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”?
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