![](https://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/infographics/3197/LDR_BYLINE_DIGITAL.jpg)
A Whanganui iwi leader and employment relations mediator has cautioned Māori considering standing for Māori wards and other local government roles to be wary of burnout or being "smashed over by the system".
Ken Mair, an employment relations mediator for nearly 40 years, says he has continually and consistently seen severe burnout among hundreds of Māori teachers, police and corrections iwi liaison officers, iwi liaison officers and others who have worked alone in entities where they are isolated, outnumbered or expected to lead and fill every Māori component or role.
"I've seen immense burnout and isolation of our people who are a minority in a majority of Pākeha.
"Their passion, their innovation is squashed by the system because the schools or the corrections or the police or other government agencies or councils have just subsumed them into the system and they've become lost – or become so unwell that they're forced out of the roles that they went in to do."