A decision by Hawke's Bay Regional Councillors could see the establishment of Māori wards in time for next year's election. 

Councillors unanimously voted in favour of undertaking community engagement and consultation on a proposal to establish one or more Māori constituencies, including public submissions to enable a substantive decision on whether to establish those constituencies before May 21 this year. 

In doing so, they revoked a majority decision to put the question to the public in a poll at the next election.

However, unlike last year's meeting which was fraught with emotion, and saw tears and walk-outs by Tangata Whenua, councillors remained rather restrained, and tight-lipped on their opinions during the brief discussion this afternoon.

But the councillors' silence on where they stand drew criticism from Māori Standing Committee co-chair Michael Paku, who questioned where their guidance is. 

"I appreciate what the motion signals but I think the one thing that is missing from it and it's not something I'm going to lose any sleep over at this point in time is really a clear indication from councillors themselves as to whether they believe there should be Māori wards established." 

While he understood it needed to go out to the community, he felt the options put forward to council were driven by council officers rather than by the councillors. He said the feelings of the Māori community have been "well expressed" numerous times in regards to the desire to see the establishment of Māori wards. 

"I understand there's politics at play here, I understand we're trying to reach a consensus amongst councillors but also there has to be some leadership as well. There's an obligation for you to give direction, not only to the Māori community but to the wider community on what is your position. I think I'll leave it there."

The topic was tabled at the latest Hawke's Bay Regional Council meeting in response to the Local Electoral (Māori wards and Māori constituencies) Amendment Bill currently before Parliament. 

This bill seeks to amend the Local Electoral Act 2001 to improve Māori representation in local government. It aims to do this by removing provisions in the Act that allow for the use of binding polls in the decision to establish Māori wards or constituencies. 

Currently, council decisions to create Māori seats or wards can be overturned if a binding referendum, which can be forced by a petition of 5 per cent of voters, is held. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta said the polls create an “almost insurmountable barrier” to creating Māori wards, a process fundamentally unfair to Māori.

Four options were put before councillors. However, a recommendation jointly crafted by councillors was tabled.

Napier councillor Martin Williams said the motion was the benefit of advice from council staff, and "considerable" discussion with his colleagues on this topic over the past few months.

"There is a clear direction of travel here and the motion is based on option two in the paper but is more deliberate in its terms.

"No decision could be more significant than a change to our constitutional make-up as a council and so the proposal demands consultation regardless of how firm and clear the recommendations of our Māori committee are," Williams said.

Māori Standing Committee co-chair Michelle McIlroy said they were "already outnumbered" with about 26,000 Māori on the electoral roll comparatively. 

"This isn't a race-based decision, this is a treaty-based decision and again we're outnumbered so we're going to go through submissions and if the Māori select committee submissions are anything to go by they were pretty stomach-turning for Tangata Whenua to view.

"We'll see where this goes but in the end, you've got to make a decision... Are we going to have Māori wards or are we not?" She said a yes vote signals a vote for equality and treaty partnerships.

In response to Paku's comments, deputy chair Rick Barker said they have thought about it "very carefully". 

"...But if you noticed, councillors have been very restrained with what they've said today and done so deliberately and thoughtfully because we are going to enter into a period of consultation that we want the public to be aware that we're going to enter into this open-mindedly.

"We all have our thoughts about this but we want to have a fair, open, transparent process of consultation and so we'll go through that and at that point, we'll come to the deliberation at that point we'll have to make a decision." 

It would allow for four weeks of consultation, at an estimated cost of about $15,000.

If a decision was made to establish one or more Māori constituencies, council would be required to immediately initiate a formal Representation Review process at an estimated cost of about $20,000 - this could be brought forward from the 2023-24 budgets into the 2021-22 financial year budgets.

Chairman Rex Graham opted not to take questions on the paper, but rather go straight into the recommendation.

Tags

• News