Hawke's Bay Regional councillor Martin Williams said while he did not vote at last week's meeting he supported Cr Hinewai Ormsby's motion. Photo / File
Hawke's Bay Regional councillor Martin Williams said while he did not vote at last week's meeting he supported Cr Hinewai Ormsby's motion. Photo / File
Emotions ran high at a Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting last week where councillors narrowly decided to have the public decide on the question of Māori seats - but not all councillors had their say.
Last Thursday, Hawke's Bay Today reported that Councillor Martin Williams was one of four councillors who opposed a resolution put forward by Cr Hinewai Ormsby to have the public decide on the question of Māori seats.
But Williams - who appeared at the council meeting via Zoom from the Environment Court in Whitianga - did not vote at all, having dropped out of the call as the meeting ran over time.
He said the court hearing had been set down months before the conflicting council meeting was called and was reflective of the "rushed" process.
The "indecent haste" with which the council meeting was timetabled was to meet a statutory deadline for a decision by November 30, if Māori seats were to be in place by 2022.
"The trouble is this decision was sprung on us, as it would have been on our communities.
"We were literally flying blind."
He said this left councillors little time to consult their constituents or explain why it was important for Māori to have a dedicated seat and voting powers at the table.
"Ultimately, we will be better placed as a region to confront the many challenges ahead with the place of Māori secured at the governance table, as Treaty partner."
A strong supporter of Māori seats, he said "impassioned pleas" from Māori standing committee co-chairs Mike Paku and Michelle McIlroy made him want to vote in favour of the seats.
However, to do so without having engaged with the wider community could very likely have triggered a referendum in 2021, which he was concerned would overturn this decision and set the debate back a decade.
"If the original motion had passed this would have been a lightning rod for a divisive debate, and one which our communities had no prior warning was coming."
That's why he said he would have changed his position to support Cr Ormsby's motion had he been present for the vote, as allowing more time for community engagement was "the right way to do the right thing".
Cr Hinewai Ormsby stood by her motion to have the public decide coupled with strong engagement as the best way to get Māori seats on the council. Photo / File
Williams said she had been placed in a difficult position, but had shown courage and integrity beyond measure.
"To show restraint out of respect for the views of all communities you represent, no matter what your heart is saying, even yelling at you to do.
"Certainly, at what some of your own people are yelling at you to do.
"She should not have been placed in that unenviable position."
Also appearing via Zoom, having left the meeting early to catch a flight, Ormsby faced harsh criticism from some fellow councillors and others in the room.
"I do feel for those in the room who felt we were a failure," she said.
"I was disappointed with how it unfolded."
However, she stood by her motion as the best way to bring people with them in the journey to get Māori seats.
She said the upset reflected a lack of information and the rushed process.
"I could feel how upset they were, but that's the result of not being able to inform tangata whenua and the public about what the options were that day.
Personally supportive of Maori decision-making on the council, she was excited for the pathway forward, engaging with the community and advocating Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta reform the Local Electoral Act.
She thanked whānau, constituents and tangata whenua who had offered her support.
