Two candidates are contesting South Wairarapa council’s first Maori Ward election – at the same time as a special referendum vote is being held at the direction of central government on whether to abolish the newly-minted ward.
You read that right. History was made with the approval of a Maori ward in South Wairarapa in 2023.
The new question: will that action be confirmed by local voters, or undone?
One voter with a finger on the local pulse told
The Star: “They will decline it, collectively. That’s what I gather, unless they’re telling me porkies.”
In an open letter to council, eight local Maori groups and all three community boards urged “SWDC to stand alongside us as our Treaty partners, to stand by their previous decision.”
The “previous decision” was a vote by the current (out-going) council in November 2023 to include a Maori ward alongside the three general wards that sit at the council’s decision-making table, taking to 10 the number of councillors.
Then central government passed the Local Government Amendment Bill – a law requiring newly-minted Maori wards be subject to a formal public referendum vote at the 2025 October local body elections – thus undercutting the local decision to enhance Maori participation.
Nationwide, some 44 district councils had voted to include Maori wards, all of which have been overturned by the new law.
The October local body elections will see 42 of those councils hold the referenda required to confirm whether their districts retain Maori wards – each costing ratepayers from $20,000 upwards (depending on district size). Two councils, Upper Hutt and
Far North, decided to scrap their earlier Maori
ward decisions.
SWDC took six years of sporadic considerations, including a “No” vote in 2021, before it changed tack and approved a Maori ward for the district.
In a report to council in November 2023, officials noted that not creating a Maori ward and relying on Maori candidates standing in general wards was
“no guarantee that a Māori councillor will be elected. It would mean a “lost opportunity to further Māori participation in decision-making.”
“Lack of Māori representation increases the likelihood that council decision-making does not reflect the views and outcomes sought by Māori.”
It would do further “damage to the Council/Iwi relationship – as council (was) not demonstrating its commitment to developing meaningful partnerships with local iwi to participation, protection, and practice under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.”
This election, candidates for “Te Karu o Te Ika a Maui (The eye of Maui’s fish)” South Wairarapa Maori ward are Whitu Karauna and Andrea Rutene.
The question for the Maori ward referendum poll:
I vote to KEEP Māori wards
I vote to REMOVE Māori wards.
The outcome of the poll will bind the Council
for the 2028 and 2031 elections. No matter the outcome, the new Māori ward will remain in place until the 2028 election.
Voters will also vote whether to KEEP or REMOVE Greater Wellington Regional Council’s Māori constituency.
