The Government has announced it will introduce a bill restoring the ability for communities to hold binding referendums on whether to introduce Māori wards.
The previous government had passed legislation allowing councils to decide on whether to establish Māori wards for their city or district.
Read more: What you need to know about Māori wards
The law stripped a provision that previously allowed communities to veto Māori wards in a vote. Prior to that provision being removed, 24 councils attempted to establish Māori wards, but only three were successful.
This morning, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown announced the Government will introduce a bill that restores communities’ ability to hold referendums on Māori wards.
It's sparked outrage from the organisation representing local councils, as Political Editor Maiki Sherman explains. (Source: 1News)
He said the bill was part of National’s coalition commitments with ACT and NZ First.
At least 5% of local voters will need to signal to councils that they want a referendum.
The bill would mean binding polls would have to be held on wards established after Labour's legislation came into effect – where local referendums hadn’t taken place.
“As signalled in our coalition agreements, affected councils will be required to hold a poll alongside the 2025 elections. The results of these polls will be binding on councils and will take effect for the local government term beginning October 2028,” Brown said.
“If councils do not wish to hold a poll, those councils will be given the opportunity to reverse their decision to establish Māori wards or to disestablish those wards prior to the 2025 local body elections.”
He called the previous government’s changes “divisive”, saying they “denied local communities the ability to determine whether to establish Māori wards”.
“Local community members deserve to have a say in their governance arrangements.”
Wairoa District Council, Waikato Regional Council and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council will not be affected as their Māori wards/constituencies were established before the previous change.
ACT Leader David Seymour, who has long been against the idea of Māori wards, called the current law “undemocratic” and welcomed the new bill.
“The decision of whether councils should establish Māori wards ought to lie with the communities themselves, not Wellington,” he said.
“The consequence of Labour’s push for co-governance is that which group you belong to is more important than the dignity inherent in every individual person.
“That there should be different laws for different groups, and you should be treated differently based upon who your ancestors were. These values are anathema to a democratic society.
“This Government is determined to stop dividing New Zealanders along superficial lines. We must celebrate the common humanity that unites all people and stop seeking ways to divide us with group rights and collective identity.”
Te Pāti Māori responds
In response to the announcement, Te Pāti Māori has called the bill the "next attack" on Māori.
"ACT are again pillaging our nation with modern day colonisation, silencing our voices, and ensuring our rights to be heard and represented are trampled," Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said.
"The decision to reintroduce referendums to overturn already established and to stop the establishment of Māori wards is a continued attack on Māori representation and rights to decision making in our local councils.
"It is appalling, that ACT think a 5% referendum is their definition of democratic when Te Tiriti asserted equal rights and opportunities.
"ACT and the coalition resort to using the general election as their democratic mandate, yet ambush the mandate local electors give to their councillors to establish Māori wards.
"This is double standards and only confirms what we all know to be true — that ACT's agenda has it out for Māori."
Waititi said having 5% of the people making a determination for the other 95% of the community is "like Te Pāti Māori making all the decisions for the nation in the current Parliament".
"ACT simply wouldn't have it, and that is the very foolishness that comes with the reintroduction of this entitlement."
A 'racist' step backwards - Green Party
The Green Party's Māori development spokesperson Hūhana Lyndon called the proposed bill a "racist step backwards for Māori representation" that "disregards Te Tiriti o Waitangi".
“This three-headed taniwha government has continued their legislative attack on Māori and undermining progress made by local councils by imposing a referendum on Māori wards."
She called Māori wards an "essential mechanism" that "empowers the unique voices, experiences, and needs of Māori".
"It's diabolical that indigenous rights to representation which have already been secured are now being subject to an extra hurdle and risk being unwound, especially when the UN has noted that we have 'persistently low' levels of Māori representation in local government."
Lyndon called the referendums a "barrier" for wards looking to be established, as well as a way to deter establishing Māori wards.
"This government is quickly establishing themselves to be one of the most inherently racist, anti-evidence and anti-Te Tiriti governments our country has ever seen."
Referendums stir up 'fear', 'division', 'violence' - Labour
Labour's spokesperson for Māori development Willie Jackson called the bill a "kick in the guts" for the Māori community.
"These petitions and polls harm the iwi-council relationship and stir up fear, division, and even violence in our local communities.
"In government, we got rid of the discriminatory and unjust poll provisions that had long disenfranchised and disadvantaged Māori.
"It is important for our democracy to provide for equal rights and to ensure that fair electoral representation is available to all citizens and extends to our Te Tiriti obligations."
He said it showed the Government was being hypocritical when it came to discussions around the Treaty of Waitangi.
"This government can not have it both ways. They can not say that they are committed to honouring the Treaty, and in the same vein, remove policies that support Māori aspirations.
"This is yet another example that this government can not be trusted to deliver for Māori."
Local Government New Zealand weighs in
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) has called the Government's move a "complete overreach".
"The coalition government is removing decision-making from councils by mandating polls be run on Māori wards and constituencies alone," LGNZ president Sam Broughton said.
"This is a complete overreach by the government on local decision making."
Broughton added: "Claims that Māori wards and constituencies give Māori more votes than anyone else are wrong and politicians should think carefully before inflaming these important conversations with misinformation."
As of October last year nearly half of councils around New Zealand had chosen to establish Māori wards.
Thirty-five councils had Māori wards or constituencies at the 2022 local elections. Other councils have since voted to include Māori wards in future elections.
Last year Auckland Council voted against establishing a Māori ward for the 2025 local body elections.
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