started planning for this. I didn’t even tell Mum until I already had my plan set up.”
He said he wasn’t nervous about the nearly 900km mission, but rearing to hit the road.
“I’m very, very excited to do it. I may not be excited to go through Ohakune and be probably snowed on, but I think it will be well worth my time anyway.
“So many people have said to me, ‘Why don’t you just put it off until the summer time?’.
“And I know something, when I want to do something like this for this level, I can’t put it off. It just has to happen then and there. ”
Although his mum, Mawera Karetai, was a bit “terrified” about the ride, she was “trusting in the kindness of others”.
“We’ve put it out to the rest of the country, asking people to host him at various stops, and prior, [and they] have offered to open their homes to him,” she said.
“We live in an incredible place, here in Aotearoa, where we still want to care for each other. Long may manaakitanga be in the hearts of all of us.”
By Emma Andrews of RNZ.
