Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has filed legal proceedings in the High Court against the Kaipara District Council ahead of their vote on the future of its Māori ward.
It's seeking a judicial review and warning it will file an injunction if the council proceeds with disestablishing the ward.
Mayor Craig Jepson called for the extraordinary meeting just 24 hours after the Government's third reading of the Local Government Amendment Bill.
The legislation compels councils that have established a Māori ward without a referendum to remove them or put them to a public vote at the next local body elections.
It also restores the public's ability to veto any future decision on a Māori ward by enacting a referendum through a petition.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua is behind the proceedings and has filed on behalf of mana whenua Te Roroa, Te Uri o Hau and Te Kuihi.
Rūnanga spokesperson Alan Riwaka said they had no choice but to take action.
"The whole point is good decision making and the Council is required to give local Māori a real opportunity to input and to provide the relevant information and documents to allow for that.
"How is the Council going to 'improve opportunities for Māori to contribute to local Government decision making' if the Māori ward is disestablished?" he asked.
Members of the community and local iwi had gathered outside of the council buildings to protest.
"We have asked the Council to defer the extraordinary meeting until there is enough time for Māori to have real input on the decision, after we have got all relevant information.
"There is also no proper opportunity to give our views if the councillors have already made up their minds.
"We didn't want to have to sue but we also didn't want the Council to move to spend $25,000 on a shortened representation review based on a decision to disestablish Maōri wards that is illegal."
Jepson said earlier this week he had been elected on a plank that included better democracy for his people, he said.
“I have a mandate from my community,” Jepson told Local Democracy Reporting.
“I wish that New Zealanders would work together, and we didn’t have these growing divisions."
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