Maori wards referendum results

Both sides of the Maori wards debate are claiming victory following the referendum results. Twenty-four of the forty-two councils that held referenda voted to remove their Maori wards, including the Whangarei District Council and the Northland Regional Council. Eighteen, including the Far North District Council, voted to retain.

The effect is that the WDC and NRC will disestablish their Maori wards at the end of the current three-year term.

John Bain from Democracy Northland said he was pleased that the public had finally had their say on the Maori wards issue.

“The results vindicate the stance we took five years ago when we presented our petitions to the councils. It is a travesty that councillors ignored a petition with more than 15,000 signatures and introduced Maori wards without any regard for public opinion. They should hang their heads in shame and reflect on what it means to be a representative.”

Fomer councillor Paniora guilty of assault

Former Kaipara Maori ward councillor and barrister, Pera Paniora, has pleaded guilty to two charges of assault. She will be sentenced on the 28^th of November.

The assaults took place in a Whangarei shop on the 15^th of September, but suppression orders prevented her from being named during the election campaign.  An application for permanent name suppression has been denied.

Her lawyer is seeking a discharge without conviction. If this is not granted, she could be sentenced to up to six months in jail and/or a maximum fine of $4,000.

Paniora failed to retain a seat on the Council, polling fifth in the Wairoa ward (3 elected). 

She previously worked for WRMK Lawyers in Whangarei, but more recently says she has been developing Te Runanga o Ngati Whatua's Te Taiao department.

Photo credit: Stuff

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.

Candidate views on Maori wards & co-governance

Maori seats and co-governance have come in for attention during the campaign. To find out where each WDC candidate stands on these two issues, LETTERBOX has reviewed candidate campaign material or contacted candidates directly where their position is not mentioned.

We asked two simple questions:

• Do you support or oppose Maori wards? and

• Do you support or oppose co-governance?

Here are the results. 

Maori wards - why are we having a referendum?

 Why? Because the WDC, NRC, and FNDC decided to change the voting system without allowing the public to have a say, and without the public having the right to veto their decision via a binding referendum! The Coalition government is putting that right by forcing all 42 councils that created Maori wards without the veto in place to hold a binding referendum so the public can exercise a fundamental democratic right that some councillors still fail to grasp. 

Maori wards - Keep or remove?

 Keep or remove? That is the question being put to voters.

Supporters see Maori wards as a step towards fulfilling council’s Treaty obligations, and ensuring Maori voices are included in local decision-making.

Opponents of Maori wards see them as undermining universal representation, divisive, or unnecessary.

Snipets from the campaignh trail - Threats and intimidation

Threats and intimidation 

The Maori wards debate has exposed an ugly side to the election campaign. LETTERBOX has spoken to a candidate who has declined an invitation to attend a Marae meeting because the organisers could not guarantee the safety of candidates. The concerns follow a councillor receiving death threats and a threat to “burn their house down” because of comments they made at the time of the hikoi to Wellington. Those threats were referred to the Police.

MURIEL NEWMAN: The State of Local Government

Local Government is in crisis. The numbers tell the story: local authority rates increased 12.2 percent in the 12 months to the March 2025 quarter – a 14 percent contribution to the 2.5 percent annual increase in inflation. As a result of the reckless spending of local authorities, interest rates are staying higher for longer, with all New Zealanders paying the price.

So why have local authorities gone off the rails? 

To answer that question, we need to cast our mind back to the reforms introduced by Helen Clark’s Labour Government. Under the guise of enabling local authorities ‘to better serve their communities’, the Local Government Act 1974, which had kept councils focussed on delivering essential services and maintaining infrastructure, was replaced by the all-empowering Local Government Act 2002.

Maori wards - the Kaipara experience

 

By Frank Newman

The Kaipara District Council stands alone as the only council to disestablish its Maori ward. By doing so, it has avoided the need for the referendum that is about to be held by 42 other councils that introduced Maori wards without obtaining a mandate from the public before doing so.

I spoke with Kaipara District Council Mayor, Craig Jepson, about his experience with their Maori ward and why his council thought disestablishment was the appropriate path to take.

He said that’s an easy question to answer.

“The Maori seats have become radicalised. Our Maori ward councillor continually disrupted and undermined our council. Although she took an oath to work in the best interests of all people, she clearly put the interests of Maori first, at the expense of everyone else.

Wellington watch - Tory Whanau

 Tory Whanau is not seeking re-election as Wellington’s Mayor. Her decision comes after the former (failed) Labour Party leader, Andrew Little, joined the mayoralty race. Whanau will instead run for the Greens in the city’s Māori ward.

When asked how she would rate her mayoralty on a scale of 1 to 10, Whanau rated herself a nine. Few would agree with her. We believe Whanau saw the writing on the wall (“humiliating defeat” in very large letters) so she, and the Greens, decided to bypass the general public and hope for a more sympathetic reception from those registered on the Māori
roll. 

Photo credit: Stuff

464 votes for $135,900 job

 

Tauranga City Council - A by-election in the Te Awanui Māori Ward has attracted attention for the wrong reasons.

Five candidates were in the running for the $135,900 councillor job. The winner received just 464 votes! Only 11.9% of voters on the Māori roll voted in the postal ballot.

In Whangarei, the turnout for the Māori ward in 2022 was just 23.8% (vs 43.3% in the general wards). Of the two candidates elected, Te Pati Māori candidate, Phoenix Ruka, polled the lowest with 889 votes. 

The turnout for the Northland Regional Council Te Raki Māori constituency was 28.6% vs 43.2% in the general constituencies.

The question must be asked: Why have Māori wards when so few Māori choose to vote?

High Court throws out Maori seats challenge

The High Court has tossed out a challenge made by Te Runanga O Ngati Whatua to overturn a decision by the Kaipara District Council (KDC) to “disestablish” its Maori ward. The basis of the claim was that the Council failed to consult with local iwi and hapu before making the decision. They were seeking a declaration from the High Court to that effect.

Part of their argument was “that the Council…failed to consider or give any weight to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi…and the Council’s decisions were not in accordance with tikanga.”

Those arguments failed to impress the judge. He ruled a special consultative process did not apply to a council decision to retain or disestablish the Maori ward, but he found the council “did decide to engage with Kaipara iwi to give them an opportunity to make their views known to Council before the decision was made“, even though it was not required to do so.

MAORI WARDS

A requirement for councils to vote either for or against the retention of their Māori wards has brought mixed results for Northland.

Frank Newman: Councillor shows why Māori wards are not needed

I recently attended a meeting of the Kaipara District Council and was one of several people who spoke during the Public Forum session, which is an opportunity for a member of the public to address councillors on whatever their topic of interest may be.

The topic of interest was a motion to either retain or disestablish the Kaipara’s Māori ward.

I was part of a team from Democracy Northland who in December 2020 set about gathering signations to force the Council of the day to hold a binding referendum. Some months earlier the council had created a Māori ward without consulting the community at large.

The outrage that followed was such that we set about challenging that decision by using the petition right available at the time.

Craig Jepson and Ash Nayyar led the team in Kaipara and did a sterling job. Both subsequently ran for office and were elected, Craig as mayor and Ash as a councillor representing Dargaville.

How they voted - Kaipara District Council - Disestablish the Maori ward

HOW THEY VOTED

"That the Kaipara District Council agrees to disestablish its Māori ward, Te Moananui o Kaipara, and undertakes a shortened representation review for at least the 2025 triennial elections." (Extraordinary council meeting, 7 August 2024)

MAORI WARDS - update

The Maori Ward Amendment Bill has been passed into law.  Councils will now be required to vote to either disestablish Māori wards created after the public petition right was removed by Nanaia Mahuta, or vote to hold a binding referendum at next year’s local body election. They must decide either or.

How councillors vote will be watched closely and published on LETTERBOX website in the “How they Voted” section.

By the time the local body election comes around, we will have a detailed voting record for each councillor so voters can judge the councillors seeking re-election on their actions, not their weasel words.

WDC SHUTS DOOR ON PUBLIC HAVING A SAY ON MAORI WARDS

The Whangarei District Council has again ignored the 15,000 people who signed the petition calling for the public to have a say on Māori Wards. In a submission to the Justice Committee considering legislation that would restore the right of the public to have a say, the WDC said it opposed the amendment. They said:

·         It would damage their relationship with local hapu.

·         Is inconsistent with the Principles of the Treaty, and the council's “obligations to maintain, improve and facilitate opportunities for Maori to contribute to local authority decision-making”.

Councillors Olsen and Yovich asked for their vote against the submission to be noted.

Putting it right - Undoing the wrongs of Nanaia Mahuta

Legislation has been introduced into Parliament to reinstate the right of local communities to have their say on Māori Wards.

The 40 or so local councils who introduced Māori Wards after Nanaia Mahuta removed the petition right, must either disestablish the Māori wards or hold a binding referendum at the time of next year’s local body elections (12 October).

A motion to disestablish Māori wards must be passed by the 6^th of September this year.

If a referendum is held, and a majority of electors vote “No" then their Māori ward(s) would be disestablished at the 2028 local body election.

Submission to Parliament - Māori Wards

 

SUBMISSION: Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill

29 May 2024

Committee Secretariat
Justice Committee
Parliament Buildings
Wellington

Dear Sir, 

Thank you for providing the opportunity to submit on the Local Government (Electoral Legislation and Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill.

We would like to be heard in person.

This submission is on behalf of the Democracy Northland (DN), which was established by John Bain, a former deputy chairman of the Northland Regional Council.

In November 2020 DN initiated petitions pursuant to Section 19ZB of the Local Electoral Act 2001 for three local councils in Northland. They are the Northland Regional Council (NRC), Whangarei District Council (WDC) and the Kaipara District Council (KDC). Each had resolved to introduce Māori wards without prior consultation with the community.

Minister clarifies changes to Maori wards

 

A letter dated 23 April from the Minister of Local Government to our local councils spelled out their options regarding Māori wards. The Northland Regional Council (NRC), Whangarei District Council (WDC), and Kaipara District Council (KDC) all introduced Māori wards without first calling for public input and they ignored petitions signed by some +15,000 people calling on the councils to hold a referendum. 

The Minister has told councils they can address that wrong in one of two ways.