The Government thinks that Local Government should determine what works best for them*

Written By: - Date published: 9:07 am, April 5th, 2024 - 22 comments
Categories: local government, Maori Issues, Maori seats, national, Politics, racism, simeon brown - Tags:

I recently posted about the Government’s plans to not only abolish Māori Wards on local councils but to also require binding referenda to be held if a Māori ward was set up during the last Government’s term.

Imposing retrospectively compulsory referenda on Councils that had exercised their right to decide what shape their electoral system took but only if they established Maori wards?

You could not imagine anything more disrespectful to Māori and to Local Government.

After all Councils have considerable authority to decide on things such as wards and voting systems. And Councillors are elected to make decisions and remain democratically accountable for their decisions.

At one level the decision is not surprising. Both the Act and NZ First coalition agreements promise to “[r]estore the right to local referendum on the establishment or ongoing use of Māori wards”.

Previously Cabinet decided to delay a decision on the proposal and the decision was then leaked.

As I previously noted a clearly disappointed David Seymour responded by saying that the policy was on track and that he would not engage with leakers. Christopher Luxon tried to blame the public service while at the same time said it was not a biggie. Makie Sherman confirmed that the leak did not come from the public service.

I said at the time that if the policy was not advanced quickly then the holding of referenda for Māori seats established under the last Government’s reign will not be able to occur in time for the referenda to happen with the next Local Government elections due in 2025.

And I suspected that someone within National may have leaked the news. Who knows it might have been Tama Potaka who must be worried at the damage being caused to Government Māori relations by this sort of redneck posturing may have been involved.

Unfortunately it appears that the delay was only so that the Government could get matters organised. And it has come out swinging.

From Radio New Zealand:

Councils that brought in Māori wards without polling residents will need to hold one – or scrap the wards they had set up, the government says.

Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced the move, saying it reverses the previous government’s “divisive changes that denied local communities the ability to determine” if Māori wards were set up.

Labour in 2022 abolished the requirement for local councils to hold a referendum on Māori wards, saying rural and other wards did not face that requirement.

The local body elections later that year included Māori ward candidates in 35 councils across the country, many for the first time.

The change had the support of Local Government New Zealand, whose president Sam Broughton said all wards should be treated the same – with councils themselves making the call.

However, coalition parties campaigned against the move and both the government’s coalition agreements included a commitment to bring back the requirement for a referedum.

Brown took that a step further on in his statement on Thursday, saying councils that brought in wards under Labour’s law would be required under new legislation to hold a referendum on the wards during the 2025 election. The results of those referedums would be binding and take effect from the 2028 local government term.

He said the other option for councils would be to scrap their Māori wards.

The racist narrative behind the policy announcement is hard to miss. After all National campaigned heavily on repealing Three Waters and returning water to local control. And Simeon Brown claimed that the Government wants to enable councils and communities to determine what works best for them.

The compulsory referendum will make a number of local elections next year utter shit shows as local Hobson Pledge types rally around to get people to vote.

Perhaps this is the intent.

But this decision has caused this rather stern response from LGNZ:

LGNZ is calling out the Coalition Government for complete overreach in today’s decision on Māori wards and constituencies.

“The Coalition Government is removing decision-making from councils by mandating polls be run on Māori wards and constituencies alone,” Sam Broughton said.

“This is a complete overreach by the government on local decision-making.

“Empowering local government to make decisions about their own communities is what this Government campaigned on and is not being delivered today.

“The Coalition Government’s decision is also a complete distraction from the hard work to deliver infrastructure and the pressure on rates rises.

“We have long asked that Māori wards and constituencies be treated like all other wards and the decisions be made at the council level.

“Currently, councils can make decisions about the establishment of Māori wards and constituencies for themselves. No one is forced, it’s a choice by communities’ elected representatives. Councils make these decisions based on feedback from their communities and iwi representatives.

“Today’s announcement is a skewed version of democracy that isn’t used to determine any other wards or constituencies, just Māori ones. We say the Government needs to either apply them to all wards or none at all.

I wonder which sector National will pick on next? And what it will do next to get the country “back on track”?

22 comments on “The Government thinks that Local Government should determine what works best for them* ”

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  1. Res Publica 1
    5 April 2024 at 10:08 am

    It will be fascinating to see if all the local body politicians that were up in arms about central government overreach and protecting local democracy when Labour was pursuing 3 waters reforms will put just as much time and energy and vehemence into fighting this government.

    I'm betting it'll be a big,fat no.

  2. ianmac 2
    5 April 2024 at 10:15 am

    Hypocritical Brown. "We have got rid of those awful Labour fiends so that you Councils can make your own decisions."

    "You Councils are stupid and just aren't capable of making your own decisions so we will undo all your wrong decisions and put you all in the naughty corner until you learn that Simeon knows best!"
    Well said Micky. Thanks.

  3. Anne 3
    5 April 2024 at 10:34 am

    Says it all. This lot are racist to the core of their beings. They will use weasel words to claim they are simply ensuring democratic processes to allow voters to have a say. As if voters have never had a say before.

    They hate 'malrees' cos they're scared they might lose some of their power if they allow them on to their council/board patches. It has never occurred to them that Maori representation might actually enhance their over-all prestige and make for much better local governance in the process.

  4. mac1 4
    5 April 2024 at 10:43 am

    The heading for this Opinion is “The Government thinks that Local Government should determine what works best for them* ”

    I wonder what this government would think if the 'them' referred to was central government? In other words, that local government should determine what works best for central government.

    What would Mr Brown say about that?

    The amount of change being brought about by reversal of the 6 years of Labour is starting to seem like pure vengeance.

    But more arguably it does point out the difference between National and Labour, between Left and Right, between individualist and collectivist thinking, and their different beliefs in the purpose of power which the reforms and their junking now shows.

    Who do you serve, Mr Brown?

  5. alwyn 5
    5 April 2024 at 3:55 pm

    If the Maori Ward Councillor on the Manawatu DC is typical I really don't think that anything is achieved by having people like her on any Council.

    She hasn't got the faintest idea about the proposed change to allow for referenda on the question. She claims that if the Council proposes a Maori Ward then there cannot be one if 5% of the electorate don't want it. 5% say no and the ward is gone.

    Where do we get politicians who can so misrepresent the proposal?

    It is at about 2 min 25 seconds in.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018932989/councillor-says-it-s-vital-maori-wards-continue

    • Res Publica 5.1
      5 April 2024 at 4:23 pm

      OMG a fellow Manawatu resident!

      To be fair to Cr Bell, plenty of people that don't support Māori wards have made a bunch of even more stupid and specious claims about the process.

      Technically, you only needed 5% of voters to call for a referendum on creating a Māori ward under the old law: which was always a ridiculously low bar.

      All it takes is a particularly vocal minority given that turnout for these things is so low. When Palmy tried creating a ward in 2018, turnout was only 37%, of which a majority voted no. However, this constituted barely a quarter (14,567) of the overall electorate of the time (56,839).

      • alwyn 5.1.1
        5 April 2024 at 5:14 pm

        It was 5% of the people on the roll who had to sign the petition.

        That has nothing to do with how many might actually vote when the referendum is finally held.

        This does require an automatic referendum on all the Maori Wards that have been set up since the ability to call for a referendum was abolished which will stir things up a bit of course.

    • Traveller 5.2
      5 April 2024 at 5:41 pm

      Her comments are just bizarre.

      Aside from that, at 3:28, Bell claims that there are "6,000 Māori that live in Manawatu".

      I looked up the 2022 election results for the MDC (2022 Local Elections | Manawatū District Council (mdc.govt.nz)).

      Bell won the Ngā Tapuae o Matangi Māori Ward with a grand total of just 347 votes. There were only 425 valid votes cast in total for that ward. Across the Manawatu, there was a 44.35% turnout. Now either there are a hell of a lot of Māori in Manawatu are under voting age, or Māori are ignoring the Ngā Tapuae o Matangi ward and voting in the rural or general wards.

      • alwyn 5.2.1
        5 April 2024 at 6:30 pm

        She may not be too far out with the claim.

        The 2018 Census says there were 4986 Maori in the Manawatu District and it will have risen a bit since then. Her figure of 6,000 is probably not far out. The Census classifies you as Maori if you have any Maori identification, regardless of any other boxes you may tick.

        Voters are only those over 18 of course

  6. adam 6
    5 April 2024 at 5:22 pm

    Class war. Pure and simple.

    This time under the guise of an attack on Māori wards.

    Once again we have a far right government hell bent on screwing up the lives of low income kiwis, by any means possible.

    Tory scum, need to fear us, so they stop pulling this shit – you're all to bloody nice.

  7. georgecom 7
    5 April 2024 at 7:25 pm

    we are apparently in a cost of living crisis, and these clowns foist an extra $100,000 on ratepayers for referdums on already existing maori wards. $100k for a referendum and the ratepayers will have to pick up the tab during a cost of rising rates crisis.

    And whilst we have a large budget deficit David Seymour plans to waste 10s of millions of taxpayers $$$ on charter schools.

    And his desire to cut the size of government, bureaucracy and red tape, is to set up a government ministry. Shrink the size of the government and bureaucracy by setting up a costly bureaucracy. This guy is drunk on power

    • alwyn 7.1
      5 April 2024 at 8:09 pm

      The Councils could save that supposed $100 k for a referendum, and a great deal more besides by a very simple action.

      Just abolish the Maori Wards before the next election. That would save the $100 k and also the annual payments for each Councillor from a Maori Ward. It would vary by Council of course but in Wellington the person is almost certainly costing us about $250 k / year.

    • Belladonna 7.2
      5 April 2024 at 8:12 pm

      I think you'll find that your $100K is in relation to stand-alone referendums. The proposal is that the referendum would be held as part of the 2025 local government election – so significantly cheaper.

      There are always costs associated with democracy.

      • georgecom 7.2.1
        5 April 2024 at 10:06 pm

        or simply keep the status quo as is and save ratepayers money. And scrap his ministry of bureaucracy and save tax payers millions and his charter schools and save tens of millions. seymour? more like David Spendmour

        • Belladonna 7.2.1.1
          5 April 2024 at 10:49 pm

          Or sack the mayor and all of the Councillors and appoint statutory managers…..
          There are always ways to save money.

          • Traveller 7.2.1.1.1
            6 April 2024 at 2:04 am

            In that subject, Anne Tolley seems to think a hybrid of elected and appointed representatives may be an option.

            https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/tauranga-commissioner-anne-tolley-tells-mike-hosking/LUNPPMI4QFGVXMPG6FA7S6JZLI/

          • georgecom 7.2.1.1.2
            6 April 2024 at 3:04 pm

            not really that bothered about each local council and what they do. bigger problems with this government and Spendmore thinking what he says is different from what he does. Complain about costs and government spending unless his own pet projects and then money is no issue.

            And if I sound like an angry right winger going on about money being wasted, bureaucracy etc, well, I will just say it’s nice to turn the argument around for the change and judge Mr Spendmore et al by their own standards.

            • Belladonna 7.2.1.1.2.1
              6 April 2024 at 3:16 pm

              Time to judge when we see the effects of his decisions.
              Will the Ministry of Regulation actually result in a net reduction of Government spending? Will the charter schools be more cost-effective than the regular school system?