Māori councillors gather for challenging year in face of rampant abuse, ‘decimation’
Friday, 4 April 2025
Māori councilllors and mayors face “rampant” racist attacks from community members, says a Māori councillor and Local Government NZ advocacy group member.
Dinnie Moeahu, who is part of LGNZ’s Te Maruata, says referendums to be held alongside October’s council elections could “decimate” Māori representation.
He spoke to Stuff as more than 70 Māori councillors and mayors meet in Taupō for the annual hui of the rōpū to plan for a challenging year.
“We cop it every day, and that’s part of the challenge - do you have the courage to stand again, knowing it’s going to be even more polarising?” says New Plymouth District councillor Dinnie Moeahu.
Moeahu is one of more than 70 Māori councillors and mayors from around Aotearoa in Taupō for a two-day annual hui of Te Maruata, the Local Government NZ subcommittee advocating for Māori elected members.
The hui is focused on building relationships - whakawhanaungatanga - in an “incredibly challenging” year, but Moehau also warns of emboldened and “rampant” daily abuse against Māori elected members.
Councils must prepare for referendums on Māori wards alongside local government elections later this year - “which based on the last two years is going to be a polarising kaupapa that we’re all going to have to navigate”.
Referendums could “decimate” Māori representation on councils, Moeahu said.
“Our people are nervous so this [hui] is to bring ourselves together, to focus on trying to find solutions.”
It was also, he said, to allow members to enjoy each other’s company in the face of the oncoming mental and emotional toll of referendums on Māori and non-Māori elected members.
He said abuse of Māori councillors was “rampant”.
Māori councillors were fighting to bring communities together and create understanding but were “up against it”, he said.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, you hear stories, very confronting stories, from Māori elected members about the abuses they receive, at times, on the daily.”
Māori elected members faced challenges above and beyond those faced by other councillors, he said, with some people now feeling emboldened to share their real views on Māori.
But “If you want to make change, if you want to make a difference, put your hands up,” Moeahu said, with the hui discussing how to encourage more Māori to stand, and not just in Māori wards.
He said he hoped for a strong turnout of Māori voters at local elections based on the events of the past 20-odd months.
The likes of the proposed Treaty Principles Bill triggered more than 300,000 submissions and saw the historic Hīkoi mō te Tiriti fill the streets of Wellington last year.
Last year, a law change by the coalition Government, forced most councils with Māori wards to either dump them, or put them to a public referendum alongside October 11 council elections.
If dumped by referendum, existing Māori wards would vanish for the 2028 elections.
There are now 37 councils from the Far North to Marlborough set for referendums.
Click on these links to read our series on Māori ward councillors: Pera Paniora on having her seat taken before she could even stand, Kahu Paki Paki on the older voters who want to ‘burn down the house’, Toni Boynton on ‘the Aunties in the room’, and Tilly Turner on bringing ‘home truths’ to Pākehā voters.