South Wairarapa voters retained the district’s newly-minted Māori Ward seat at the local body election, honouring the historic commitment of the out-going council to add a formal Māori voice to council affairs.
The district’s voters opted to retain the Māori Ward with 2,911 for and 2,291 against a 52 percent vote in favour of retention, a 41 percent remove vote and 7 percent invalid votes.
Andrea Rutene won the Māori Ward seat with 119 votes, Whitu Karauna gained 75 of the total 194 valid votes cast.
Across the region, Māori Ward voting results were mixed. In Tararua, Keshaan Te Waaka (335) was elected to the Tāmaki nui-a-Rua Māori Ward. But 3,576 of voters (54%) supported removing the Māori ward after one term, while just 3,049 voted to keep it.
Masterton/Whakaoriori Māori Ward voters elected Waireka Collings (490); while Marama Tuuta polled 167.
The poll saw Masterton vote to retain a Māori Ward by 4,663 (50%) with votes to remove the Māori Ward totalling 4,229 (45%). The rest were invalid.
Carterton voted not to have a Māori Ward in its last term and was not required to hold a referendum.
Nationwide, Māori Ward referenda results were mixed, with six of the seven cities which held referenda voting to retain Māori Wards, an 86% approval.
That reversed in smaller districts across the country, with 25 of the 42 councils voting to remove Māori Wards and just 17 districts (40%) retaining Māori Ward seats at council tables.
In total, 27 councils have now chosen to scrap Māori Wards, after Kaipara and Upper Hutt voted to remove theirs ahead of the 2025 local elections.
The margin between yay and nay Māori Ward votes varied widely across regions. Wellington City Council saw 49,430 people vote “yes” and 23,787 vote “no,” a difference of 25,643. Greater Wellington Regional Council saw 104,625 back Māori Wards and 61,786 vote against, a difference of 42,839.
Former National Party leader Don Brash, who campaigned against Māori wards through the Hobson’s Pledge group, was disappointed by the outcome.
“We would’ve preferred all the councils … to throw them out,” he told Newsroom. “When we did the referendums some five or six years ago, everyone resulted in them being thrown out with the single exception of Wairoa.”
Hobson’s Pledge will now campaign against the Māori seats in Parliament.
Rob Smith, of Te Tiriti Is Us told Newsroom he took heart from the nationwide majority in favour of retention despite the losses at individual councils. “I had a little fear that we could’ve gone back to before 2020 when we only had one Māori Ward and now, we have 17 – all voted for and kept by the people who have got them.”
In South Wairarapa, the council will convene with only three of its members, Colin Olds, Martin Bosley, Aidan Ellims returned by voters. New mayor Fran Wilde and another seven newcomers; Collier Isaacs, Simone Baker, Rachel Clarke, Rupert Watson,
Rob Taylor, Chris Archer and Andrea Rutene complete the picture.
Only Kaikoura (60.85%) and McKenzie (60.43%) saw more voters cast a ballot than South Wairarapa 59.13% in the nationwide balloting stakes.
