Poll result goes against Māori wards

Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber. Photo / File

Progress results of a binding poll show Western Bay of Plenty District Council electors have voted against Māori representation around the council table.

In November 2017, the majority of councillors (9 for, 3 against) voted to establish one or more Māori wards as part of a six-yearly representation review that legally required the council to consider Māori representation.

A valid independent petition from more than five per cent of Western Bay District electors who opposed the move was handed to the council in February 2018, requiring a poll.

As a result, a poll, which involved voting papers being sent to all eligible electors on both the General and Māori Parliamentary Electoral Rolls, opened on Friday April 27 and closed at midday today.

Progress results (approximately 98 per cent of votes counted) show electors do not want Māori wards in the Western Bay. Voter turnout was around 40 per cent of eligible electors.

• 21.5 per cent of electors who voted were for Māori wards
• 78.2 per cent of electors who voted were against Māori wards

Western Bay of Plenty Mayor Garry Webber accepted the result.

"In announcing its decision in November last year, the council acknowledged that not everyone would agree. We were also clear that due process, which included the call for a poll, would be followed and the result of that process respected.

"Today's result, which is binding for the 2019 and 2022 elections, is clear, so it's time for the council to move on with the rest of the representation review."

Final results would be available on Monday, once all valid special votes had been counted.

The official public notice of final results would be published on May 23.

The next phase of the representation review focused on whether current representation arrangements (Mayor, 11 Councillors, three wards, five community boards and 20 community board members), provided for fair and effective representation, or if changes could be made to improve the district's representation.

The council was considering feedback and would go back to the community with an initial proposal for future representation arrangements in the second half of 2018.