Cops at the door, councillor’s head in hands as Māori ward dumped

Wednesday, 7 August 2024

Kaipara District Council has voted 6-3 to scrap its Māori ward, the first council in the country to do so.

Around 200 protesters were waiting at the council’s Mangawhai venue as councillors arrived, led by mana whenua Ngāti Whātua.

But their presence wasn't enough to save the ill-fated ward which will fade from existence at the next local body elections in 2025.

Pera Paniora, the first and only Māori ward councillor for Kaipara, put her hand to her head and closed her eyes as the count was completed.

Mana whenua and Pākehā protesters alike were forced back by police outside the council chambers. Now, as the votes were counted, it was over - just as the ward was starting.

Kaipara’s first and currently last Māori ward councillor, Paniora says the day her seat became extinct had its own silver lining: and that was kotahitanga.

Paniora spoke after her council - guarded against protesters by police at the council door - became the first in Aotearoa to dump its Māori ward after a new law returning binding polls on ward decisions passed last week.

After the 6-3 vote to ditch her seat from the table, Paniora said the decision wasn’t unexpected, but there were still some positives.

“Its been a hard fought morning…today is a good day because its brought us all together, its brought our iwi, our whānau, united.”

It was unfortunate the ratepayers had to “bear the burden” of the cost of ditching the ward, Paniora said.

Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua filed judicial proceedings on Wednesday morning against the council’s move to dump the Māori ward, saying there had not been enough time allowed for consultation with mana whenua.

Paniora said legal fees would cost between $25,000 to $50,000, on top of the $25,000 it would cost to disestablish the ward.

“So the the councillors have voted to disestablish the Maori wards. Even in light of the protest here outside in light of the high court proceedings for a judicial review and in light of the injunction that will be filed tomorrow to stop that representation review going ahead,” she said.

The vote to remove the Māori ward was spearheaded by mayor Craig Jepson.

He called the extraordinary meeting, and was backed in the eventual vote by deputy mayor Jonathan Larsen and councillors Gordon Lambeth, Mike Howard, Ron Manderson and Ash Nayyar.

Paniora, along with councillors Eryn Wilson-Collins and Mark Vincent, voted to retain the ward, Cr Rachael Williams abstained.

About 200 protesters, Māori and Pākehā, led by mana whenua Ngāti Whātua and Northland iwi Ngātiwai, made their feelings loud and clear, some calling for Jepson to resign.

A vocal critic of Māori wards, Jepson was seen arguing with Māori ward councillor Pera Paniora before the meeting even began.

The decision means the Māori ward will be dropped from the next election, in 2025.

Democracy Northland spokesperson John Bain congratulated the council for calling the meeting and said it was important that everyone got the same vote, and voted for the same councillors.

In the past few years, New Zealand has gone from having three councils with Māori wards to 49 councils that either have them already, or planned to have them at the 2025 elections.

Over previous two decades, 24 councils attempted to create Māori wards under the old Local Electoral Act 2001, with only two decisions surviving. Unlike other types of wards, Māori wards could be overturned by community-initiated votes (also called referendums, or polls).

The 2021 law passed by the previous government removed the polls.

The coalition government’s amendment to the Local Electoral Act last week returned the ability to trigger the polls, but also forced councils to either vote to drop the wards themselves from the next election, or put them to a binding poll.

Under the new law councils have until September 6 to decide which option to take.

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said the debate around Māori wards felt like the country was taking a step backwards.

“This is the sort of division, this is the sort of polarizing debate that this Government seemed to be courting and seemed to be encouraging.”

Kaipara’s Māori ward was established in October 2022.

After the decision was made, Paniora walked outside to the waiting crowd to give them the news they had not wanted to hear.

As she spoke, the crowd chanted: “Ka whawhai tonu mātou, ake ake ake” (we will fight on for ever and ever).