Local Government Minister Simeon Brown was responsible for the new legislation covering Māori wards that passed in Parliament recently. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown was responsible for the new legislation covering Māori wards that passed in Parliament recently. Photo / Mark Mitchell
At a recent meeting the council voted to stick to its initial proposal, having a mayor elected at large, 10 councillors (nine general ward councillors and one Māori ward councillor), five wards (four general wards and one district-wide Māori ward), 20 community board members and five community boards for at least the 2025 elections.
At a June meeting the council adopted an initial proposal for a review of representation arrangements with public submissions sought between June 21 and August 2.
Eighty submissions were received on the initial proposal for the representation review, the overall views in the submissions did not heavily support or oppose the initial proposal with 36 (45%) in support and 44 (55%) opposed.
A summary of submission comments showed those opposed said the total current number of councillors was enough and additional representation was not necessary, nor was the cost of an additional councillor.
It was also said communities should have been consulted before the council made the initial proposal decision.
One submitter said the representation arrangements were a contravention of New Zealand’s democratic principles while another said it was a waste of money and unnecessary.
Those submitters who supported the initial proposal said it provided proportional and meaningful representation, respected local identities and was fair, equitable, reasonable and inclusive.
In March the council conducted informal feedback in the form of a survey focusing on the current representation.
Following consideration of the informal feedback, workshops were held to consider the review process and discuss various scenarios.
It followed a unanimous decision by the council to establish a Māori ward or wards for the 2025 and 2028 local elections in October 2023.
That decision triggered a representation review that considered details like how many wards were going to be established and their names, and boundaries.
Māori wards are represented by councillors who sit alongside general ward councillors on the local council. Like their colleagues, they are elected representatives, but only voters enrolled on the Māori electoral roll can vote for them.
Parliament passed a bill late last month changing the rules around how Māori wards are established following an impassioned and fiery debate in the House.
The coalition Government’s Māori wards bill reverted the law back to the old rules for establishing Māori wards which required either a binding referendum on wards that were established since 2020 without a referendum or for the council to scrap the ward.
Thames-Coromandel mayor Len Salt.
Thames-Coromandel mayor Len Salt said under the new legislation, the council would be required to hold a referendum as part of the local body elections next year.
Even if the referendum decided by a majority not to have a Māori ward in Thames-Coromandel, the council would still have a Māori ward in place for the 2025 to 2028 term, after which it would be disestablished, unless there was a change of Government and new legislation was introduced to retains the wards.
“As you can see, we are working in a fluid and uncertain environment, and you have to feel for whoever might be voted into the role as a Māori ward councillor, knowing that as part of the election process in 2025, they might be facing one term and then the position is gone.”
Salt made a verbal submission to the Māori wards bill in June, telling the select committee Thames-Coromandel District Council reconfirmed its opposition to the clauses of the bill that called for polls on the establishment of Māori wards.
“Supporting the establishment of a Māori ward or wards takes nothing away from Pākehā, nothing. In fact, it achieves the exact opposite.
“Talk to any council that has had Māori wards long established; they will tell you that their Māori ward councillors are amongst the hardest working of all their elected members.
“The contribution made by those councillors to their communities outweighs every other consideration, it just works; not a single council I have spoken to with Māori wards has a negative thing to say about the experience, not one.”
The council is scheduled to meet on September 3 to consider the final proposal which would then be publicly notified before another period of appeals and objections, closing October 25.
A public notice of proposal was scheduled for November 1, before appeals, objections and other relevant information would be forwarded to the Local Government Commission, also in November.
