Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua is seeking to overturn the Kaipara District Council’s decision to abolish its Māori ward in the High Court today.
The Kaipara District Council was defending the rūnanga action, expected to cost ratepayers as much as about $180,000.
The rūnanga was applying for a judicial review of the process the Kaipara District Council used in making its decision at a High Court hearing in Auckland, with council and rūnanga legal representatives present at a hearing tomorrow.
The hearing’s outcome could derail the Kaipara District Council’s required work towards getting a proposed new-look political structure, without its Te Moananui o Kaipara Māori ward, for the October 2025 local elections organised and to the Local Government Commission by Friday, September 13.
Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Whātua has alleged the Kaipara District Council made its August 7 disestablishment decision without consulting iwi and hapū including Te Uri o Hau, Te Roroa, Ngāti Whātua, Ngātiwai, and Te Kuihi.
This, the rūnanga charges, meant the council had breached its legal obligations under the Local Government Act.
Kaipara District Council is the only council in New Zealand to can its existing Māori ward under new August 1 Government legislation. This means it will have a new political makeup for the next local elections, without the ward that began in October 2022.
The new Government legislation required councils to get rid of their Māori wards before the next local election — these councils then revert to 2019 political arrangements or in Kaipara’s case create a new political representation structure due to population growth — or, if keeping these wards, to hold a binding community poll about that decision.
Mayor Craig Jepson said at the Kaipara District Council meeting on August 7 he did not see the need for a Māori ward.
“I reject the notion that Māori must have a designated ward to ensure representation,” Jepson said.
Meanwhile, Te Uri o Hau trustee Antony Thompson said ahead of Wednesday’s High Court hearing that the priority for Te Uri o Hau was ensuring whānau voices were heard.
“Unity is crucial. We’ve always stood by that belief. Kia kōtahi tātou – together as one.”
