John MacDonald: Why all the fuss over Māori wards?

Some things should never be put to a vote. Because, if they were, nothing would happen. Nothing would change. 

I’m not the only one who knows this. The Government knows it too. That’s why it’s telling local councils that, if they want to set-up a separate ward for Māori voters, they have to have a public referendum first. 

The councils are telling the Government to butt out. And I agree with them. 

Similar to Māori parliamentary seats, Māori wards establish areas where those on the Māori electoral roll can vote for their own representatives on the local council. 

But the Government doesn’t want a bar of that. Which is why it’s saying to councils ‘if you want a Māori ward, put it to the vote first. Find out if it’s what the people want before you go ahead and do it.’   

It’s even telling councils that already have Māori wards that they can only keep them if they go to their ratepayers and ask for their approval.  

Not surprisingly, the councils are pushing back. As they should. Sam Broughton is the head of Local Government New Zealand, which is the outfit that represents local councils. 

He’s saying today that, before the election, National talked a big game about local control for local councils and all of that. Much of that was to do with control over water assets. 

But Sam Broughton is saying, now that it’s in government, it seems to be a different story. With this big edict coming from the Local Government Minister Simeon Brown.  

And you know why the Government’s doing this, don’t you? It’s because it knows that, when councils do that —when they have these referenda— the Māori wards will be gone by lunchtime. Which is exactly what coalition partners ACT and New Zealand First want. 

And here’s how I know that any referendum on Māori wards would give the Government exactly what it wants. 

17.3%. That’s the proportion of New Zealand’s overall population that is estimated to be Māori.  

You often hear people banging on about Māori being 15% of the population. But the latest numbers from Stats NZ say it’s 17.3%. 

But the numbers that really show why any referendum on Māori wards would be a disaster for anyone who thinks they’re a good idea, is the pitiful number of people who actually give a damn about local government. 

And that’s measured by voter turnout or participation in local body elections. It’s pathetic. 

In the last elections, there was a record low turnout. In Christchurch, 10.9% of eligible voters bothered to take part. It was even worse elsewhere. 

In Auckland, turnout was 8.8%. Wellington 4.9%. Taupo 3.9%. 

What’s more, according to data from the New Zealand Electoral Commission, the entire Māori voting roll was just over 10% of the voting population in 2020. So, you mix all those numbers together, you're not going to get a lot of people taking part in these referendums and even less voting in favour of Māori wards.      

And I’m going to go a bit unscientific on it here, and I’m going to pick that the majority of those people who do even bother taking part - because, remember, these will happen at the same time as local body elections, which most people can’t be bothered with - I'm going to pick that the vast majority of people who do vote in these referendums, will be the types who think Māori wards are "an attack on democracy".  

The types who like to bang on about Māori having just as much of an opportunity as the next person to put their hand up and stand for election. The types who go on about Māori being a minority who want to run roughshod over everything as if they’re the majority. 

So, it’s obvious, isn’t it, that if we’re going to have to have a referendum every time a local council gets an idea in its head about having a Māori ward, then it’s going to go nowhere.  

But what’s to be sacred of? In my mind, there’s absolutely nothing to be scared of.  

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