Parliament to remove barriers for Māori wards

Thursday 18 March, 2021

In the twenty years that New Zealand law has provided for the establishment of Māori wards constituencies in local government, 24 councils have attempted to establish Māori wards and only three have succeeded.  Central government has introduced a Bill which would remove the hurdle which has been fatal to most attempts to establish Māori wards: binding polls.  Under current law, if 5% of electors petition for a “poll” and the majority of voters vote against the establishment of Māori wards means that no Māori ward could be established in the next two trienniums.  The same mechanism doesn’t apply to proposals to create general wards.  Māori are underrepresented among local body politicians.  Councils have found alternative ways of involving Māori in decision-making, such as Hamilton City Council’s Māngai Māori. 

Parliament has now passed the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill, removing the poll mechanism so that the process for establishing Māori wards is the same as for general wards.  The new law also enables local authorities to make decisions on Māori wards in time for the next local elections, which will take place in 2022.