Story: Māori representation
Page 5 – Local body representation
Historic under-representation
The increasing number of Māori MPs under mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) led to debate about the relatively few Māori elected to local bodies. Until Ray Ahipene-Mercer’s election in 2000, Wellington City Council had had only one other Māori councillor, in the 1960s. In 2001 Ahipene-Mercer was reported to be one of just 20 Māori local-body politicians, out of a total of more than 1,000. In the 2007 local government elections, less than 5% of successful candidates were Māori, despite Māori forming 14% of the population.
Ralph Love
In the 1962 local body elections, Mākere Rangiātea Love, known as Ralph, was elected to Wellington City Council. His nephew, Peter Love, was elected to Petone Borough Council. Ralph Love worked as private secretary for the MP Eruera Tirikātene, and later for Tirikātene’s daughter, MP Whetū Tirikātene-Sullivan. In 1965 he became mayor of Petone. He was knighted in 1987.
Local Government Electoral Amendment Act 2002
The Local Government Electoral Amendment Act 2002 allowed local bodies to adopt measures ‘to recognise and respect the Crown’s responsibility to take appropriate account of the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi and to maintain and improve opportunities for Māori to contribute to local government decision-making processes’.
Māori seats
Dedicated Māori seats elected by those on the Māori parliamentary roll are one means to increase Māori participation and share power in local government without compromising democratic principles. By 2011, however, few councils had adopted that approach and many regional and city councils had no Māori members at all. One exception was the Bay of Plenty Regional Council which, in 2004, introduced Māori seats elected by voters on the Māori electoral roll. The three Māori seats on the 13-member council roughly equated with the region’s Māori population of 27.5%.
Pursuing Māori representation
In a March 2011 letter to New Zealand local authorities, Joris De Bres, the race relations commissioner, asked ‘that your Council this year consider the option of establishing Māori seats or constituencies … Māori constituencies have been operating successfully in Environment Bay of Plenty since the 2004 elections. They were also recommended by the Royal Commission on Auckland Governance for the new Auckland Council, although the Government instead opted for a Statutory Board. … I would ask that as a first step, the Council engages with local tangata whenua on the issue, in order to ascertain their preferences.’1
Auckland super city
The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance (2009) recommended the establishment of three elected Māori seats on the new Auckland Council. Two would be for ngā mataa waka – urban Māori (80% of Auckland’s Māori population) and one for mana whenua – local Auckland tribes (20% of Auckland Māori). There were then no Māori on either Auckland City Council or Auckland Regional Council. Just 10 of 250 members of all local bodies in the area were Māori.
The National government rejected the proposal for Māori seats, but after much lobbying from Māori agreed to establish a nine-member statutory Māori advisory board. A committee comprising mana whenua nominated seven mana whenua representatives and two ngā mataa waka representatives. These were endorsed by the minister of Māori affairs and accepted by cabinet. Critics questioned the disproportion between local tribes and urban Māori. The new Māori advisory board had two representatives with voting rights on 11 of 18 council committees. This surprised many, who had assumed that their role would be entirely advisory. However, other non-councillor members of committees also held voting rights. In 2011 Auckland mayor Len Brown signalled his support for the establishment of Māori seats.
Prospects for increased representation
In 2010 the Human Rights Commission surveyed councils on whether they had considered Māori seats. The survey found that the Whakatāne District Council had held a referendum on Māori seats as part of the 2007 elections and 30% were in favour. The Far North District Council had signalled its support in principle for Māori seats, and it intended to revisit the issue in 2011.
In December 2010 the National-led government announced that it would be conducting a wide-ranging review of New Zealand’s constitutional arrangements, including matters related to Māori representation: the Māori electoral option, Māori electoral participation and Māori seats in Parliament and local government. The review was to be led by Deputy Prime Minister Bill English and Minister of Māori Affairs (and Māori Party co-leader) Pita Sharples.
