Maori seats: Peters hints at rethink

Proposed referendum could be for Maori only but numbers on general roll or not enrolled pose a problem

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has dismissed suggestions of a revolt in his ranks over Maori seats, but said he would reveal soon whether his proposed referendum on their future would be for all voters or Maori alone.

Peters announced plans to hold a binding referendum on the future of the seats at his party’s annual conference — a shift from the 2014 position that favoured abolishing them but leaving Maori to decide when.

That was assumed to involve a referendum of all voters, but Peters is now hinting that may not be the case. Asked about recent comments by both NZ First candidate Shane Jones and MP Pita Paraone about leaving the fate of the seats to Maori voters, Peters said he believed it should be up to Maori.

However, as well as those on the Maori roll, there were also Maori on the general roll and those who were not enrolled at all to consider.

All three were entitled to vote on the Maori roll.

“Of course it should be up to Maori to decide if the seats go, but I’m making a speech about it very shortly and I will tell you the full parameters of that.

“I’ve heard what has been said by people who have interviewed Pita and maybe others, and the question is whether it is full conscription and

Of course it should be up to Maori to decide if the seats go. Winston Peters

I’ll have that answer in a speech I’m giving shortly.”

Peters said Maori voters were leaving the Maori seats in droves and the majority were on the general roll rather than the Maori roll.

However, Electoral Commission statistics show 55 per cent are on the Maori roll and 45 per cent on the general roll.

They also show that in each Maori electoral option far more Maori have switched from the general to the Maori roll than vice versa — and new enrolments also favour the Maori roll by a significant margin.

After the last electoral option in 2013, there were 228,718 Maori on the Maori roll and 184,630 on the general roll.

Jones and Paraone are both on the Maori roll.

Peters rejected any suggestion Jones had broken the party line by saying it should be left to Maori, saying he made his comments based on the party’s 2014 policy without knowing it was about to change.

“Nothing he said was in conflict with that and he made the point he was going with what he understood the manifesto position to be and he was 100 per cent right. He is not guilty of any sin at all on this score.”

Paraone said he had advocated a referendum of Maori on the Maori roll only, but accepted the decision caucus made.

“I’d like to see that it’s left to the Maori voters to make that decision, but the announcement has been made.”

Jones said he would leave it to Paraone to comment on the issue as NZ First’s Maori affairs spokesman.

“I abide by the caucus policy,” Jones said.

He was on the Maori roll in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate, which meant he could not vote for himself as a candidate in the Whangarei electorate but he would change to the general roll for 2020.