Two of Northland’s four councils are holding on to their new Māori wards for next year’s local elections despite likely having to spend thousands polling their communities.
The other two are remaining tight-lipped about their moves on Māori wards.
This comes as the parliamentary justice select committee, which received 10,614 submissions on the Government’s proposed Māori ward law change, released its report on Friday.
Northland councils and Māori leaders were among the many Te Tai Tokerau select committee submitters.
The committee’s report recommended in favour of the Government’s push to reintroduce a Māori wards polling requirement and “all proposed legislative amendments”.