Support for Maori wards ‘overwhelming’
And Whanganui Mayor wants iwi voice on committees
Maori voters who responded to a Horizons Regional Council survey overwhelmingly support bringing in Maori wards next year. Councillors have been given the results of a Horizons survey mailed to nearly 18,500 individuals on the Maori electoral roll who are enrolled to vote in the Horizons region ahead of a vote at tomorrow’s council meeting.
Ninety-six per cent of the responses were in favour of the regional council establishing Maori constituencies in time for next year's local body elections.
The survey was also publicly available for completion online. Most responses were received from people enrolled on the Maori electoral roll, and more than 90 per cent were residents or ratepayers in the region.
Overall, 1649 responses were received, showing that 1472 people support introducing Maori wards in the Horizons region in 2022, and 152 oppose.
A significant majority (95.5 per cent) of the responses from Maori on either the Maori or the general roll want Maori wards.
Of the 170 non-Maori who completed the survey, just over half (86 people) did not want Maori wards.
The council also received two letters outside of the survey opposing Maori constituencies, and staff also received feedback by phone and in person from people expressing concerns, including that the survey had been sent to voters on the Maori roll only.
Horizons regional councillor Nicola Patrick, who has advocated strongly for Maori wards, says councillors wanted to hear directly from those who would most be affected.
“The survey results are pretty clear. There's overwhelming positive support for Maori wards from those most affected, those on the Maori roll.
“I remember when we discussed this as a council we said we were going to put a lot of weight on that feedback.
“It will be really interesting to see our discussion on Wednesday and we really don't have long to wait to see the outcome of whether we're going ahead or not.''
The council also emailed 23 iwi and hapu chairs to inform them of the council's decision to consider establishing Maori representation and ask for their views.
Letters of support were received
from Rangitane o Manawatu, Maniapoto Maori Trust Board and Te Kotahitanga o Ngati Tuwharetoa.
Horizons will consider the results at its meeting in Palmerston North on Wednesday.
McDouall wants iwi on committees
Meanwhile, Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall is looking to make good on his intention to have iwi representation on Whanganui District Council’s three main committees.
He said the aim was to improve Maori participation in decisionmaking at the council table whether Maori wards were brought in or not, and representation with speaking and voting rights will be an advancement.
“In 2019 when I got re-elected I stood on the Opera House stage and I said I want iwi representation on the three main committees of council within this term.
“I’ve been talking to iwi leaders about how we’d do that successfully, how we’d get iwi representation with speaking and voting rights on our joint committees.
“I’ve got a model that I hope will work and I’ll be socialising that with iwi leaders.”
McDouall said he was looking to make headway on the plan in August-September.
In the meantime, Mori wards were still on the drawing board.
McDouall said he would write to local runanga to ask for their up-todate position on establishing Maori seats for the council.
He said two years ago, after the council’s last six-yearly representation review, the clear message was that Maori wards weren’t needed.
“We are happy to consider Maori wards if it’s the view of tangata whenua, and that’s all three iwi in the rohe: Nga Rauru, Ngati Apa, Whanganui iwi.
“If there was a clear direction we’d absolutely vote on a Maori ward,” he said.