Fire hits the ha¯ngı¯ stones As the heat rises for Govt

The fire is hitting the ha¯ngı¯ stones – and the Government is starting to feel the burn.

Petitions with 11,000 signatures were handed over at Parliament to get rid of laws, branded ‘‘racist’’, that make it nearly impossible for Ma¯ori wards in councils.

Toni Boynton of

Te

Ro¯pu¯

Tautoko Ma¯ori, one of the groups that organised the two petitions, said Parliament was where the rules came from, but councils were where ‘‘the fire hits the ha¯ngı¯ stones’’.

‘‘Why not include the voice of people who have lived on the land for a thousand years?’’

The petitions ask for changes to local government legislation that leaves Ma¯ori wards at the mercy of a binding referendum. Once a council creates Ma¯ori wards, this decision can be overturned by the referendum, triggered by 5 per cent of voters.

No other wards can be stopped by public polls. The petitions asked that Ma¯ori wards be treated the same as other wards.

The Government has signalled changes are coming this term to the current laws, but the petitioners were keen for fast action.

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta said she backed changes to the law but would not give a timeline for those changes.

‘‘We’ve only just resumed sitting back at Parliament and have our new mandate. I’ll certainly put the issue to Cabinet, and when they make their decision you’ll know about it.’’

She said she understood there was a need for some urgency with the changes. It was a priority for her, she said.

Mahuta said it was her belief that the time had come to see Ma¯ori faces in the nation’s councils: ‘‘

kei nga¯ kaunihira.’’

Stuff has found at least nine councils around New Zealand that have made decisions on Ma¯ori wards in the past few months. These decisions could be overturned by referendums, if triggered.

According to the petitioners at Parliament, eight out of the nine referendums held over the past two decades have overturned Ma¯ori wards.

Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon said he wanted quick action from the Government. He said if referendums were triggered in all the councils that had decided to create council Ma¯ori wards, it might cost roughly $2 million.

The petitions were handed over to Labour MP Ta¯mati Coffey who said the wards were discriminatory and racist. ‘‘The fact that you can set up a rural ward and a community board, but the second that ‘Ma¯ori’ word kicks in, and the guards are up, and suddenly [it’s] – ‘launch the petition’.’’

He said there was ‘‘political will’’ to change the law and it could not happen soon enough.

New Plymouth district councillor Dinnie Moeahu was one of the group of about 50 who took part in the petition handover.

‘‘It wasn’t just Ma¯ori there – there were non-Ma¯ori there, tamariki there. There was a real diverse representation of our community, all in support,’’ he said.

At least three councils currently have some kind of Ma¯ori wards, the regional councils in Bay of Plenty and Waikato, and Wairoa District Council.

The other group that organised the petitions was ActionStation.

The petitions asked that Ma¯ori wards be treated the same as other wards.