Hobson’s Pledge says it’s not concerned if its advert against Māori wards impacts the mana of a New Plymouth councillor, whose name and photo were used despite his objections.
Last election, councillor Dinnie Moeahu regained his general seat as New Plymouth’s top-polling candidate – but he's devoting most of his 2025 campaign to keep Māori wards in Taranaki and beyond.
The Hobson’s Pledge social media ad says Moeahu’s win shows “Māori don’t need mandates to lead”, urging a no vote in this year’s referendums.
Moeahu said the ad “reeks of disinformation.”
“It’s just disgusting: It's my name, it’s my whānau.
“I couldn't believe Hobson's Pledge would stoop so low again, to use me to promote their message without my consent.
“It's similar to how I felt seeing whaea Ellen Tamati, when her face was on all those billboards.”
Hobson’s Pledge, which campaigns against collective Māori rights and interests, last month apologised to kuia Ellen Tamati for using her image without permission and ditched the billboards.
The withdrawn ad used the slogan 'my mana doesn't need a mandate'.
Local Democracy Reporting asked Hobson’s Pledge leader Don Brash if he’d any concern about impact of the latest ad on the mana of Dinnie Moeahu and his family.
“Not at all. No, no,” replied Brash.
“He is Māori, he got elected, he did not need a Māori ward – we're putting that out as strongly as we possibly can.”
“We make no apologies.”
Brash said before Māori wards 13% of the country’s councillors were Māori, roughly matching their share of the adult population.
“The evidence is clear that Māori don't need the crutch of Māori wards.”
Māori hold 4% of Taranaki’s general seats despite comprising more than 20% of the region’s population.
Five Māori wards take representation to 14% of the region’s 45 seats at four council tables.
Without the new wards, just two Māori councillors would sit on Taranaki councils – with one elected unopposed to a South Taranaki District ward with too few candidates.
No Māori won general wards of Stratford District or Taranaki Regional councils.
It means in 2022 Taranaki's general ward voters elected one Māori councillor – Dinnie Moeahu.
He’s only the second mana whenua councillor in a New Plymouth general ward.
League legend Howie Tamati was a councillor for four terms on the back of captaining and coaching the Kiwis, chairing the New Zealand Rugby League and being appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Moeahu said his initial 2019 win was similarly atypical and not proof Māori wards weren't needed.
“There were six councillors not running again, and I’d done a long public campaign to raise $80,000 for a local charity.
“I'd received a Citizens Award and was Taranaki Daily News Person of the Year.”
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Moeahu is campaigning to keep Māori wards as far afield as Rotorua, Napier and Hastings, and Palmerston North – as well as New Plymouth’s Te Purutanga Mauri Pūmanawa ward, for which he isn’t even standing.
“It’s for fairness and democracy, and we’re seeing councils make better decisions,” he said.
“Other councillors don't have to guess what Māori are talking about, because someone’s right there to help them understand - that's good for everyone.”
Brash declined to comment on Hobson’s Pledge founding trustee Kevin Moratti’s claims about 'co-governance by stealth' on behalf of the New Plymouth District Ratepayers’ Alliance, which he also founded with mayoral candidate Max Brough and councillor Murray Chong.
“He's not currently a member of Hobson's Pledge,” Brash said.
LDR is local body journalism funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
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