In what might be the last election for New Plymouth’s Māori ward, voters will choose between a young māmā ushering in the next generation and an experienced campaigner wanting land returned.
Three years ago Te Waka McLeod won Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa ward and on Friday confirmed she’d stand again.
She faces one opponent so far: kaumātua Peter Moeahu, who’s been active in council chambers for decades.
More may stand before the four week cut-off but candidates are competing for an uncertain prize.
Like almost all Māori wards, New Plymouth District Council’s newest seat might be pulled from under the victor after three years, via a Government-ordered referendum at October’s election.
McLeod said the threat steeled her determination that the coming generation will know they belong in local government.
“Māori faces at the table are vital so rangatahi can imagine themselves sitting there.”
“If Māori wards are voted down I worry people might forget how deeply we care about how our communities are run, how all our people and places are cared for.”
During her first term “quiet conversations and gentle educating” had brought progress, as had Taranaki’s iwi liaison committees, other committees with tangata whenua representatives, and Māori staff.
“Everybody in the room sees how useful it is.”
“Non-Māori councillors, staff and voters no longer have to guess what we’re trying to achieve together with them.”
McLeod had a baby in office and wanted to show young parents – especially mums – they could be involved.
“I don’t need to be the loudest voice in the room. I work on kaupapa aligned with my values and my people and that’s how change happens.”
Peter Moeahu often has had the loudest voice in the room.
Across the reigns of five New Plymouth mayors he’s stood up for mana whenua in Taranaki’s council chambers.
He sits on Taranaki Regional Council’s Policy and Planning Committee and South Taranaki District Council’s Te Kāhui Matauraura.
Moeahu said several New Plymouth councillors who’ve become experienced with iwi and hapū aspirations are stepping down, leaving him worried about candidates from right-wing ratepayer groups and the Act Party.
“That’s why I’m throwing my hat in the ring,” he said.
“If this is the last term for the Māori ward I want to be there and face up to whoever they chuck at us.”
Moeahu wants a specific win: the return of land taken from Puketapu hapū in 1968, with no record of compensation.
His grandfather Pehimana Tamati helped established a trust for Mangati E Māori Reserve.
“Three years later, the county council just took the land. Just took it under the Public Works Act.”
Earmarked for sewerage works, nothing happened beyond the digging of two oxidation ponds Moeahu believes were never used.
New Plymouth District Council inherited control and Mangati E is part of Bell Block’s Hickford Park and the coastal walkway.
In 2022 Moeahu asked for Puketapu’s land back, but councillors halted progress to investigate how to deal with the range of Māori land it governs.
“There are Māori reserves all around New Plymouth that were set aside for us to live on, for us to prosper on – and they’re no longer in our hands,” Moeahu said.
He wants Mangati back as a priority and precedent.
“I want to see the finalisation of this piece of land, Mangati E, in my lifetime so we don’t leave the situation for the next generation.”
National’s coalition deals with NZ First and Act promise referendums for wards elected by voters on the Māori roll.
No other type of ward can be voted down.
If voters ditch Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa it can’t be resurrected for six years.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
