The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Act is an
Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
which eliminates mechanisms for holding public referendums on the establishment of
Māori wards and constituencies Māori wards and constituencies refer to wards and constituencies on urban, district, and regional councils in New Zealand that represent local constituents registered on the Māori parliamentary electoral roll vote. Like Māori electorates within t ...
on local bodies. The Act was supported by the
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
,
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
and
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
parties but opposed by the opposition
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
and
ACT parties. National attempted to delay the bill by mounting a twelve-hour-long
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
challenging all of the Act's ten clauses.
Background
The existing
Local Electoral Act 2001
The Local Electoral Act 2001 is an Act of the New Zealand Parliament that provides for the regulation of local body elections in New Zealand, which entails provisions relating to the timing of local elections and other forms of rules surroun ...
allowed local referendums (or polls) to overturn the decision of an elected local or regional council to introduce a Māori ward. Just five percent support was needed for a local poll to be held.
Polls were almost always demanded when councils agreed to introduce Māori wards and only a single poll, in Wairoa, confirmed the establishment of a Māori ward. Opponents of the polls, including
Local Government New Zealand
Local Government New Zealand Te Kahui Kaunihera ō Aotearoa (LGNZ) is the local government association of New Zealand. It represents the interests of the regional, city, and district councils in New Zealand.
History
The Association was for ...
president
Dave Cull
David Charles Cull (1 April 1950 – 27 April 2021) was the mayor of the city of Dunedin in New Zealand. He became the 57th Mayor of Dunedin in October 2010 and was re-elected in both the 2013 mayoralty race and 2016 mayoral election. Before ...
and
New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd
Andrew Judd is a New Zealand local government politician and activist. He won the mayoralty of New Plymouth from one-term incumbent Harry Duynhoven with a resounding 9,206 vote majority in 2013 and served one term before announcing he would not s ...
, had maintained that the existence of polls on Māori wards but not other representation arrangements was discriminatory and harmful to race relations. A legislative attempt to outlaw Māori ward polls in 2017 was unsuccessful.
In mid-2018, local councils' efforts to introduce Māori wards in
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
,
Western Bay of Plenty,
Whakatāne
Whakatāne ( , ) is the seat of the Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, east of Tauranga and north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatāne River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, whi ...
,
Manawatu, and
Kaikōura
Kaikōura () is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1, 180 km north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of (as of ).
The town is the government ...
had been defeated at local referendums.
By November 2020, nine further councils had agreed to introduce Māori wards or constituencies in
Gisborne,
Kaipara,
New Plymouth
New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...
,
Ruapehu,
South Taranaki
South Taranaki is a territorial authority on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island that contains the towns of Hāwera (the seat of the district), Manaia, Ōpunake, Patea, Eltham, and Waverley. The District has a land area of 3,575.46&nbs ...
,
Tauranga
Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...
,
Taupō
Taupō (), sometimes written Taupo, is a town on the north-eastern shore of Lake Taupō, New Zealand's largest lake, in the central North Island. It is the largest urban area of the Taupō District, and the second-largest urban area in the Wai ...
,
Whangārei
Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. It is part of the Whangarei District, Whangārei District, a local body created in 1989 from the former Whangārei City, Whangārei County and ...
and the
Northland Region
The Northland Region ( mi, Te Tai Tokerau) is the northernmost of New Zealand's 16 local government regions. New Zealanders sometimes refer to it as the Winterless North because of its mild climate all throughout the year. The main population ...
. In response to the council decisions, lobby groups
Hobson's Pledge
Hobson's Pledge is a right-winghttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/15126/02_whole.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y lobby group in New Zealand that was formed in late September 2016 to oppose equitable measures for Māori people. It is ...
and Democracy Northland began organising poll demand petitions in some communities including Tauranga and Northland. While a valid petition was eventually received in Tauranga, it was ultimately invalidated by the law change.
In early December 2020, advocacy group ActionStation and Māori ward campaigners Toni Boynton and Danae Lee collected 10,000 signatures calling for Parliament to eliminate legislation allowing referendums on Māori wards on local and regional councils. A previous petition "to make the establishment of Māori wards on district councils follow the same legal framework as establishing other wards on district councils," which had been organised by Judd, was considered by parliament's justice committee between 2016 and 2019. However, the committee was divided between Labour and National members and could not agree how to proceed.
Legislation
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill seeks to align the treatment of Māori wards and constituencies with the treatment of general wards and constituencies; eliminate all mechanisms for binding polls to be held on the establishment of Māori wards and polls; and provide
local bodies with the opportunity to make decisions on Māori wards and constituencies prior to the local body elections scheduled for 2022.
To achieve these policy goals, the Local Electoral Amendment Bill repeals:
#the provisions in the
Local Electoral Act 2001
The Local Electoral Act 2001 is an Act of the New Zealand Parliament that provides for the regulation of local body elections in New Zealand, which entails provisions relating to the timing of local elections and other forms of rules surroun ...
relating to polls on the establishment of Māori wards and Māori constituencies;
#prohibits local councils from initiating binding polls on whether to establish Māori wards or Māori constituencies (while retaining the right of councils to initiate non-binding polls to gauge public sentiment); and
#establishes a transition period ending on 21 May 2021 in which any local authorities may establish Māori wards or Māori constituencies for the 2022 local elections.
Legislative history
First reading
On 1 February 2021, Minister of Local Government
Nanaia Mahuta
Nanaia Cybele Mahuta (born 21 August 1970) is a New Zealand politician who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hauraki-Waikato and serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (New Zealand), Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Sixth Labour Governm ...
announced that the New Zealand Government would be introducing legislation to uphold local councils' decisions to establish Māori wards.
On 7 February, ''
The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...
'' reported that the Government would introduce the Local Electoral Amendment Bill under urgency on 9 February. In response, the opposition
National Party leader
Judith Collins
Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...
confirmed that her party would oppose the new legislation, claiming that New Zealanders had not been properly consulted.
The Bill passed its first reading at the
New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
on 9 February by a margin of 77:41. The ruling
Labour Party, allied
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
and the opposition
Māori Party
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the Co ...
voted in favour of the law while the National Party and the libertarian
ACT Party
ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical-liberal List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's ...
opposed it. On 10 February, the Chairperson of Parliament's Māori Affairs Committee issued an invitation for public submissions on the Local Electoral Amendment Bill. Submissions were open for two days; despite the truncated submission period, 12,508 submissions were received.
Second and third readings
On 23 February 2021, the Local Government Amendment Bill passed its second reading by a margin of 77:43 along partisan lines. The Labour, Green, and Māori parties supported the bill while the National and ACT parties opposed it. That same day, the Bill passed its third reading by a margin of 77:43 along party lines. The National Party staunchly opposed the bill, staging a 12-hour
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
opposing the Bill's ten clauses and vowing to repeal the bill if elected at the
2023 New Zealand general election
The 2023 New Zealand general election to determine the composition of the 54th Parliament of New Zealand is planned to be held on 14 October 2023, after the currently elected 53rd Parliament is dissolved or expires. Voters will elect 120 memb ...
.
Assent
On 1 March 2021, the Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill received royal assent and was implemented into law.
Implementation and outcome
Through the transition period to 21 May 2021, 32 councils resolved to introduce Māori wards or Māori constituencies ahead of the
2022 local elections. This made for a total of 34 councils with Māori wards at the election, not including Tauranga City Council where elections were deferred until 2024. In October 2021,
Napier City Council voted to introduce Māori wards from the 2025 local elections.
Councils undertook representation reviews through 2021 and 2022 resulting in the creation of 66 positions for councillors to be elected from Māori wards or constituencies.
After nominations for the elections closed, Local Government New Zealand said the competition was higher in the Māori seats with an average 2.2 candidates per seat compared to the historical average of 2 candidates per seat.
References
External links
*
*{{cite act , type=Public Act , index= , date=24 February 2021 , article= , article-type= , legislature=
New Zealand House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...
, title=Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill , trans-title= , page= , url=https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2021/0006/latest/LMS442033.html , language=
Statutes of New Zealand
2021 in New Zealand law
Local government in New Zealand
Māori politics