Fast-tracked Māori wards legislation labelled 'shoddy lawmaking' by National

February 25, 2021
RATANA, NEW ZEALAND - NOVEMBER 07:  Minister for Maori Development Nanaia Mahuta looks on during centenary celebrations at Ratana Church on November 7, 2018 in Ratana, New Zealand. This year marks 100 years since prophet Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana is said to have received a divine revelation from which the Ratana Church was born.  (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

The public can no longer veto a council’s decision to create Māori wards after Parliament passed a fast-tracked bill late last night.

It’s drawn a range of reactions from various parties, with National saying they would overturn the bill if elected in 2023 because it was “shoddy lawmaking” and “undemocratic”.

Under urgency, MPs had passed the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill after its third and final reading. 

The bill amended the Local Electoral Act 2001 “to align the treatment of Māori wards and constituencies with the treatment of general wards and constituencies”. 

The Government said the legislation was expedited so it would be in place in time for next year’s local elections.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta, who was in charge of the bill, said it would make things fairer for Māori, because the old rules were unfair, only applied to Māori wards, and didn’t uphold the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.

It's going to dump a provision that allows for referendums, which can overturn dedicated maori representation.

Under the old Act, five per cent of voters can no longer call a binding poll to overturn a council’s decision to introduce the wards. Because of the provision, only three of the 24 councils that had tried to introduce Māori wards had been successful.

The amendment was supported by Labour, the Greens and Te Paati Māori. National and ACT were opposed. 

Opposition leader Judith Collins said the amendment was “undemocratic”, but said the party wasn’t opposed to the idea of wards. 

National Party leader Judith Collins attends Beat the Retreat with the NZ Navy at the Waitangi Treaty grounds.

“National isn’t opposed to Māori wards if councils and their communities want them, but it is for communities to make this decision,” she said.

“Electoral law reform should not be rushed through Parliament under urgency like this.

 “Jacinda Ardern and Labour did not campaign on this issue at the last election and have not adequately consulted with New Zealanders. This is shoddy lawmaking.

“Labour only gave the public two days to make submissions. There were 12,506 of them, with 76 per cent opposed to the changes.”

Parliamentary select committees usually have six months to examine a bill. 

ACT has labelled the legislation was “deeply divisive”.

“Labour’s Māori wards legislation is better described as the Apartheid Bill. The basic assumption underpinning it is that our country has two categories of people with different legal rights,” ACT leader David Seymour said.

“The most odious belief in human history is that we should treat people differently based on their racial group.”

Seymour said there “is no problem to solve” because 14 per cent of councillors are Māori, the same proportion of Māori in the general population.

The Greens and the Te Paati Māori welcomed the move. 

“We strongly tautoko this kaupapa that brings Māori to a decision making table especially within our local communities”, Green Party Māori Development spokesperson Elizabeth Kerekere said.

“This is a positive step towards affirming the kaitiakitanga of tangata whenua.”

Te Paati Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the bill removed a “racist” binding poll provision.

“It’s discriminatory, and as it represents a breach of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it’s unconstitutional,” she said.

“This racist double-standard never should have been on our lawbooks, and it is damming that successive governments have failed to right this wrong.”

Ngarewa-Packer said the Government should go further and require all local and regional councils to establish at least one Māori ward in their area.

“This fight is part of a wider struggle for our rights and interests, and for the realisation of our tino rangatiratanga. This is one step in process of returning and sharing power with tangata whenua at the local government level.”

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