WDC Mayor accepts referendum result, but...

 

In a statement made to the Bream Bay News (23 October 2025), Mayor Ken Couper said, “He would be respecting the result of the referendum where the majority of voters in the Whangarei District said they wanted the Council to discontinue its Maori ward, but he would be looking for other ways to strengthen the relationship with these groups.”

Having voted both for the Maori ward and against giving the public a say, we appreciate Ken Couper would be disappointed that voters have rejected his position. However, it is completely unacceptable that he now intends to disregard the clear public will and pursue 'other ways' to ensure Maori influence at the council table. We would not be surprised if he intends to appoint unelected iwi representatives with full voting rights to council committees.

Now that Ken is in charge, perhaps he can finally address the council’s chronic resource-consent problems. The same issue of the Bream Bay News carried a letter highlighting the problem: what should have been a straightforward subdivision took 23 months and cost the applicant an extra $16,000 in fees, simply to supply information the council already held or needed because of its own mistakes.  

Here's the full letter: