Editorial: Maori voices needed

Maori Party MP Te Ururoa Flavell. Photo / Stephen Parker

As the Rotorua District Council tries to decide how best Maori can be represented on the local council, there are renewed calls in national politics to scrap Maori wards.

New Zealand now has more Maori MPs in Parliament than ever before.

Nineteen Maori MPs have been elected in general electorates and on party lists.

Once the seven Maori seats are included, the total number of MPs who identify as Maori is 26 - up from 21 in 2011. This has got to be exciting news for Maori as it means Maori are now one in five MPs in the new Parliament, compared with one in seven in the general population. Maori are clearly taking up the challenge to be better represented and are getting elected. But we must be careful that we aren't just counting the brown faces instead of the brown hearts.

Former Alliance MP and Maori commentator Willie Jackson has rightly pointed out it means little unless those Maori MPs fight for Maori interests.

"It's only a victory if they take a pro-Maori position with their work. You could have 50 Maoris in there but if they don't act like Maori and don't work along kaupapa Maori lines and advance Maori position it's absolutely meaningless," Mr Jackson said.

At a local level, we are currently deciding how best Maori can have a say on the council. Maori wards is one suggestion but it is likely to struggle to gain support - not only in the wider community but within the council (our longest serving councillor, who is also Maori, Trevor Maxwell, has already publicly said he wouldn't support such a move). As this discussion takes place, the council's Te Arawa Standing Committee is in recess.

While it's important to carefully look at the options, the longer it takes, the longer Maori aren't fully represented.