Māori wards fall short, so what’s next?
Māori wards have been only half successful in Taranaki, with voter turnout for the new wards a third lower than overall turnout across the region.
Māori wards were created to increase representation and participation in local democracy: more Māori councillors and voters. Without the new five Māori wards, there would be only two Māori councillors in 45 seats around Taranaki council tables.
But despite widespread publicity for the Māori wards, there is no evidence of increased voting.
District or Taranaki Regional councils.
Community boards saw a little more Māori success. Of 51 candidates 14 were Māori, who won five out of 31 of community board seats – or 16%.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Ruanui endorsed three candidates for South Taranaki community boards: voters rejected all three.
How many voted?
voting from the Māori roll.
In total across Taranaki, voting in Māori wards was one third lower than the overall turnout.
Half of Māori voters are on the Māori roll – the rest vote on the general roll.
Auckland Council researcher Dr Jesse Allpress found the 11 percentage point turnout gap between Māori and non-māori in Auckland’s parliamentary elections was mirrored in the city’s council elections.
If that’s the case in Taranaki, Māori voting for general wards would be eight percentage points behind the non-māori turnout, or one fifth lower. That’s a bestguess, comparing turnout for Te Tai Hauāuru with New Plymouth, Taranaki-king Country and Whanganui electorates.
There is no data collected on voters’ ethnicity in council elections, so it is impossible to know how many Māori voters are having their say at the local level.
The new Māori wards gave the first insight into turnout and the news wasn’t good: almost threequarters of eligible voters on the
Māori electoral roll didn’t cast a vote. So just over a quarter had their say, despite wide publicity about the new wards.
Five councillors from Māori In South Taranaki, Te Kūrae wards guarantee each council has ward attracted a 27.6%, slightly some representation of Māori ahead of Te Tai Tonga at 26.8 views and interests at the top percent. table. But voters turned their Total turnout in council nose up at Māori candidates for elections is also low – only 39% of the 45 general wards. all voters in South Taranaki
Only two Māori councillors District cast a vote – but the gained a general seat, and one of Māori ward turnout was almost a them was elected unopposed – for third lower (as a proportion of
Te Hāwera ward, where there overall turnout). weren’t enough candidates for a The gap in New Plymouth Councils have never looked like a contested election. District is even bigger. place for Māori leadership, says
So general ward voters picked In Te Purutanga Pūmanawa an expert in Māori and local just one Māori councillor – Mauri ward 28% of those on the government.
Dinnie Moeahu for New Māori electoral roll voted. ‘‘These systems of government Plymouth’s district-wide ward. New Plymouth’s overall were set up to exclude Māori.
Māori are more than 20% of turnout reached 44.3%, leaving They were set up on the premise the Taranaki population, but hold the Māori ward turnout rate 37% that British-informed politics was just 4% of the general seats. The lower. the one and only form of politics five Māori wards take Māori Māori ward councillors for that worked,’’ said Dr Annie Te representation to 14%¯Teaofcouncilstratforddistrictandtaranakione( tiawa, Ngāti Mutunga). seats. No Māori were elected to Region were both elected Te One, a lecturer in Victoria general wards in Stratford unopposed, so there was no University’s Te Kawa o Māui
Representation – how many Māori sit at council tables? Will Māori wards grow the vote?
(Māori Studies), said that exclusion – added to colonisation and land confiscation – created a ‘‘community of Māori who weren’t provided for by both layers of government’’ and so saw no point in voting.
She said that might be overturned by the record number of Māori councillors and mayors elected this year.
‘‘We are looking at a local government like we’ve never seen in Aotearoa before ... with the most Māori leadership we’ve ever seen in this form of governance across the country.’’
‘‘The hope is that those voting stats change as local government starts to look more and more like a space for Māori voices and Māori leadership.’’
Dr Lara Greaves (Ngāpuhi, Pākehā, Tararā) from Auckland University said that change would take a while. The senior lecturer in New Zealand and Māori politics said the new councillors needed to ‘‘go out kanohi to kanohi in the community and really start to build relationships’’.
‘‘Then people have that ‘seen face’, that local member that they get to know – that’s got an educative function and has a longer-term impact on turnout.’’
It might seem that voters who chose to be on the Māori roll would be more politically engaged, but Greaves said that was not straightforward.
‘‘There’s not much to suggest that people on the Māori roll have more political knowledge. They tend to be more pro-treaty and more pro-māori rights, but not necessarily more motivated to vote.’’
And Dr Greaves said other factors worked against taking part in elections.
‘‘One of the big factors we know is increasing inequality, and intergenerational differences in inequality. And that’s exacerbated for Māori.
‘‘Voters tend to be people who live at a stable address, who own their own home, they’re embedded in a geographic community. But especially for rangatahi Māori that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen: the chances of anyone aged under 40 owning a house are quite low.’’
If youth voting is low the Māori turnout is more heavily affected, as the Māori population is structurally much younger.
Both Greaves and Te One agree that civics education in schools, and lowering the voting age, could improve turnout.
There are also other ways to boost Māori representation, such as the Māori liaison committees in New Plymouth and South Taranaki districts, and the iwi appointments to Taranaki Regional Council committees.
The Future of Local Government panel released its draft report last week, suggesting mana whenua appointees could sit alongside elected Māori ward councillors.
Panel chairperson Jim Palmer said while Māori wards were valuable, mana whenua appointees recognised Te Tiriti and allowed for more iwi and hapū involvement in local decision-making.
‘‘We think it’s a more nuanced conversation than just ‘one person, one vote’,’’ Palmer said.